Mattel Expands Test for Plastic Sidekick

Mattel Inc., which has been testing an adjustable plastic sidekick display since last winter, has expanded the test to 600 stores and has expectations for further use of the new configuration."We hope that the test confirms what we already know intuitively about the display," says Sharon Verduzco, director of customized products for the El Segundo, Calif.-based toy maker. "If so, we will open its use to all of our customers who can use that kind of vehicle and who can support it."The display, created by Side-Kick Corp. and distributed through O'Brien Industries Inc. (OBI) of Cypress, Calif., consists of a clear styrene plastic side-kick unit measuring 13 inches wide and a maximum of 48 inches high. The key to its success lies in its flexibility: Its back panel features a grid design for hook and shelf placement at every inch top to bottom and half inch side to side. This allows a variety of shelving configurations to be attached, and shelves are available in depths of 5, 6 and 7.7 inches. Hooks for attaching the unit to pegboard, slatwall, end rack or a metal stand are available in single-prong sizes of 2, 4, 5 and 6 inches, as well as in tongue-blade versions of 5, 6 and 7 inches."We needed this capability to accommodate all sizes of our products," Verduzco says. "Even in one line, such as Hot Wheels, there are lots of packaging variations, and this sidekick offers us a great deal of flexibility in a permanent unit."Mattel has been searching for a way to satisfy their customers' requests for prepacked packages for existing display units, she explains. That led to the company shipping in corrugated configurations two years ago. "The material doesn't offer the same possibilities, and it wears out quickly," she says. Last year, OBI proposed a plastic version, which Mattel approved. "It looks so terrific that we thought this was the way to replace our corrugated vehicles."The sidekick began a test last November in one market for a major retailer, and that test ran through January, she says. It proved successful enough that the account, which she declined to name, expanded it in April to include 600 stores. Mattel also is testing the concept with some drug stores and supermarkets that can handle the display, she adds, and another major retailer based in Michigan also may test it, although that remains tentative.The appeal for Mattel comes from its ability to ship the sidekick prepacked, and then later ship another product line that can be stocked into the existing display. The new product's size and shape are immaterial, since Mattel will ship all the required headers as well as different shelf pegs and shelves in the needed widths to accommodate the new product. The sidekick features a special slot at the top to allow headers to be slipped in and out, and it also offers shelf stripping for UPC codes and other pricing information.A variety of products are planned for use in the sidekick on a rotating basis, Verduzco says. These include various Barbie stock-keeping units, Polly Pockets, Gack, and Water Jewel versions of Aladdin and Jasmine. Both boys' and girls' lines will be included, she adds.No date has been set for expanding the display to other accounts at this point, she says, with other tests possible first.

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