Black Friday is underway and this year's most wanted toy are Zhu Zhu Pets. Num Nums, Chunk, Mr. Squiggles and Pip Squeak are toy hamsters that have been elusive to shoppers and the search for Zhu Zhu pets is in progress as Black Friday shoppers hope to find at least one. Toys R Us had limited quantities early in the morning and most online retailers have been sold out for months.
Every year there is a toy that forces adults to tackle others for the toy their child has to have. Past big-sellers such as Cabbage Patch Dolls and Tickle Me Elmo raked in big money for those who re-sold them on auction sites such as eBay. For 2009, Zhu Zhu pets are being sold for $50 and more on Craigslist and eBay. The battery operated hamster is only $8 in a retail store ... if you can find them.
Not only are children clamoring for Zhu Zhu pets, they want the accessories as well. It's impossible to have a Zhu Zhu pet hamster without the toy Hamster Ball, Hamster Fun House or Zhu Zhu Pets Car and Garage. The accessories are demanding high prices from "toy scalpers" online and parents are struggling to find them.
Most children will not be happy to get an "IOU" from Santa so there is a shopping frenzy for these $8 toys. Business Week's recent article on Zhu Zhu Pets mentioned this latest retail trend:
"The pets are made by Cepia, a seven-year-old outfit in St. Louis. It's the second toy startup for company CEO Russell Hornsby, a Mattel veteran who says his first company, Trendmasters, went under in the 2002 recession after his bank cut his funding...Hornsby, 56, says Zhu Zhus were inspired by his own family's pet hamster (which, regrettably, isn't around to bask in the fame: It got eaten by the family cat). The toys were just a prototype as recently as last November. The company tested them with focus groups of kids at Wal-Mart (WMT) and Toy "R" Us stores in Phoenix this past May. The company even changed the product name from Go Go Pets right before the September retail launch."
Since they became popular months ago, children were set up for disappointment because they could not purchase them. Empty shelves indicated that these toys were not going to be available and it was clear that this would be a sought after Christmas toy. Manufacturer Cepia more than likely anticipated the supply vs. demand scenario and played into it.
Fox13 in Clearwater, Florida showed video of the madness that ensued early on Black Friday when a long line of shoppers went wild for the small amount of Zhu Zhu Pet stock that Toys R Us had on their shelves. According to Fox 13, shoppers "descended on Zhu Zhu Pets like a pack of starving wolves, tearing through the entire display in seconds. Employees at the Toys R Us in Clearwater could only watch as the madness unfolded There were an estimated 1,000 people in line before the store opened, and at one point, store managers asked police to keep an eye on the line, which wrapped around the building."
Black Friday always seems to have the elusive toy that causes pandemonium in the retail stores. This year's Zhu Zhu Pets are hot and the price, $8, is great for parents who don't have a lot of money to spend this year. However, finding these little rodents is more painful than shelling out money during the holidays.
Written by Cheryl Phillips
HULIQ.com
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