News Articles all about the Webkinz craze from how it got started to how popular it is right now.

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Wild For Webkinz -- A New York Times Article

Remember the initial craze over Cabbage Patch Kids? Well, Webkinz plush animals have become an offline and online phenomenon.

Made by Ganz in Woodbridge, Ontario, the toys exist offline--in the child's room--and online at Webkinz.com where each one has its own avatar. The toys sell for about $11 at retail--that is, if you can find them. Shown here is the cocker spaniel.

"I'm taking orders for July shipments right now," Patrick Yap, manager of B Chemist, a department store and pharmacy in New York that sells toys, told The New York Times. "This is bigger than Beanie Babies. With those you're playing all by yourself. With these, you can do that, too, but you can also go on the site and chitchat with your friends."

Company CEO Howard Ganz came up with the idea for Webkinz, spokeswoman Susan McVeigh told The New York Times. "He wanted to pay attention to what kids are doing these days, and what they're doing is going online," she said. The toys were introduced in April 2005. Sales last year neared the 1 million mark. Shown here is Webkinz cheeky monkey.

Some Webkinz animals, like Sherbet bunny, are commanding premiums many times over their original retail price of $11.

Each toy comes with a "secret code," which owners use to register their animal at Webkinz World online. Kids can keep track of how their animal is doing with the "happy," "health" and "hunger" meters online.

Each animal gets its own room, which its new owner can decorate.

What makes Webkinz so popular? "This takes everything a child loves about a plush toy--the nurturing of it, the fantasy of raising your pet--and brings it to the next level, where in the interactive world you really do look after it," Ganz company spokeswoman McVeigh told The New York Times.

Webkinz Mania -- Good story about the popularity of Webkinz.

An Action News Special Report

By Lisa Thomas Laury

March 30, 2007 - They may look like Beanie Babies, but these cute, cuddly toys are much more. These stuffed animals are a key to a virtual world called Webkinz.

"This is becoming as big as the Beanie Baby and I don't think there has been anything in between as big," said Renay Bernstein of Touch Of Class in Lafayette Hill. The plushed pets are flying off the shelf.

"I have so many new customers coming in. People have been driving for up to an hour to get here, because they know we have them," he said.

They cost about ten dollars. The smaller version, the Lil'kinz, cost about seven dollars.

They were first marketed toward the lucrative "tween" market, but a much younger age group has also caught on.

For 5-year-old Alex Prusky, the hardest part was picking a name for his new pet.

So what exactly is the draw to these ordinary looking stuffed animals? Kids tell us they love Webkinz because they can interact with their pet online.

Webkinz come with a secret code that kids plug into the website, Webkinz.com. Parents with whom we spoke say the site teaches kids responsibility because they must take care of their pet by feeding it, playing with it, and building it a virtual room to live.

"I put them in different houses, and go on one for five minutes and another for five minutes. Sometimes I get carried away and go on one for like an hour," said 10-year-old Sydney Kessel.

Kids also learn math and science online. On their "online" Webkinz cell phone, they can also interact with friends through pre-set phrases sent by instant messaging. The company says this prevents online predators gaining access to your kids.

Webkinz creator Ganz would not tell us how many users have registers with its site, but it's estimated there are over a million Webkinz online.

The maker does not advertise. They rely on the pet phenomenon spreading by word of mouth, playground to playground.

Some teachers don't want the craze to spread classroom to classroom. At Whitemarsh Elementary in Lafayette Hill, Mrs. Miller's kindergarten class is a "Webkinz" free zone.

"They've became a little bit of a distraction," she said.

A teacher for fifteen years, Miller also compares Webkinz mania to the Beanie Baby craze.

"We decided to make a Webkinz rule in our room. They can bring their Webkinz in if they have a new Webkinz, introduce it to the class, and then the Webkinz goes home," said miller.

The Sherbet Bunny Webkinz was released in February for Easter. It sold out in days.

Webkinz Internet Craze

NY Times article about the Webkinz craze

Fuzzy Critters With High Prices Offer Lesson in New Concepts
By BOB TEDESCHI
Published: March 26, 2007

IF the face of e-commerce 1.0 was the Pets.com sock puppet, will the new face of e-commerce be a Webkinz?

