商場里的玩具專區，應該是零售界里最幸福的地方之一了。

最近幾年，許多餐廳因為價格太高而門可羅雀，各大商超由于消費者購物習慣的變化而銷量猛跌，服裝行業也被廉價的快速時尚品牌占據了半壁江山，而孩之寶（Hasbro）、美泰兒（Mattel）和樂高（Lego）等玩具公司連續好幾年銷售額卻都非常搶眼。專家們表示，大大小小的玩具公司對創新的適應速度極快，許多老品牌都推出了新賣點。與此同時，很多公司也推出了不少在兒童中大受歡迎的新產品。

本月，美國玩具行業在紐約市的賈維茨會展中心舉辦了一場盛大的玩具展覽會，期間展出了各大廠商2017年的最新玩具創意。我們也得以一窺各大廠商今年將為玩具反斗城（Toys 'R' Us）和沃爾瑪等零售企業供應哪些新品。通過此次展會，我們發現了四個值得孩子們以及他們的父母們注意的趨勢。

好萊塢光環

好萊塢電影向來是吸引孩子和他們的家長走進玩具店的一個重要因素。近年來，光是沃爾特迪士尼穩步推出的幾部《星戰》電影，就令整個行業獲益不小。歸功于這個大IP，星戰周邊玩具也成了近年來熱度回升最快的玩具系列之一。從電影的角度看，2017也將成為玩具行業大豐收的一年，今年有20部左右的電影都會涉及玩具元素。玩具評測網站TTPM.com的CEO吉姆·西爾弗表示：“今年的電影數量令人震驚。”

孩之寶今年計劃將圍繞六部電影推出周邊玩具，而樂高則計劃做10部電影的周邊，玩具公司Jakks Pacific則更是瞄準了十幾部電影。以上三家公司都拿到了今年的好萊塢年度大戲《星戰：最后的絕地武士》的授權，這部電影預計將于12月全球上映。孩之寶和樂高今年也將親自操刀推出自己的電影。孩之寶自家的兩個授權IP今年也將被搬上大屏幕，分別是《變形金剛：最后的騎士》和《小馬寶莉大電影》。近日上映的《樂高蝙蝠俠大電影》已經取得了非常亮眼的票房成績，而樂高的另一部電影《樂高幻影忍者大電影》也將于9月登上銀屏。

“這是一桌非常豐盛的電影盛宴。”孩之寶公司總裁約翰·弗拉斯科蒂表示，過去幾年，與電影有關的玩具的銷量明顯好于那些并非基于熱門電影的產品。“整個行業的玩具銷量都在增長，但基于電影的玩具的增長速度相當穩健，而與電影無關的玩具則銷量平平。”

性別包容

美泰兒、孩之寶和樂高等知名玩具公司都不約而同地將性別包容的理念融入到了他們的玩具戰略中。尤其是在設計和推廣玩具的時候，他們會同時考慮到兩種性別，而不是將玩具專區分為男孩的藍色區和女孩的粉色區。玩具行業的高管們表示，這也是一種時代的標志，因為“千禧一代”的家長們并不希望他們的孩子養成對性別的刻板印象。

前一段時間，樂高推出的一款名叫“樂高好朋友”的玩具一度受到不少非議。這個系列的玩具充斥著紫色和粉色的積木以及偏女性化的主題，有些博主和兒童成長專家批評它的性別暗示太過明顯。不過樂高表示，這款產品恰恰是為了吸引更多女孩對樂高積木產生興趣。而現在也果然有更多女孩開始購買一些原本只有男孩玩的玩具，比如《樂高蝙蝠俠大電影》的周邊積木玩具等等。

近年來，好萊塢也在電影里添加了更多的女性主角，而這也有助于促進性別包容。樂高系統（LEGO Systems）的負責人斯基普·科達克表示：“迪士尼在確定電影主角時，采用了性別包容性更高的搭配。而我們也有機會通過樂高玩具，將這一特點帶入到現實生活中。”

玩偶歷來是女孩的最愛，但這個領域也正在迎來一場革命。美泰兒的“美國女孩”品牌31年來首次增添了一個男孩角色。孩之寶最新款的“淘氣寶貝”（Baby Alive）玩偶第一次有了“爸爸”的選項——此前它還只會說“媽媽”。美泰兒還在“風火輪小汽車”（Hot Wheels）系列最新推出DC超能美少女主題汽車玩具中，故意采用了性別色彩較為中立的紅藍配色。而以往這個系列基本上都是粉色系的。

