With Toys R Us closed, Mattel has really begun to feel the pressure. The Wall Street Journal has reported that they are in the process of battling major loses since the toy giant closed its doors. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Mattel took a 10% dent in their overall sales with the closing of TRU (read that story HERE).
Additional reporting by the Wall Street Journal: "Mattel Inc. said it would cut more than 2,200 jobs, or nearly one-quarter of its nonmanufacturing workforce, as the maker of Barbie dolls and other toys grapples with slumping sales and deep losses". Read the full article HERE.
AFJ's Take: Toys R Us closing is only part of the problem for Mattel. Certainly, you can go into any major retail chain and pick up the likes of Barbie, Hot Wheels or Fisher-Price products. Those three properties alone are Mattel's Bread and Butter. One of the major problems, in our opinion, is who Mattel has aligned themselves with, DC Entertainment. Certainly, the world of Cinematic Superheroes has had to have had an effect on their bottom line. When the likes of Walt Disney's Superheroes (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) bringing in billions of dollars at the box office the want and need for toys, from those films, is going to be great. Mattel, producing toys for the likes of the Justice League, with its subpar box office take (in relation to Marvel's), is going to hurt.
Until recently, (Mattel's Comic-Con reveals seen HERE), there was clearly a difference in standards between a DC Multiverse figure and that of a Marvel Legend (Marvel's figure brand produced by Hasbro). How does this effect Mattel? Adult collectors are more than likely to gravitate towards quality over a poorly produced figure or seek out DC Entertainment's DC Collectibles (a better quality of produced action figures) as an alternative to what Mattel releases. In short, Mattel, who is producing fantastic Jurassic World and WWE toys needs to focus on those properties and leave the world of superheroes behind. With the cutting of jobs, it may only be a matter of time before that occurs anyway. #AFJ4LIFE