Hello Kitty, also known by her full name Kitty White, is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a young female gijinka (anthropomorphization) of a Japanese Bobtail cat with a red bow and no mouth. According to her backstory, she is a perpetual third-grade student who lives outside of London. Kitty and her twin sister, Mimmy, celebrate their birthday on 1 November.
FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and store. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games.
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys or cuddly toys. The stuffed toy originated from the Steiff company of Germany in the late 19th century and gained popularity following the creation of the "Teddy" bear in the US in 1903, at the same time the German toy inventor Richard Steiff designed a similar bear. In the 1990s, Ty Warner created Beanie Babies, a series of animals stuffed with plastic pellets that were popular as collector's items.
Sanrio Company, Ltd. is a Japanese company that designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the kawaii ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold worldwide, including at specialty brand retail stores in Japan. Sanrio's best-known character is Hello Kitty, a little cartoon girl cat and one of the most successful marketing brands in the world.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
The Disney Store is an international chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.
Licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. It is a process of creating and managing contracts between the owner of a brand and a company or individual who wants to use the brand in association with a product, for an agreed period of time, within an agreed territory. Licensing is used by brand owners to extend a trademark or character onto products of a completely different nature.
Gund is a Canadian-owned manufacturer of plush stuffed animals. The company is based in Edison, New Jersey, and distributes throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. Gund is currently run by third generation family owner Bruce Raiffe whose grandfather Jacob Swedlin purchased the company from the original founder in 1925. Their slogan is “Gotta Getta Gund”.
Corgi International Limited(formerly known as Zindart International Limited) is a company rooted in the old Welsh Corgi Toys started in the late 1950s. That company was later acquired by Mattel around 1990, then made independent. Today, Corgi consists of three distinct brands that manufacture movie prop replicas, die-cast collectibles, and gift and toy products. Corgi International also distributes trading cards and movie memorabilia through a separate brand.
Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (2016–2018).
Funko Inc. is an American company that manufactures licensed and limited pop culture collectibles, best known for its licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads. In addition, the company produces licensed plush, action figures, apparel, accessories and games.
The Adventures of Hello Kitty and Friends is a 3D CGI animated series featuring Hello Kitty and other characters from the Japanese company Sanrio. It was produced from February 2008 onwards by Sanrio Digital and Dream Cortex, and distributed by Sanrio Digital. It consists of 52 episodes and deals with themes of happiness, family and friendship.
Palisades Entertainment, LLC, better known as Palisades Toys, was an American manufacturing and distributing toy & collectibles company geared toward the adult collector market. Established in 1994, the company generally worked within the same vein as competitors such as McFarlane Toys and NECA, producing detailed action figures, statues, plushes, and other collectibles of licensed properties until its bankruptcy in 2006. Palisades also developed the brand Factory X which continues under Limited by CAS Inc.
Applause Inc. was a company that produced stuffed toys and collectible figurines. The company produced licensed toys from Warner Bros., Disney, and Jim Henson's Muppets. Its principal subsidiaries included Dakin Inc. and International Tropic-Cal Inc. The Applause brand survives as part of Kid Brands.
Sanrio Boys is a Japanese media franchise created by Sanrio in November 2015. The Sanrio Boys were conceptualized as a social media project to promote merchandise for Sanrio's best-selling characters. Due to its popularity, it grew to have its own merchandise line, a manga series, a series of character drama CDs, a 2016 smartphone game for iOS and Android, and an anime television series by Pierrot aired from January 6 to March 24, 2018.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.
Paramount Consumer Products is the retailing and licensing division of Paramount Global. The department is in charge of merchandising for Paramount-owned brands. As of 2015, the division was valued at $3 billion.
Pickles the Frog is an anthropomorphic frog character created by Nakajima Corporation.
