The Walt Disney Company has announced that it is locating its Disney Stores inside of 25 Target locations. There are 40 more stores planned to be opened by 2020. This development may have implications for the toy industry. Here are some questions:
1. Is this a test of a national roll-out (Disney already has 300 stores in their own, mostly mall, locations) or is Disney confining this to 65 carefully selected stores? If it is national in scope, then what are the implications for the relationship between Wal-Mart and Disney? How will that impact their decisions regarding how much to support Disney licensed products from toy companies?
2. In what part of the Target locations are the Disney stores going to be located? Will they be situated with toys, clothing or in some other area?
3. If Target chooses to merchandise the Disney Stores with the toys, will they take allocated space away from toys? And if they do take space, how much space will be lost, and from what categories?
4.The Disney Stores will have 450 items on display. How much space will be needed to showcase those products?
5. Will these new Disney store locations bring shoppers into Target and will the new traffic result in additional toy sales? Is someone who is looking for a Disney product going to be interested in purchasing other toys?
Its is a provocative development. I am looking forward to learning more.
