How Tymes have changed:

Not long ago beanie babies were the hot toy, the thing to have, and the most traded play thing on the net. 2005, years after the great craze of the late 1990's, brings the 12th year of beanies and a lot of competition to be the top dog in the toy and gift market. Ty has gone from being valueless child's plaything to hot collectors item, and back to a near retail-value toy. Rather than being grabbed by everyone trying to make some quick money, Ty beanies now appeal as gifts and collectibles to only the truly hooked. It's not secret that the value of beanies has been dropping for years - with even the once-rare early products fetching much less than could ever be imagined. Ty beanies seem to appeal more as gifts now - something children buy their friends for birthdays, something adults buy their animal loving friends who love a specific species or just something cute that you may pick up for the fun of it, rather than a hot collectors' item that must, without doubt, stay in absolutely mint condition, which they once were.

Ty have always seemed the top dog, where other companies could only dream of having that much power over the toy market. With no need for advertising, yet being a company that everyone knew, Ty Inc was in a minority. So what changed? Ty now seems to be entering the gift market, with more holiday-based products, such as the Happy Birthday bears, Masque the Mardi Gras bear, and an increasing line of Valentines products each year. Ty Inc have big competition, particularly in Europe, if trying to dominate the gift market.

It has been clear for the past few years that there have been two important competitors for dominance in Europe...is there space for Ty? For the past decade, Diddl has been popular throughout Europe, and now is moving into Ty territory in the USA. In recent years, Me To You have burst onto the scene. Although Mike Payne's bear has been available for many years in the UK, and the cards have been manufactured by Carte Blanche for a decade, Tatty Teddy has only just begun to rise to a collectors item. Diddl has also had its rise to fame over the past decade, going from Germany, around Europe, recently to the UK, and very soon to the USA.

Diddl, made by Depesche, is hot in Germany, as well as its neighbours around Europe. It has gone from being a small unknown range, to a range that is increasing in popularity all the time, as well as the increasing size of line! Each new design series comes as a surprise when revealed to collectors, and the amazing quality and extravagance of the designs keeps getting better and better. Although Depesche seems small in comparison to similar companies, they certainly know how to keep interest. Retailers are small, independent shops, and quite far away from each other, leaving collectors having to search around for that special item. Diddl is not overdone - searching hard is necessary, but people can't get bored of seeing it in almost every shop. Online stores are rare, giving collectors the opportunity to see the products in the fur only, and having nothing to compare to online, giving it that extra excitement and interest.

Tatty Teddy is similar in the way it operates. Releasing impressive lines, with high quality and remarkable designs, with products of every kind included. However, Me To You owe much of their success to Clinton Cards. The huge retail chain that has boosted collectors awareness, and now Tatty Teddy is seen in almost every town nationwide. Carte Blanche also manufacture in a different way - manufacturing some products themselves, and licensing their designs to other companies to manufacture for them. Tatty Teddy is hugely popular in Europe, and spreading quickly to other parts of the globe.

Ty, however, seems to be decreasing in popularity and it seems clear that the company can see this. Retirements have dramatically decreased, whereas Ty has changed their policy on introductions...introducing large amounts of products from all ranges seasonally, with "a few surprises along the way". In recent years we have seen more partnerships between Ty Inc and other companies than ever before, such as McDonalds and Hallmark. Could Ty be trying to increase its sales figures by appealing to its own collectors and that of other companies, e.g. McDonalds Memorabilia Collectors purchasing Teenie Beanie Babies as a McDonalds-related product? It seems that Ty Inc know that Beanie Babies are failing as a collectors item, and they are having to change their policies to fit with consumers' changing tastes. Forbes shows Ty Inc having an annual revenue in 2000 of $1,200million, yet just one year later the figure is $758million for 2001...and we can see that Ty's changes are to keep Beanie Babies as the dominant range in the toy market.

From running a website, I have primary sources in the form of referrer tracking, which reflects the changes in the market. Tracking on Beanzaddiction shows me how visitors have found my site and which search terms they are using to find it. The first year of Beanzaddiction's 3 year history, was based solely around Ty products. After one year Diddl and Tatty Teddy were added to the list of companies covered on the website. February sees Beanzaddiction's 3rd Birthday, and despite Ty having the advantage of an extra year, the most common search term used to find my website is actually 'tatty' and 'teddy'. 'Diddl' is a very close second.