孩之寶總裁弗拉斯科蒂表示：“我們想在性別和種族上采取比較包容的做法。在設計玩具時，我們不再糾結于它應該是一個男孩的品牌還是一個女孩的品牌，而是將它打造成一個男孩女孩都能玩的品牌。”他還表示，像星戰、小馬寶莉、變形金剛這些以往瞄準特定性別的玩具，如今在男孩和女孩中都很有市場。“我們的做法是，品牌是為了消費者而構建的。”

科技元素

當玩具商們剛開始意識到移動設備已經成為一種威脅時，他們的做法是一窩蜂地把桌游、玩偶和各種能想象到的玩具都連接到平板電腦上。然而這些早期實踐的反響大多并不好。

今年，玩具商們終于對應該如何將科技元素融入玩具中有了更清醒的認識。有些玩具在這方面做得相當不錯，比如Spin Master玩具公司出品的互動式玩偶Luvabella，孩之寶的藍牙電動寵物Furreal，芭比公司充滿未來主義色彩的全息芭比娃娃，樂高出品的用APP控制的編程積木等等。美泰兒也在今年的消費電子展（CES）上展出了一款“智能”嬰兒監控器。Wicked Toys公司也復活了80年代的經典玩具“小熊華斯比”——當年這只小熊可以通過磁帶給孩子講故事，現在它已經具備了通過APP講故事的功能。

玩具行業出版物《Toy Insider》的玩具專家勞瑞·施赫特認為：“全息芭比是虛擬家居助手領域的一個有趣的交互式產品。”她還表示，美泰爾最新推出的“亞里士多德”嬰兒監測器，也將成為“智能家居”潮流中的一個優秀工具。

收藏性玩具

這些擺在收銀臺邊上的小玩具通常只賣幾塊錢，但它們在行業內的表現卻相當搶眼。去年，收藏性玩具的銷售額躍升了33%，達到18億美元，約占美國玩具行業總銷售額的9%。尤為受歡迎的是所謂的“隱形包裝”——這些小小的玩具被包裝得頗為神秘，從外面根本看不見里面有什么。

在今年的紐約玩具展上，美泰兒、孩之寶、樂高、Jakks等各大廠商紛紛推出了自己的2017年主打的收藏性玩具。Spin Master公司的熱門玩具品牌Hatchimal今年也將加入收藏性玩具的戰團。不過西爾弗提醒道：“這個領域今年將是很擁擠的，有些品牌的努力可能會失敗。”

不過各大廠商卻普遍認為，收藏性玩具未來幾年還會繼續火下去。前幾年憑借ShopKins品牌紅極一時的澳大利亞玩具公司Moose Toys表示，事實已經證明，收藏性玩具是一個非常穩定的市場，孩子們玩這種玩具已經有幾十年了。

Moose Toys公司聯合CEO保羅·索羅門表示：“收藏性玩具對行業來說是一種很好的產品，因為它會吸引消費者回到零售店進行重復購買。關鍵問題是，如果我們要推出多款收藏性玩具，它們就必須做到差異化。”（財富中文網）

作者：John Kell

譯者：樸成奎

The toy aisle is one of the happiest places in the world of retail.

At a time when restaurants are struggling with weak traffic due to high prices, department store sales are sputtering because of changing shopping behaviors, and apparel sales are being upended by cheap fast fashion, toy makers like Hasbro (has), Mattel (mat), and Lego are posting several strong years of sales. Experts say players big and small have been particularly adept at innovating, adding new twists to older brands and also coming up with new properties that are resonating with kids.

The industry met this month in New York City to pitch their newest toy ideas for 2017 at a toy fair held at the the massive Javits Center. Fortune got a peak at what many of the major players are planning for retailers like Toys 'R' Us and Walmart (wmt). We've identified four trends kids and their parents should keep an eye on.

Hollywood Halo

Blockbuster films have always been a big motivating factor that drives children and their parents to the toy aisle. In recent years, the industry has greatly benefited from a steady pace of releases from Walt Disney's (dis) Star Wars franchise—one of the biggest toy properties that is seeing renewed interest thanks to new movies. 2017 bodes well for the industry from a film perspective, with about 20 films to be released with ties to the toy aisle. "It is shocking how many films there are this year," said Jim Silver, CEO of toy review site TTPM.com.

