Hasbro, Mattel lowering prices for holiday season

Mattel Inc. and Pawtucket-based Hasbro Inc., the world’s two biggest toy makers, are shifting toward lower prices this holiday season as budget-conscious parents seek bargains, Bloomberg News reported.
Eighty percent of Mattel’s toys will cost less than $30 this year, compared with 75 percent last year, brand President Neil Friedman said in an interview at a trade show in New York earlier this month. It’s also offering fewer products priced at more than $100. Hasbro is concentrating more on toys under $50, said John Frascotti, its chief marketing officer.
The “whole top end of the market has been sliced right off,” said Chris Byrne, a New York-based, toy-industry analyst and director of content at TimetoPlayMag.com, which organized the trade show.
Mattel, based in El Segundo, Calif., and Hasbro, its smaller competitor, make about one-third of their annual revenue in the fourth quarter. Toy manufacturers and retailers are being “more cautious” after parents cut back on spending last year, said Gerrick Johnson, a New York-based industry analyst at BMO Capital Corp. &#8226