Korean toy, Tobot, defeats Lego

2013-12-26 17:23

Korean toy, Tobot, defeats Lego

By Kim Tae-jong

Lee Jeong-mi, a mother of a 4-year boy, had to search all the big shopping centers and department stores near her house as well as online shopping malls to buy her son a Christmas present even a week before the holiday. The toy that her son wanted was so popular that almost every store put “sold-out” sign for it long before the holiday. “The prices of the toy I looked for were more than doubled at some online shopping malls due to its huge popularity,” she said. “In the end, I managed to buy one at a toy store that not many people visit, at a slightly higher price.”Lee was one of many desperate parents who wanted to buy their kids Youngtoys’ Tobot Quartran, the latest model transforming robot toy series.
“Tobot” is the name of transforming robot toys and a television animation series, similar to the “Transformer” movie franchise.
The Tobot Quartran, which are priced at around 70,000 won, were sold out at major toy stores and were even sold at around 200,000 won at online shopping malls a few days before Christmas Day.
Tobot toy series are the must-have items among 4- or 5-year-old boys, and their sales surpassed those of foreign brands such as Lego, which has maintained its pole position in the local toy market for years.
According to e-mart, a retail affiliate of Shinsegae Group, the sales of the Tobot increased by 70 percent in December, compared to the same period last year.
“This is the first time for a local brand to beat Lego,” an official from e-mart said.
But the sales growth cannot fully explain the popularity of Tobot toys, simply because the company could not sell more due to the lack of products in stock.
According to Youngtoys, they prepared for 80,000 pieces of the Tobot Quartran for the sales in November and Decomber during its launch in November, expecting many of them in stock. But they sold out immediately they hit stores’ shelves. It takes the firm two months to produce 80,000 pieces with its factory in maximum operation.
Success factors
Youngtoys’ sales stood at 14.2 billion won with an operating profit of 696 million won in 2008, but the medium-sized toy company’s sales have continued to increase to 54.2 billion won last year with operating profit of 12.4 billion won, largely thanks to the success of the Tobot. This year’s sales are expected to top 70 billion won.
The huge success is mainly attributed to the popularity of the TV animation featuring the popular toys, which started to air in late 2010. The Tobot toys started to sell at the end of 2009.
“We have been making a product-based animation, different from other firms. We first developed toys and made an animation featuring them,” Shin Sung-kwang, an official from Youngtoys, said. “That way, we were able to focus on the production of high quality toys first.”
As Youngtoys has continued to introduce new models to its lineup, the animation also has new characters and new robot models. Currently, 13 different Tobot toys are available.
Kids also love the Tobot because the animation is set in Korea, featuring familiar characters and objects, he said.
For example, robots in the Tobot are transformed into Kia Motors’ vehicles such as the Soul and the Sportage R. The firm is in partnership with the automaker so that it can develop animations and toys based on the designs of Kia’s vehicles.
Motivated by the success of the Tobot, Hyundai Motor is in discussion with another toy company to make transforming toys and animation featuring its vehicles.
“We also think the popularity of the Tobot is amazing,” Shin said. “We will continue to tell an interesting story for children as well as developing new models of the Tobot.”