Abstract
When Mattel entered the Chinese market for the first time, it encountered major difficulties due to lack of localization, overestimation of its brand popularity, wrong pricing strategy, and failure to understand the different perception of toys and Chinese culture in general. They failed to capture the Chinese market with the over-the-top and poorly executed House of Barbie store in Shanghai. Mattel still believes in the potential of the Chinese toy market and is therefore currently looking for a new strategy to re-introduce Barbie to the Chinese consumers.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Both the name and story created around him are fictitious.
- 2.
Well-known ‘Sex and the City’ designer
Bibliography
Albatross. (2015). 7 reasons why Chinese luxury consumers prefer to buy abroad. Albatross Global Solutions—China Luxury Forecast. Accessed May 10, 2015, from http://www.albatrossasia.com/7-reasons-why-chinese-luxury-consumers-prefer-to-buy-abroad/
Awal, A. (2011). Barbie in India: A girl’s best friend. Financial Times—Blogs. http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/03/10/indian-barbie-more-popular-than-chinese-barbie/
Bain & Company. (2013). China luxury market study. Accessed March 1, 2015, from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-12-16/news/sns-rt-china-luxury-20131216_1_chinese-shoppers-luxury-items-china-luxury-advisors
Barbie Collector. The barbie story: How a fashion icon was born. Accessed May 5, 2015, from http://www.barbiecollector.com/collectors/barbie-story-how-fashion-icon-was-born
Barbie Media. (2015). History. Accessed May 5, 2015, from http://www.barbiemedia.com/about-barbie/history.html
BBC Business News. (2011). Mattel shuts flagship Shanghai barbie concept store. Accessed February 18, 2015, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12670950
BBC Business News. (2014). Can barbie conquer China? Accessed February 19, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30210261
BBC News. (1997). Barbie undergoes plastic surgery. Accessed May 10, 2015, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/32312.stm
Carlson, B. (2013). Why big American businesses fail in China. Global Post. Accessed February 19, 2015, from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130918/why-big-american-businesses-fail-china
Chairman Media. (2013). Part one: Consequences of ‘NOT’ understanding your target audience in China. Accessed March 3, 2015, from http://chairmanmigo.com/understand-target-audience-in-china/
Christianity Today. (2015). One child policy tweak fails in China. Accessed May 5, 2015, from http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/march/one-child-policy-tweak-fails-in-china.html
Euromonitor. (2014). China’s future demographics report. Accessed February 19, 2015, from http://www.euromonitor.com/china-in-2030-the-future-demographic/report
Funding Universe. (2015). Mattel Inc., history. Accessed May 8, 2015, from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/mattel-inc-history/
Gupta, A., & Wang, H. (2011). Why barbie flopped in Shanghai. Bloomberg Business. Accessed February 21, 2015, from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2011/gb20110421_445230.htm
Keegan, W., & Green, M. (2008). Global marketing (pp. 143–145). Englewood. Cliffs, NJ: Pearson Education.
Lind, A. (2008). Battleground: Women, gender, and sexuality. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Live Science. (2013). Why Chinese ‘Tiger Moms’ are so controlling. Accessed February 28, 2, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/29184-why-chinese-tiger-moms-are-controlling.html
Luxury Society. (2014). Luxury goods sales to reach $405 billion by 2019. Accessed July 21, 2015, from http://luxurysociety.com/articles/2014/10/luxury-goods-sales-to-reach-405-billion-by-2019
Mattel Inc. (2008). Annual report. Accessed February 18, 2015, from http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/MAT/4008738203x0x283677/D4E18CB7-C8B4-4A28-BCE9-C114B248A26D/MattelAnnualReport2008.pdf
Mattel Inc. (2009). Annual report. Accessed February 17, 2015, from http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/MAT/4008738203x0x362364/DE3C1DC8-EDD4-41AD-81E5-2D8251DB8E5D/Mattel_Annual_Report_As_Printed1.pdf
Mattel Inc. (2013). Annual report. Accessed February 18, 2015, from http://corporate.mattel.com/PDFs/2013_AR_Report_Mattel%20Inc.pdf
Mattel Inc. (2015). About us. Accessed May 9, 2015, from http://corporate.mattel.com/about-us/
McKinsey. (2012). Luxury without borders: China’s new class of shoppers take on the world. The McKinsey Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey. https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/mckinseychinavideos/PDF/the-mckinsey-chinese-luxury-consumer-survey-2012-12.pdf
Nasdaq. (2015). Mattel unveils new management team. Accessed May 10, 2015, from http://www.nasdaq.com/article/mattel-unveils-new-management-team-cm461925
Read, J. (2005). Kawaii: Culture of cuteness (Research Paper). Japan Reference: Forum. Accessed May 22, 2015, from http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/research-paper-kawaii-culture-of-cuteness.16924/
Rein, S. (2010). Where barbie went wrong in China. Forbes. Accessed February 28, 02, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/22/barbie-mattel-china-leadership-managing-rein.html
Rein, S. (2012). End of cheap China. Economic and cultural trends that will disrupt the world. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
St. Clair, R. (2008). The legitimation of cultural icons across cultures: The role of mass media in the marketing process. University of Louisville. Accessed May 5, 2015, from http://web.uri.edu/iaics/files/02-Robert-StClair.pdf
The New Economy. (2015). Life in plastic, not so fantastic: The Tale of Barbie’s decline. Accessed February 17, 2015, from http://www.theneweconomy.com/home/life-in-plastic-not-so-fantastic-barbies-great-decline
The Telegraph. (2008). World’s first barbie store opens in Buenos Aires. Accessed February 20, 2015, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/3456354/Worlds-first-Barbie-store-opens-in-Buenos-Aires.html
Thomas, H. (2013). Why it failed: House of barbie Shanghai. Accessed February 19, 2015, from http://www.slideshare.net/whunterthomas/why-it-failedhouseofbarbieshanghaigwuspring2013
Walker, E. (2008). Top cat: How ‘Hello Kitty’ conquered the world. The Independent. Accessed March 2, 2015, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/top-cat-how-hello-kitty-conquered-the-world-831522.html
Wall Street Journal. (2013). Mattel gives barbie a makeover for China. Accessed March 2, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304672404579183324082672770
Wang, H. (2012). Why barbie stumbled in China and how she could re-invent herself. Forbes. Accessed February 22, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/helenwang/2012/10/24/why-barbie-stumbled-in-china-and-how-she-could-re-invent-herself/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kühne, B. (2016). Mattel’s Second Attempt to Crack the Chinese Market: Will China Embrace the American Barbie Doll This Time?. In: Prange, C. (eds) Market Entry in China. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29139-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29139-0_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29138-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29139-0
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)