When The Licensing Letter spoke to entertainment executives for our Annual Licensing Business Survey back in the spring, several sources predicted that movie-based licensed merchandise this fall would begin to appear in stores earlier than ever, with end-of-year movies loading merchandise into stores as soon as September. The expected leader of that trend: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which competitors also predicted would mount the biggest licensing campaign in history…
Retail
Target’s Pulitzer Problem
May 3, 2015
It seemed a major coup for mass merchant Target to have signed high- end designer Lilly Pulitzer for an exclusive fashion and home line. But it wasn’t all triumph for “Tar-jay” when the 250-piece Lilly Pulitzer collection launched April 19. Within hours (and in some stores, minutes), crazed customers had plucked the shelves clean. Online traffic was so great that…
Retail
Retail Notes
April 20, 2015
Retail news from Books-A-Million, Target Canda, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…
Mass Retail Fashion Licensing Targets Men
April 6, 2015
Very quietly and with little fanfare, mass retailer Target launched Target Collective, a curated collection of Americanmade men’s fashion products from six different designers: Billykirk (bags and accessories); Owen & Fred (soap and accessories); Taylor… . . . read more
Retailers
Target Stocks Kinky Toys
February 16, 2015
Mainstream retailers including Target and Amazon got in the mood for the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie’s Valentine’s weekend opening by stocking an unconventional variety of officially licensed merchandise tied to the sexually charged property. More power to them. If Americans buy lingerie at Costco, why not sex toys at Target? But…