Retailer Hot Topic, which was pretty much saved by Twilight sales, did not see the same growth in sales with New Moon and they are not expecting Eclipse sales to pull them out of their present slump either. The reason? Fickle teens are what they blame. In my opinion, it might just be a saturated market with Walmart having stepped it.

Did Hot Topic (HOTT) forget that its target market — the fickle teenager — is always on the hunt for the next cool thing? Seems the Cailifornia-based retailer’s bet on licensed gear from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga (complete with the seductive gaze of Edward Cullen, teen vampire) is failing to the lure swooning masses into buying more t-shirts, movie paraphernalia, even bandages (!) over the long haul.

Indeed, both comps and overall sales were down — to the tune of 8.7 and 7.1 percent, respectively, and the company lowered guidance to a net loss of $0.03 to $0.04 per share, as compared to earnings per share of $0.03 last year. What’s worse is that comps have been in steady decline since June 2009.

It’s surprising for the company that made a name for itself back in the late ‘80s selling music merchandise (most notably band t-shirts) to mall shoppers. Exponential growth from 1996 on was squarely on the shoulders of savvy licensing deals on items from posters to action figures as well as of-the-moment belts, bags and shoes.

The problem with building a business model based on trends is that a runaway train of success can end in a screeching derailment based on the whims of 14-year-olds. And management needs to stay one step ahead in order to turn the merchandise mix fast if things aren’t moving in the right direction. Though a third Twilight movie, will hit the big screen this summer, the retailer’s analysts aren’t counting on Eclipse to boost sales.

Perhaps team Hot Topic should have paid more attention to sales of Meyer’s books. Lagardère (LGGDF), the parent company of the Hachette Book Group which publishes the Twilight series, knows book sales — even those about vampires — are not immortal. The publisher reported a decline due to “the expected erosion in Stephenie Meyer sales,” which were a quarter of 2009’s first-quarter figures. Sales for the most recent quarter were $551 million, a 6.5% drop from the previous year.

To make up for the negative hit, Hot Topic would do well to figure out an expansion strategy for its Torrid division. The retailer’s 156 plus-size stores rang in with a 6.6 percent increase in net sales and comps up nearly 5 percent. Torrid’s been a solid performer since its establishment in 2001for a variety of reasons. Not only do sizes go up to 28 (where not many other plus-size offerings go) and while styles are on trend, they don’t lean towards the licensed goods that can make Hot Topic look outré — or in the case of a $7 tin of “Edward” bandages — downright ridiculous.

bnet

Related posts:

1. Hot Topic Is On A Hot Streak Thanks To Twilighters
2. The Twilight Economy -Will New Moon Save Hot Topics Again?
3. Stephenie Meyer Dominates Canadian Book Sales for 2009
4. Twilight Saga Helps Book Sales And Raises Students’ Interest In Reading
5. Stephenie Meyer Does It Again

I think it’s more b/c they didn’t sell as much as they did for Twilight, they cut back on their New Moon merchandise and it was b/c Walmart got into it. I think they were stupid b/c they could have carried stuff that Walmart doesn’t and won’t. It’s their own fault.

I love HT but I think they arent gettimg the sales like they did for Twilight for a couple reasons….
1-The New Moon stuff didnt have much of a variety and as usual it was still as expensive. They used the same picture over and over again expecting people to want to buy it because they put a different design around it. Why spend over 20 bucks on a shirt that you can get for 5 at Walmart? They need to change it up and make it worth the money.

2-Everyone is on the bandwagon. When Twilight came out, HT was where to get your merchandise. Now with Target, Walmart, Norstrom etc willing to sell the merch and for a cheaper price, Hot Topic isnt the only market anymore.

3-And no it is not because I am just Team Edward but seriously HT stopped selling the kind of stuff that got them the big sales in the first place. Before they had tons of Edward, Edward and Bella, Forks, and the Cullens merchandise. I went in there after New Moon came out and over half of the stuff was Team Jacob, then there was a lot of wolf pack, and only a fraction of Cullen and Edward. No matter how much Summit shoves Taylor and Jake down our throats there are more Edward and Cullen fans. HT has to remember that but even now if you go on their site for Eclipse merch there is A LOT of Jacob to point that if you hadnt read the books you would think he was the main character instead of Bella and Edward. Yes Jacob has a large role but fans dont read just for Jacob. It is called an Edward and Bella romance for a reason. They’ll get sales with Jake stuff but not nearly as much as they could.

4-Their stuff is too small. Teenagers are NOT the only fans and actually are less than half of the fanbase when surveyed who love Twilight. Plus not all teenagers are petite little girls that wear skinny jeans and can fit extra small shirts. If they want to sell more and reach all Twilighters they have to be willing to sell to all Twilighters. They started selling plus sizes and different sizes in general but HT is known as a store that only sells tiny clothes. I am not plus size but they have to understand that even if you arent, their “extra large” shirts fit more like a medium.

In other words, they need to stop blaming teens and blame themselves. When you dont appeal to a whole fanbase you dont make as much money. They are starting to lack originality and other stores that are bigger in the market are going to take over if they keep it up. I love HT but they dropped the ball with New Moon. I still went in just as much as I did before to see what was new but they always had the same stuff, high priced, and limited in sizes.

Rachelle you totally hit it on the head. Exactly, heck even some of the shirts wouldn’t fit my daughter who is 6. The XL were snug on here, she would have to wear a mens L and she’s not fat or anything. She’s big for 6 but she’s the size of an avg 9 year old. I asked why they weren’t selling NM on DVD when it came out and they said b/c Walmart was and they didn’t want to compete, well that right there says it all. They gave up

They definitely gave up and the thing is that HT has better midnight release parties than Walmart does so a lot of people would have gone and rather chill in the store listening to the soundtrack and hanging out until midnight for the dvd than wait in an uncomfortable line in walmart for the dvd. They gave up and shouldnt have. As for the sizes, you definitely dont want to go into that store if you are feeling bloated because it wont help lol. Thank goodness they started making larger sizes but they should have started that when they began doing Twilight merchandise. Only a small fraction of Twilighters could even try to fit into that stuff. Normal women and teens would have an issue. They are a specialty store and I get that but when you start going under you have to be willing to broaden your target audience. It isnt the fault of the fans or the teenagers. It is bad business strategy that messed them over.