Visits to a wide range of retail stores in New York and the Twin Cities in December confirmed the degree to which Star Wars is dominating shelf and floor space this holiday season.
Not surprisingly, Star Wars products prevail at mass chains, including storewide at Target and in Walmart’s toy department (with Star Wars and character-licensed products in general unexpectedly rare elsewhere in the location we visited). Department stores Sears and Macy’s have big Star Wars displays and/or signage in the front window or at the door, as well as inside the store. Higher-end retailers such as Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom have centrally located tables of Star Wars toys and gifts in the midst of their apparel-dominated children’s departments. Category specialists such as Toys ‘R’ Us, Michaels, Barnes & Noble, and Bed Bath & Beyond carry significant displays, ranging from end caps to centrally located standalone displays to full walls (or some combination thereof), with the assortment often extending beyond their core categories.
Even independent stores that normally do not carry much licensed merchandise feature some Star Wars this year, typically at the front of the store and sometimes as the only property available.
It is virtually a given that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will set records at the box office. But will the huge consumer-product sell-in translate to sell-through? The sheer number of products on the market presents a risk of markdowns or returns for some licensees. The fact that the property is persistently strong, rather than being relaunched after a fallow period, may prevent some fans—many of whom already have a house full of merchandise—from buying as much as they would have. And the timing of the film release on December 18 is just a week before Christmas, with most of the film-related imagery and products embargoed until then. This means the sales window for movie-specific merchandise will not intersect, for the most part, with the window for holiday buying. All of these would be perceived as steep challenges for any other film property.
That said, there surely will be (and have already been) hits among individual products, and the retail sales numbers for Star Wars will undoubtedly be big this year. But the real impact of the new film(s) on Star Wars licensing may not be a guaranteed and unparalleled spike in 2015, as many observers are predicting, but rather to strengthen sales of this already perennial powerhouse over the long term, with continuous promotional windows and new artwork keeping it fresh and growing.
Store visits in the past couple of weeks also demonstrate that the possibly unprecedented sell-in for Star Wars merchandise is making it nearly impossible for other entertainment/character licenses to secure much of a retail presence. Star Wars’ Disney sibling, Frozen, is still going strong and commanding a lot of space, endcaps, and front-of-store displays. Other Disney properties also have a relatively strong profile at many retail locations, and Universal’s Minions pop up at almost every store as well.
Beyond Disney and Minions, however, there is a dearth of character/entertainment licensing at retail this year, outside of toy departments and a few other pockets here and there. The lack of any serious space at bricks-and-mortar shops is bound to keep sales down for most properties in this sector.
For an alternative point of view about Star Wars, see licensing consultant Ira Mayer’s recent blog post, where he predicts the film—while “sucking the juice out of every other pop culture property”—will carry retail sales of character/entertainment merchandise in the U.S. and Canada 7%-9% higher this year than last.
The next two editions of RaugustReports will feature more holiday shopping observations, including, on December 21, some thoughts on DTRs and retail exclusives and, on December 24, a discussion of the many permutations of the Maker/DIY trend at retail this year.
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