Mattel Toys designer for the Barbie Collection Carlyle Nuera holds the new Claudette Gordon Barbie doll from the Harlem Theatre Series. (Photo : Getty Images)
The managing director of Asia-Pacific at Mattel Inc., Peter Broegger, expressed his confidence in the fast growth of the Chinese market, particularly after the government allowed couples to have a second child.
In an interview with the Global Times, Broegger said: "The Chinese toy market continues to develop at a very healthy pace that is significantly ahead of most global markets, and that comes despite some turbulence and uncertainty in the market. I am very pleased about where the Chinese toy market is heading."
The interview came just three days after Mattel Children's Foundation signed a three-year agreement to cooperate with Beijing Children's Hospital Group.
The company, which is renowned for toy brands like Hot Wheels, Barbie and Thomas & Friends, operates six stores with more than 30 original equipment manufacturers locally. The plants account for 60 percent of Mattel's total production universally. China has become a key priority from not only growth but also market perspective.
Broegger said without providing specific figures, "For Mattel specifically, we had our best year ever in China in 2015 . . . and growth reached a high double-digit level."
According to him, 2015 was the first year that the company locally designed and developed products. As a result, the products are manufactured by Chinese for Chinese, adding, "This is an initiative we started more than two years ago, and 2015 was the first year when we really saw it in the marketplace."
The same publication revealed that for many years the company has established a strong distribution network in China and across the region. The network covers more than 70 cities, from first to third-tier besides working with offline and online distributors to help expand its operations across the country. Five years ago, online sales in China contributed about 2 percent of the total, but currently the figure is approximately a third.
Broegger added that e-commerce is the most crucial channel to clients.
"I think one of our priorities is to make sure that we cooperate with all retail channels to the best of our ability," he said, adding, "One way we do that is to partner with some really outstanding companies like Taobao, amazon.com and JD.com."
Meanwhile, Mattel continues to increase the number of brands each year, with Octonauts launched in 2015 and new brands coming this year.
