This holiday season there will be nearly 7,000 toys featured in Target stores and on Target.com. Stephanie Lucy, vice president of merchandising at Target, shares what she thinks will be the five key toy trends this season and the hot toys that match them.
Interactivity
“One of the key items we selected is Fijit Friends. You look at Fijit and the ability to put it in dance mode, and the voice-recognition and built-in responses. Also, Let’s Rock Elmo is interactive for a much younger child, but we believe interactivity is important.”
Personalization
“We also believe personalization is important, like Barbie Designable Hair Extensions. It gives the girl the ability to not only create hair extensions for her doll, but to create her own personalized hair extensions. In essence, she’s role-playing, creating, and personalizing.”
Movie Releases
“As in years past, theatrical releases, and the great toyetic content associated with that, will naturally be important. One in particular that we believe will continue to be strong is Disney•Pixar’s Cars. One of the items we have selected is Cars 2 Charge Ups Charge ‘N’ Race Speedway, which is actually a Target exclusive.”
Classic Games
“We are also seeing a trend around modernized versions of classic games. So we believe Scrabble Flash, Simon Flash, and Yahtzee Flash will continue to be strong this fall season.”
Educational
“We know when mom is making the choice to spend her money on gifts for her children she has a desire that there will be an educational component. So, another item we have selected is LeapFrog’s LeapPad.”
