Parents, relatives and friends of kids who want a hatchimal for Christmas are advised by those who had fell in line for hours at Wal-Mart or Target, or searched online for the furry, walking and talking toy bird, to take a global approach in searching for the play thing. Besides the difficulty in looking where to buy the hottest toy for Christmas 2016, the $59.99 retail prices has been jacked up by resellers on eBay.
A California resident asked her sibling in New York and friend in South Korea to look for a hatchimal, but it was her sister-in-law who found and bought one for the four-year-old daughter of her friend in California. The best place to buy one is in Japan, Scandinavia and Hong Kong where there are still stocks of the toy.
Air Shipment To Meet Demand
To address the shortage, Canada-based Spin Master Corp., the company which manufactures the hatchimal, said on Tuesday it would send the cute and furry toy by air, instead of the usual sea shipment to meet high demand for the play thing in the U.S., Canada and U.K., Wall Street Journal reports.
According to research firm NPD Group, the hatchimal is included in the 10 best-selling toys from 11 nations monitored by the group. However, it was removed from the list when it became too hard to buy the item, Frederique Tutt, NPD analyst said.
Toys R Us
Spin Masters Corp. advised people seeking for the hatchimal to check Toys R Us outlets where it delivered a substantial number of the furry toy. But parents were warned to brace their kids for disappointment if they would not receive the toy for Christmas because Toys R Us declined to confirm it if still has any stock.
In U.K., Tesco warned Christmas shoppers that hatchimals are expected to be out-of-stock after Dec. 25. An online survey made by Express found that 63 percent said they are still trying to find one, 21 percent have purchased a Hatchimal and 16 percent do not want to buy one.