The 10 most popular pages on Beanzaddiction, the day I wrote this piece, were:

Beanzaddiction Homepage

Tatty Teddy Index

Hard Rock Cafe Info

Tatty Teddy Graphics

NEC 2003

Diddl's Nottingham Shop

Diddl Index

Diddl Products

Learn the Lingo

Diddl in the UK Article

This just shows that the majority of people visiting Beanzaddiction are actually searching for either Diddl or Tatty Teddy, and very rarely looking for information on Ty, which I find amazing, as there is much more information and news on the website based on Ty compared with any other product range or company.

You might be interested to read the top search strings which lead visitors from a search engine to Beanzaddiction. The table features the amount of times that the keyword has been used when finding Beanzaddiction from a search engine, the percentage of the total number of search engine strings used to find my website (a whopping 5000 different queries have been used to date), and the keyword used:

Other common search strings are "Bobble", "Teddy Big Foot", "Serta Sheep", "Pimboli", "Diddlina", "Elliot and Buttons".

Is this a true reflection on how the market is at the moment? It could be...It certainly is a probable reflection of what the market seems to be here in Europe, due to the popularity of other gift ranges such as Diddl and Friends and Tatty Teddy. Although it is certain that the European demand for Diddl and friends is much higher than the above figures may suggest, due to the huge amount of searches for Diddl's friends: "Diddlina", "Pimboli", "Mimihopps" and more, whereas the search strings "Tatty Teddy" or "Me To You" covers the whole range. I'm sure that the total of all the Diddl-related search queries would be more representative.

However, it could be different around the globe, depending on the amount of competition for Ty, the availability, etc.  One thing is sure...Ty certainly isn't as popular as it once was.

But why so? Ty's strategies have certainly changed over the year. Their corporate aims are still the same, and they still have the same mission statement "We make the finest plush in the world…affordable". But there is no denying that things have changed. Gone are the days where Internet only beanies are a rare occurrence (although this may be an effect of the internet being more widely used, particularly where online purchasing is concerned), rare are the retirements and frequent are the introductions. It seems Ty has forgotten the days where only a couple of beanies are released at a time, and seems to be mass producing as many beanies as his company can design. In 2000 it was predicted that the company manufactures a whopping 100 million beanie babies a year. Ty is counting on high sales rather than collectibles and ever-decreasing market value. Ty Warner himself has many other business ventures which he has financed from the success of Ty Inc. Are sales of Beanies trivial to a billionaire who owns several hotels, casinos and clubs?

From visiting trade shows it's clear that everyone's first stop is the Ty Europe Stand, but with tough competition from Depesche and Carte Blanche in neighbouring halls will it be this way for long? Ty have a disadvantage with manufacturing similar product ranges, whereas both Depesche and Carte Blanche have a wide range of products, from their original products of cards and design-based stationery, to plush toys, resin figurines, watches and clocks, clothes and more. Ty seem to be figuring this out, and with much success following the new Ty sweaters. The recent 'retirement' of Ty's magazine suggests that Beanies are certainly not as popular as they once were.

Diddl, already a huge success in Europe and just beginning in Australia, has just arrived in the USA. Orange County, California, is Diddl's new American home, and could this be the break that will make Depesche the Ty Inc of the decade? The move to America is a risky move for the company, yet may be a huge benefit. The company has had huge successes in Europe, and taking on the USA could lead to the Diddl range becoming as big a craze as beanies once were, and the range being a household name worldwide.

 Speculation has said that Beanie Babies are in their maturity stage, and sales will rise again, giving Ty's products a long life cycle. However, others have said that Beanie babies are in their decline. It's obvious that Ty has begun to try and extend beanies life cycle: introducing more gift and holiday related products to appeal to a mass market, making more and more products available online, many more partnerships, like the Garfield beanies, to appeal to new collectors, etc. Will it be enough to increase sales? Especially with big competition from Depesche and Carte Blanche? Only 'Tyme' will tell....

-Hayley Mitchell