Krisanne Johnson for The New York Times

Lila Chu, 11, and several friends played with Webkinz stuffed animals at B Chemist, an emporium in Manhattan.
The cuddly stuffed animals, which are in exceedingly high demand among the elementary school set, have also gained notice among Internet executives for their ability to bridge the online and offline worlds. And although no one expects others to replicate the breakaway success of Webkinz in, say, the automotive industry, analysts said there are many lessons to be learned from these plush toys.

“There’s an opportunity here to change the way retailers, manufacturers and media companies think about new concepts,” said Kenneth Cassar, an analyst with Nielsen//NetRatings, an Internet consulting group. “They need to challenge themselves to pursue new products and offerings without the burden of thinking as either an offline product or online product first.”

Webkinz, which are manufactured by the privately held Ganz Corporation in Woodbridge, Ontario, break that mold by existing simultaneously in the child’s room and on Webkinz World (Webkinz.com). Each of the roughly 45 Webkinz animals, which sell for about $11 at retail (if you can find them), comes with its own avatar that lives on the site.

Webkinz World is a cross between an online gaming site, an educational site and the virtual world of Second Life, but with animals instead of people. Youngsters may also use the site for text chats with friends with whom they have shared their online identity.

The idea for Webkinz, she said, came from Howard Ganz, the company’s chief executive. “He wanted to pay attention to what kids are doing these days, and what they’re doing is going online,” said Susan McVeigh, a Ganz spokeswoman. (Mr. Ganz declined an interview request.)

Ganz, which introduced Webkinz in April 2005, stopped publicly commenting on sales last year as the toys approached the 1 million mark. Since then, their popularity has spiked, with stores across the nation struggling to maintain inventory and eBay sellers demanding a steep premium for certain animals, like Sherbet the rabbit, which sold last week for about $40. Some discontinued Webkinz have been sold on eBay for well over $100, and an eBay auction for a dog and cat set that closed yesterday attracted a winning bid of $1,525.

Patrick Yap, manager of B Chemist, a department store and pharmacy in Manhattan that sells toys, said he has more than 700 back orders for Webkinz.

“I’m taking orders for July shipments right now,” he said. “This is bigger than Beanie Babies. With those you’re playing all by yourself. With these, you can do that, too, but you can also go on the site and chit-chat with your friends.”

That is precisely the point, Ms. McVeigh said. “They get to choose how they play,” she said. “This takes everything a child loves about a plush toy — the nurturing of it, the fantasy of raising your pet — and brings it to the next level, where in the interactive world you really do look after it.”

Since last April, the site has risen from 325,000 unique visitors to 2.8 million last month, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Time spent per user has dropped off dramatically since April, when the average user logged nearly three hours per month on the site. Now the average is 11 minutes. Ms. McVeigh, of Ganz, speculates that the average may have dropped because parents may be limiting the time their children spend on the site.

Mr. Cassar, of Nielsen//NetRatings said the Webkinz craze underscores the fact that the nation’s roughly 160 million Internet users spend just 26.5 hours per month online, or 5 percent of their non-sleeping hours. “But Internet-based and Internet-enabled technologies are beginning to transform the way we live the other 95 percent of our lives,” he said. “That’s a trend that may ultimately be far more important than what we do within the narrow slice of our days that we actually spend on the Web.”

Online companies like Craigslist, Match.com, Meetup and Monster.com facilitate offline activity. Offline companies like Wal-Mart, Target and Gap have extended their sales online. Video game companies like Xbox now allow players to compete against others online.

These companies have effectively built bridges between the offline and online worlds, Mr. Cassar said, but Webkinz is unusual in that it began as a product that “existed equally prominently in the real world and the virtual world. Other companies need to challenge themselves to pursue new products and offerings without the burden of thinking as either an offline product or an online product first.”

Judging by Meetup’s recent growth, adult Internet users, too, are more actively integrating the Web with their offline lives. The company, which provides an online service that helps groups organize and meet offline, has seen a sharp upturn in business this quarter. Users are on pace to conduct more than three times the number of meetings they did in the first quarter of 2006, according to Scott Heiferman, Meetup’s chief executive, and company revenues have spiked by about 40 percent in the last three months alone.

Meetup, which is privately held and based in Manhattan, does not disclose actual revenue figures, but Mr. Heiferman said it is on pace to organize roughly 75,000 meetings this quarter. The business recently began exploring an advertising model to help capitalize on the fact that marketers are increasingly interested in small communities that are passionate about a particular subject or activity.

Mr. Heiferman said Webkinz is “a brilliant idea,” in that it melds the online and offline worlds. His own company’s approach, though, is different in that it appeals to people who may have had enough of exclusively online connections.

