Toying With Ideas? Be Ready
When a Fresno mother-and-daughter duo’s idea for a hide-and-seek doll made it onto the shelves of one of the nation’s largest toy stores, they felt like they had won the lottery.
Shelly Conte and her mother, Cindy Reichman, were riding high. Their patented Hide-N-Seek Hayley doll was being sold at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide, becoming a top seller during the 2005 holiday season.
“I remember someone telling us that we were going to be millionaires,” said Shelly Conte. “And I was thinking about it, no doubt.”
But Conte and Reichman’s dreams of fame and fortune began to unravel about a year later when a major player in the industry put a new spin on its popular Care Bear by introducing a hide-and-seek version. It soon edged out Hide-N-Seek Hayley, whose sales began to plummet.
Business experts say that in a fiercely competitive market for new products, copycats and timing all play a part in whether a new product stays on a store’s shelves or is relegated to the bargain bin. And to survive, they say, an entrepreneur must be market savvy, develop brand loyalty and “sleep with one eye open.”
“This can be a very tough business, and knockoff products are commonplace,” said Tim Walsh, a Florida-based toy inventor and author of “Timeless Toys,” a book that looks at classic toys and the people who created them. “The problem is that success often prompts others to want in on what you are doing.”
Inventors say they never rest easy: The possibility of a much larger competitor taking them out is always a chief concern.
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