Hunting for the elusive Hatchimals, the hot holiday toys
Coaxing a creature out of its shell “resonates very well with kids,” said James Martin, senior vice president and head of global business at Spin Master, a Canadian toy company that also sells Etch A Sketch and other products.
Since their introduction in October, Hatchimals, which have a suggested retail price of $60, have become the hot toy of the holiday season that nobody can find.
Desperate parents intent on buying a Hatchimal are standing in long lines at retailers, putting their names on waiting lists, and even buying lottery tickets for the toy.
Spin Master worked to generate buzz for Hatchimals with a secretive release, and managed to keep all images off the Internet until the toy officially “hatched” on Oct. 7, which it called Global Hatchimals Day.
Company executives also planned for what they thought would be the right amount of product supply to meet the holiday demand.
[...] when Santa Claus made an appearance at her family party over Thanksgiving weekend, he “knew to tell her his elves weren’t making very many and they might be hard to come by,” Nigbur said.
“There is an irrational exuberance on the part of the consumer with these buying frenzies, which leads to a scarcity of product and crazy high prices,” he said.
[...] it may be even a little more because you’ll be getting the first batch of 2017.
To those parents who are not able to buy the toy in time, Dr. Deborah Gilboa, a family physician in Pittsburgh and a parenting and youth development expert, said: “It’s a great lesson in delayed gratification.”