“We’re living our lives more and more in front of a screen,” Mr. Heiferman said. “You can easily go through a good part of life just looking at your iPod, your cellphone, the computer, the TV, and I think there’s a feeling of, ‘O.K., I need the real world and real people and real teddy bears and real community.’ ”

Webkinz Ann Arbor News Article

Nice article from the Ann Arbor News about Webkinz. Includes information on where to find Webkinz in the Ann Arbor / Detroit area.

Webkinz toys rare species at area stores Plush animals have Web site for their owners' interaction

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

BY STEFANIE MURRAY

News Business Reporter

The fuzzy little plush toys called Webkinz sold well over the Christmas holiday, Tricia Masing said.

Then, something peculiar happened. Driven only word-of-mouth from kids, in January - normally a slow sales month for toy retailers - sales of Webkinz took off, and now Ann Arbor-area stores like Masing's Tree Town Toys, Learning Express and Nicola's Books can't keep the stuffed animals in stock.

"They are just kid magnets,'' said Masing, who owns Tree Town with her husband Hans. "Kids walk into the store and go straight to the Webkinz. ... It's good, wholesome fun.''

In less than two years - and primarily in the past few months, with no advertising - Webkinz have become a nationwide craze.

They are both physical and virtual toys. Each comes with a "secret code'' that allows a child to log onto Webkinz World - www.webkinz.com - to care for and play with the online version of their "adopted'' pet. That includes everything from decorating its room to feeding and dressing it, playing games, attending events, shopping and instant messaging with other friends who have Webkinz.

For kids growing up accustomed to computers and using the Internet, some say Webkinz represent an overdue marriage of traditional toys with virtual reality.

The site is age-appropriate and monitored, according to Canadian parent company Ganz Inc., a gift wholesaler and distributor. No personal information is required to register.

Stores across the country are waiting for shipments on back order, and some Webkinz are selling on secondary markets like eBay for several hundred dollars. Webkinz typically retail for about $11 and a sister toy, Lil'Kinz, for $8 each.

"We anticipated growth after Christmas, but nobody could have predicted how huge this took off,'' said Ganz spokeswoman Susan McVeigh. "We have been scrambling to get our manufacturers to make more. We are close to catching up now. By the end of spring, we'll be back on top.''

Because the company only sells its 41 styles of Webkinz and 25 Lil'Kinz to independent North American toy retailers and not to mass-market stores like Target, it's given a boost to smaller stores during a normally slow time of year. For some, Webkinz are reminiscent of the craze for Beanie Babies, the bean-bag plush toys of the late 1990s that caused adults to fight over and horde the stuffed animals.

I don't know if it will get as insane and out of control as Beanie Babies because I don't think the grandmas and moms will be collecting these,'' said Laurie Wicks, who owns Georgetown Gifts in Ann Arbor's Georgetown Mall. "It reminds me, of my age group, of Cabbage Patch dolls.''

Wicks said she still has a January order that hasn't arrived and 500 units total she's waiting for. Most stores advocate calling ahead to see if the Webkinz are in stock, although many sell them first-come, first-served.

Where to find Webkinz

Crown House of Gifts, 734-761-2518.

English Gardens, 734-332-7900.

Georgetown Gifts, 734-971-1068.

Happy House, 734-662-9635.

Learning Express, 734-997-0707.

Nicola's Books, 734-662-0600.

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital gift shop, 734-712-3445.

Tree Town Toys, 734-929-6545.

University of Michigan Hospital gift shop, 734-936-5975.

Source: www.webkinz.com

Webkinz Teddy Bear 2.0 -- Webkinz Toys With Online Lives Are Transforming Play

"Teddy Bear, Version 2.0" Toys With Online Lives Are Transforming Play

By Ylan Q. Mui

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; Page A01

In real life, all that 10-year-old Megan Leffew's cuddly stuffed animals can do is sit on her bed in her room in Rockville. But online, they can play air hockey, whip up a fish-and-chips dinner or take a dip in a hot tub.

They are called Webkinz, huggable, plush toys with elaborate virtual lives that spotlight how children's play is changing, moving effortlessly between the real world and the Web. And in less than two years, they have become must-have items for tech-savvy 'tweeners.

VIDEO | Washington Post staff writer Ylan Q. Mui tours the Webkinz Web site, an example of how new technology is changing how children can play with their toys. With Webkinz, an ordinary stuffed animal comes to life online, allowing the owners to interact with their friends, build a play room for their "pets" and play interactive games.

