Fisher Price Toys
...succeeded in placing three products at a higher price (Creative Coster, Family Farm, Play House), due to one earlier failure with Circus an internal aversion to high prices can be found. The toy market itself is characterized by a high brand loyalty and by a few large manufacturers accounting for a high percentage of sales. Foreign imports have increased competition and will continue to do so. The market is highly seasonal with sales reaching its peaks in November and December. Similarly, there is a concentration in retail, with toys mainly being purchased in chain and department stores. Although the number of children aged six and younger is supposed to decrease in the coming years, the birth numbers, which are considered to be more important indicator, show a constant growth. The market for riding toys is competitive. Playskool already offers six toys in this category and ATV Explorer will not only have to compete with these US-products as but also with cheap low quality foreign imports. Consumers perceive the market to provide them with a wide variety of toys. The quality and durability of the toys available is being questioned and the consumers have become more price sensitive as toys are being perceived as “high priced”. Still, the brand loyalty is very high. Consumers are used to Fisher-Price offering quality products within a whole product line at a moderate price. Toys are usually purchased by mothers. The buying decision can be considered a utilitarian one as rational and emotional factors are involved in the decision process. Satisfaction of consumers motivated by utilitarian motives can be explained by the classic expectation confirmation paradigm: it equals what you get minus what you expected. Parents will continue to buy Fisher-Price Toys as long as they consider Fisher-Price to be the best – that is to say performance is rewarded. Fisher-Price is in a fairly good position as its performance so far has been very satisfactory for consumers and the brand loyalty is high. In utilitarian buying decision price is considered as a trade-off – a factor which will have to be considered by Fisher-Price. Signalling a concrete value is important. Consumers should be provided with rational and factual information in order to facilitate the decision. Production costs will not allow Fisher-Price to launch the product at the $12 retail price originally intended. A price of $18,50 or higher would make the product more expensive than the competition and create ma...