Hasbro Promises Toys Will Make It Under Trees — Is There a Catch?
Santa is expected to make deliveries on time this year.
The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and there have been growing concerns about whether or not Santa will be able to deliver all of the toys under the tree on time due to the ongoing supply chain crisis.
Some CEOs have suggested that it will be hard to find some of the season’s most popular toys — and to focus on small stuffed and soft gifts rather than massive LEGO sets or big plastic toys. Others have said that it’s best to get your Christmas shopping done, like, yesterday, to avoid the holiday USPS and supply chain crunch.
But Hasbro offered up a message of reassurance this week, with the toy company saying it feels confident that it will be able to handle the uptick in deliveries and demand that comes around Christmas time.
Today, Hasbro reported that third-quarter revenue is up an impressive 11 percent from a year ago. This type of uptick was to be expected given the vaccine rollout this year but the earnings are outpacing forecasts from Wall Street, indicating a healthy return to some normalcy.
Despite the optimism, Hasbro Chief Financial Officer Deborah Thomas has acknowledged that “there are supply chain factors out of our control which could impact our ability to fully achieve the upside.” There were delays in shipping for over $100 million in orders in the third quarter but Thomas said in the earnings release that Hasbro still “delivered much of what was delayed in the third quarter despite continued supply chain challenges.”
Holiday shopping is already a stressful endeavor for parents but in the wake of the pandemic, it has reached a whole new level, with issues caused by lack of supply to meet demand and issues of shipping products has many worried that there won’t be any presents under the tree on Christmas morning.
However, the good news is that it does seem like Hasbro and rival Mattel are experiencing promising gains and are overall prepared for the next couple of months of online retail chaos. Of course, if the last 18ish months have taught us anything, there’s always a catch.
That catch? Hope for the best, but expect the worst. AKA, you still may want to get your holiday shopping done sooner rather than later to avoid a Christmas morning meltdown. Check out our guide to toys — and to avoiding the dreaded supply chain crunch — here.
