Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 12, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 12, 2004 |
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Marketing
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New Products & Services Pokemon monstrous hit in India too: Funskool Nina Varghese
Chennai , March 11 WHEN Funskool (India) Ltd launched Pokemon in India, little did it expect the collectable toy to become a rage as it has in other parts of the world. According to Mr Raphael Kuriyan, Chief Executive Funskool (India) Ltd, as soon as the pocket monsters hit the shelves, they are swept away. The company has never experienced such sales in this short a period, he said. The company launched 22 stockkeeping units of Pokemon in November, in time for the festival season. It sold seven lakh units in the cards category, 4-5 lakh figurines and around 30,000 games. The cards are priced at Rs 30 and the figurines at Rs 50 per piece. Mr Kuriyan said the main reason for the interest was the TV cartoon series that was aired in August. Funskool decided to become the authorised licensee for Pokemon in India around this time, he added. Funskool has also started designing and developing toys for companies other than Hasbro, its joint venture partner. (The Rs 38-crore Funskool is a joint venture between Hasbro Inc of the US and MRF.) Last year, the company exported $2.5 million (Rs 11 crore) worth of toys to Hasbro, mainly Action Man dolls and Jenga, a Japanese game. Funskool is the sole manufacturer of this game. Funskool has also started exporting concept games to UK-based companies John Adams and Impact. At present, there are eight engineers working on the designs. If the company made inroads into developed markets in Europe then there would be enough work for 100 engineers, Mr Kuriyan said.
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