"Play always reflects the adult world," said Christopher Byrne, an independent toy analyst who goes by the Toy Guy. "It's kids aspiring to have a MySpace page, but cognitively and developmentally, they're not ready for that. This gives them the experience of sharing and connecting with friends."

Webkinz combines classic stuffed animals with popular online trends, such as social networking and instant messaging. Other toys and Web sites have made similar efforts. Remember the late-1990s craze of Tamagotchi, billed as the world's first digital pet? More recently, Neopets.com began manufacturing such plush toys as the "cybunny," which mirrored the virtual animals on its site. But Webkinz claims to be the first to marry the physical and the virtual from its inception.

"It's a gaming concept, it's a nurturing concept, it's a highly interactive concept," said Paul Kurnit, who heads KidShop, a consulting firm. "It's really working on a lot of cylinders."

Each stuffed animal comes with an identification number that gives children access to the Webkinz site ( http://www.webkinz.com/). There, owners discover their pets' online personas ("I'll let you in on a secret," reads the profile of a cocker spaniel. "I love fish sticks, and I've always wanted a bunny clown.") Children can buy clothes for their pets using virtual money, outfitting them in baggy jeans or pink tutus. They can also decorate their pets' virtual rooms with such items as a stove, a boy-band poster or a bed shaped like a pirate ship.

For many children, Webkinz offers a "Velveteen Rabbit" moment: a chance for their real-world toys to come to life and play with their friends. Snuggling next to your Webkinz before falling asleep is fun, kids say. Designing outfits for a pet in the Webkinz SuperModelz game and having your friends vote on their favorite is even better.

Children can also train for the instant messaging marathons of their older siblings' worlds by sending preset phrases to their friends. They can even invite pets over to hang out -- virtually, of course.

Last week, one of Megan Leffew's friends held a birthday party for her hippo, Cotton Candy, right in the middle of the Leffew family dinner. Megan excused herself from the table to log on to the Webkinz site, where four other girls were waiting. They played a four-in-a-row game and exchanged virtual presents. (Megan gave Cotton Candy a gumball machine and a snowflake sweater.) There were a birthday cake and goodie bags -- and then Megan's mom, Sandra, finally persuaded her to come back to real-world dinner.

Megan has 10 Webkinz. The first arrival was a plush golden retriever named Scruffy, in the summer. Then came a monkey named Cheeky. Christmas brought a unicorn named Sparkle, a lion called Leo and a polar bear dubbed Icy. Lily the Chihuahua, Ivana the white terrier, identical puppies Lovey Dovey and Dovey Lovey, and Puffy the hippo followed in rapid succession.

She sleeps with them every night and plays with them online several times a week for an hour or so at a time. She has a maze of rooms for her pets, including a back yard with a hot tub where they can swim. On a recent afternoon, she checked in with the twin puppies after being at school all day.

"How are you doing?" Megan asked Lovey Dovey while the other snoozed on its virtual bed.

"We had a big party," the pup responded. "Just kidding."

Ganz, a family-owned wholesale gift company based in Ontario, introduced the toys in April 2005. Spokeswoman Susan McVeigh said it has not spent any money on advertising. Word has spread virally, one playground to the next. The company said the site has more than 1 million members, both boys and girls, ages 6 to 13. McVeigh would not discuss sales but said the toys' popularity has "grown exponentially." Webkinz generally sell for $7.50 to $10 and are available at Hallmark Gold Crown stores; independent retailers; and hospital gift shops, where Ganz previously had contracts to sell its other products. The toys come with a one-year membership to the site.

Rachel Bolton, a Hallmark spokeswoman, said the toys have become so popular that some stores have waiting lists. She said demand began in the Northeast, then slowly moved down the coast into the South. At Go Bananas, a toy store in Ashburn, owner Mary Holmes said she gets 20 to 30 calls each day from people looking for Webkinz. The craze is now spreading to the Midwest. Larry Benson, who operates three Hallmark stores near Kansas City, said a customer came in with three kids begging for Webkinz.

Byrne said Webkinz have yet to achieve the mass-market success of their Beanie Babies predecessors or brands such as Dora the Explorer. But the children who have become hooked are wildly loyal.

Some are even finding that their Webkinz can come to life offline if they just use -- gasp! -- some imagination.