Hasbro has toys planned for six of those major films, while Lego has ties to 10 and Jakks Pacific (jakk) well over a dozen. All three of those toy makers have licenses for the biggest film of them all from: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which will be released in December. Hasbro and Lego will also benefit from their own movie releases in 2017. Hasbro has two films coming out based on the toy maker's own franchise properties, Transformers: The Last Knight and My Little Pony: The Movie. Lego has The Lego Batman Movie—already a strong performer at the box office—and The Lego Ninjago Movie in September.

"It is a very robust film slate," said Hasbro President John Frascotti. He added that in the past several years, toys tied to films have outpaced those that are not based on hot movie properties. "The overall industry is growing in toys, but movie-based properties have grown at a robust pace, while non-movie toys are flat."

Gender Inclusivity

Mattel, Hasbro and Lego have all embraced the theme of gender inclusivity—essentially creating and marketing toys with both genders in mind, rather than dividing the toy space into pink and blue aisles. Executives say this is a sign of the times, as Millennial parents in particular don't want their children to learn stereotypical gender habits.

Lego got some criticism when it launched a girl-focused Lego Friends line that was full of pink and purple bricks and girly themes that some bloggers and child development experts lamented was too gendered. But Lego said that the line was an entry point to get more girls interested in the toy maker's construction sets, and today, it is seeing girls buy more kits that would have typically been boy focused, like sets made for the Lego Batman film.

Hollywood is also adding more female characters to lead roles, and that's helping as well. "The folks at Disney are coming up with a formula that is more gender inclusive when it comes to the starring roles," says Skip Kodak, who is the head of LEGO Systems. "We have an opportunity to bring that to life in Lego play."

Dolls have been historically marketed to girls but even that category is seeing a revolution. Mattel's American Girl brand added the first boy character in the brand's 31-year history. Hasbro's newest Baby Alive doll now says "Mommy" or "Daddy" for the first time—before only "Mommy" was an option. And when Mattel added DC Girls-based cars to the Hot Wheels set, it purposely made the packaging gender neutral featuring blues and reds. In the past, the packaging would have almost certainly been pink.

"We want to be inclusive in our approach across gender and ethnicity," said Frascotti. "Instead of thinking, that's a boy brand or a girl brand, we see them as dual-gender." He said Star Wars, My Little Pony, Transformers—all of them have fans that don't fall into the legacy gender splits that occurred when those brands were launched. "Our approach is we build brands for consumers," he said.

Toys With Tech

When toy makers first understood that mobile devices were a threat, they rushed to link tablets to board games, dolls, and pretty much every other toy imaginable. Most of those early efforts weren't well received.

But this year, toy makers proved that they finally have a firmer handle on how and when to incorporate tech into a toy. Some of the toys that seemed to do this well include Spin Master's interactive Luvabella baby doll, Hasbro's bluetooth-connected Furreal motorized pet, Barbie's futuristic hologram Barbie, and Lego's app-based coding playset. Mattel also debuted a "smart" baby monitor earlier this year at CES. Wicked Toys is bringing back the classic 80s toy Teddy Ruxpin—which originally 'read' stories using a cassette tape—this time with app-powered storytelling capabilities.

"Barbie Hologram is a fun, interactive take on the virtual home assistant trend," said Laurie Schacht , a toy expert for industry publication Toy Insider. She added that Mattel's Internet-connected Aristotle baby monitor would be a good tool to play into the "smart home" trend.

Collectibles

These smaller toys—often sold for just a few dollars near the register—have been a strong performer for the industry. Sales of collectibles jumped 33% to $1.8 billion last year and represented 9% of the total industry's U.S. sales. So-called "blind packs" have been especially popular—little collectible toys that are sold in secretive packaging so you won't know what's inside.

At New York Toy Fair, pretty much ever toy maker is now in the collectible game. Mattel, Hasbro, Lego, Jakks—all some of the biggest players in the toy industry—all have collectibles for 2017. Spin Master's popular Hatchimal brand is going to dive into the collectible craze this year too. "It got very crowded this year, there is going to be some fall out," warns Silver.

Toy makers, however, think the trend will remain relevant for years to come. Australia-based Moose Toys, which generated a massive hit with the Shopkins brands a few years ago, say that collecting toys is a proven way that kids have played for decades.

"Collectibles are good for the industry, it is a repeat purchase that brings people back into the retailer," said Moose Toys co-CEO Paul Solomon. "But the key is that if we have multiple collectibles, they need to be differentiated."