Disney continues its move away from the old The Disney Store in every mall model to the new multiple-tiered product and price structure model. Want to clad your child in standard Disney gear, you can now find stuff at Wal*Mart, Target, or the mall stores. Want to clad your child in couture and high fashion Disney well now you can look at Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, or Sak’s.
Disney spent two years developing the products featuring
Bambi, Pinocchio and Mickey Mouse, among other characters, and
hopes to parlay their global recognition into strong sales.
Winnie the Pooh, which isn’t being used in the high-end lines,
already generates more than $6 billion in global annual retail
sales for the company.
I now understand why Disney decided to divest themselves of The Disney Stores. First they priced themselves out of the market by licensing Disney brand to every big box store. Now they look to capture the whole verticle market for kid’s apparel and gear. They’re well on their on their way. (Link)