Zhu Zhu Is Better Than Go Go – Why?

When it comes to marketing a product, what is the importance of the name? That’s a hard question to answer, but based upon the sales results for Zhu Zhu pets, there does seem to be some impact on the product’s success.

If you go to the Amazon “Toys and Games” category and look at the bestseller list, you will find that eight of the top ten positions are occupied by Zhu Zhu Pets. These are basically motorized, robotic hamsters which use artificial intelligence combined with sensors to interact with each other, with the children who are playing with them and with their environment.

In addition to the hamsters themselves, there are a number of different environments and toys which children can set up in a variety of arrangements for their electronic pets. It’s easy to see why kids in the target age group (4 to 10 years old) are going nuts for these toys. They are small, cute and furry. They make cute little noises. They interact with external stimuli and their hamster environments – tube, tracks and toys, can be disassembled, “redesigned” and then put back together in a variety of combinations.

From the perspective of the doting parents there are plenty of plus points as well. They don’t required to be fed and watered, they don’t poop – so there’s no cage cleaning involved – and they don’t shuffle off to hamster heaven, leaving the parents to explain that Fluffy has gone to a better place.

So it’s not a huge surprise that, despite only being launched in August, the Zhu Zhu Pets are a huge hit with both kids and their parents. If they keep selling at anything like the current level then they may even be this year’s number one Christmas toy.

But it’s a different story on the other side of the Atlantic. Zhu Zhu Pets are still being sold as Go Go hamsters in the UK – and they aren’t seeing anything like the same volume of sales that is currently in evidence in the USA.

Cepia, the company who market the Zhu Zhu hamsters in the USA, have done a great job of rebranding and promoting these toys. After a successful local test launch in the Phoenix area, these toys have been flying off the shelves since their national launch in August. Prices are starting to edge upwards as demand outstrips supply. In fact, as long as stocks hold out, it really is difficult to imagine what toy might displace these for the coveted Christmas number one slot.

Harold Peterson – Check out the Zhu Zhu Pets and their toys and accessories.