CHINA: It's a Barbie world in Shanghai as the world's most famous doll opens its first flagship store in China's financial capital

Record ID: 605340

  • Title: CHINA: It's a Barbie world in Shanghai as the world's most famous doll opens its first flagship store in China's financial capital
  • Date: 7th March 2009
  • Summary: CHILDREN PUTTING THEIR HEADS INTO HOLES IN WALL TV SCREEN SHOWING BARBIE DOLL COMMERCIAL BARBIE DOLLS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 8-YEAR-OLD LI YUQIN, SAYING: "I feel so happy to be able to see so many Barbie dolls. They are so beautiful and I have never before seen so many of them."
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA8ZKKU5GG2F5F63RLSAFU6OV0U
  • Story Text: A dash of pink lit up the Shanghai skyline on Friday (March 6) as Mattel's Barbie opened her first flagship store in China's financial capital.
    Crowds along Shanghai's glitzy shopping street, Huaihai (pron: who-aye hi) Road, were wowed by the fuchsia-infused six-storey showpiece store as the toy-maker places it's hopes on the project to revive the 50-year-old fashion doll's fading fortunes.
    Inside, both adult and child models took to the catwalk featuring the best of Barbie style, as they strutted down the stage wearing the clothes and accessories of the world's most famous doll.
    The multimillion-dollar store, featuring a cafe, a fashion stage, a spa and a spiral stairway surrounded by ceiling-high displays of Barbie dolls, will also be a testing ground for new marketing strategies and services, including a design centre where visitors can create their own dolls.
    The world's biggest toy-maker hopes this will help Barbie, whose sales have been slipping even faster than the company's overall recession-hit revenue, bounce back against tough competition from edgier dolls, video games and electronic toys.

    "The experiences you have in the store designing your own Barbie doll, being able to stage a show, a little girl gets to be a princess, a fashionista or whatever she likes, there is a whole show around it, a mummy and me spa where beauty is connected by the product and the graphics, not necessarily by age. These are all important future dynamics of the brand and so Barbie has always been a reflection of fashion and culture, and that's part of the brand's history, but where we are going in the future is also experiential, how to experience the Barbie brand and that's what this store really is," said Richard Dickson, a senior vice president of the company who is in charge of the Barbie brand.
    He said China, where Barbie sales are relatively small despite wide brand recognition, was chosen as the site for the first flagship store due in part to the country's large population and vast market potential.
    He added another attraction, he said, was the potential in China's newly affluent urban society for sales beyond the doll's traditional target of young girls -- especially their mothers.

    "China is an exciting market for us, you know, the population is obviously one that you can't deny as a brand. The business represents a great opportunity for us. It is currently a relatively small business for the Barbie brand despite the fact that we have unbelievable recognition around the country. Most girls and certainly mums and grandmas and teenagers know Barbie, but our business is relatively small and so from a local perspective, it really represents a great opportunity for growth," Dickson told Reuters Television.
    Chinese guests at the opening said the multi-functional store would generate more interest in Barbie in the world's most populous nation.

    "Barbie has such a long history and it is such an international brand. But for us in China, perhaps many of us are not familiar with her. Now that they have opened a flagship store in Shanghai, I believe we will get to know her better," said 32-year-old mother, Xylia (pron: Celia) Chan, from Hong Kong.
    But for the children at the store, the Barbie doll is still the centre of attention.

    "I feel so happy to be able to see so many Barbie dolls. They are so beautiful and I have never before seen so many of them," said 8-year-old Li Yuqin (pron: lee-yu-chin), from Shanghai.
    Mattel is hoping it can harness some of that energy for Barbie, its flagship brand, which posted a 21 percent drop in sales in the fourth quarter last year that exceeded the company's overall 11 percent slide.
    Dickson said the company also has plans for a Barbie store in Brazil and Mexico, but not on the scale of the store in Shanghai.
    He added that Mattel had no plans yet for another store of a similar size until they study the results from the operations of their Shanghai store.
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