Megan's friend Kathryn Roche, 10, made her seven Webkinz a house in her basement in Potomac. There are three couches, made from scarves and blankets, and a desk created from a stack of books. Another friend, Annamarie Lukish, 9, likes to dress her Webkinz in the clothes made for her American Girl dolls. Then she makes believe her unicorn and pink poodle are mean girls terrorizing the other Webkinz.

But Annamarie said she prefers playing with her pets online "because there's a lot more to do." Her mother, however, is of a different mind.

Before Donna Lukish allows her daughter to get on the computer, she makes her run around the block a few times, weather permitting. At least that way she's sure to get some exercise.

"I was making dinner, and she was on my husband's laptop. And I hear her saying, 'Oh, we're going to go out for a walk now,' as if she's talking to a pet," Lukish said. "Then I look over at the laptop, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, there's something wrong with this picture.' "

The Story Of Webkinz -- The Story about how Ganz came up with the idea for Webkinz

The Story Of Webkinz World

At Ganz, we study the gift and toy marketplace to figure out what consumers want. We asked ourselves "What do children love?" Here's what we came up with:

Dress up. Kids have always loved playing dress up with dolls.
Building Blocks
Nurturing a "bab" - both boys and girls like to be the "parent"
Virtual worlds that mimic the real world
Memory games to challenge kids and adults alike
Collecting - cards, toys, music...you name it and kids will collect it

We then asked "Where are young people spending their entertainment time?" More and more, kids are going to the Internet. Why? It's interactive. Instead of passively watching television, the Internet gives kids choice. They can play games, chat with friends and express themselves. They decide how to have fun.

So the question now became how could we enhance the interactivity of the Internet for kids, to create a safe, challenging and entertaining site for both boys and girls, where they would feel at home.

We started with a line of adorable plush toys that we called Webkinz^TM.

Each Webkinz pet carries a secret code that can only be revealed after purchase. After logging into Webkinz World (www.webkinz.com), kids enter the code, adopt and name their pet, and are invited into a virtual world where they feed and care for their new pal, dress it, take it to the vet, play games and do trivia quizzes with other Webkinz members.

With the code as their key, kids can join Webkinz World without giving out any personal information such as their e-mail, last name or phone number.

Adopting a Webkinz, naming it, feeding it and taking it to the vet...it's like having a real pet! But there's so much more to Webkinz World! Kids can create unique spaces for their pets, choosing wallpaper. design themes, furniture and more. They can add bathrooms (that work!), gardens, functioning kitchens and and even exercise equipment.

Webkinz members can also safely "chat", using Kinzchat^TM. Kinzchat is constructed messaging pre-written sentence options that are selected and sent from one member to a "friend". Members choose from over 900 sentence options to construct their own questions, comments and conversations. Members can issues challenges for games, invite pals to hang out and watch TV in their room, or talk about their pets. Kinzchat gives kids flexibility and lots of topics!

Everyone enjoys a little retail therapy, and we've got a lot of cool stuff to take care of your pet and decorate your room. We have our very own virtual store - the W Shop. Kids earn Kinzcash by playing games, doing small jobs and answering questions in Quizzy's corner.

Quizzy's covers school subjects, so the kids have fun and learn at the same time. And since Quizzy's is THE best place to earn Kinzcash, kids are encouraged to keep learning. We've mixed trivia, memory and general knowledge in a fun, all-ages format.

Another way that kids can earn Kinzcash is by visiting our Arcade. The games in the Arcade are all kid-friendly and lots of fun. Kids definitely love our games, and the best part is; we're always adding more!

To ensure that Webkinz World is a place that kids WANT to visit every day, we've created daily events that make earning Kinzcash even more exciting. Our "Today Activities" page shows kids a day's worth of special events. There may be extra bonus plays on games, W Shop coupons to cash in, daily draws, and much, much more.

We have a very creative team of artists, writers, animators and game developers who are adding new and exciting features to Webkinz world every week. For example, we create a "Dress your Pet" feature that allows users to buy clothes and dress up their Webkinz! The Tournament section allows kids to challenge other members to games and keep track of their scores, while we encourage members to suggest new room design themes, invent recipes and write stories and poetry for Webkinz Newz.

We think that Webkinz World in one of the best sites on the Internet for kids ages 6-13 (younger kids may require assistance with some site features). It is highly interactive and completely safe and secure. Kids can learn to care for a pet, and most importantly, use their imaginations.

Webkinz. The Hottest Toys With The Coolest Website!^TM

We are not affiliated with Webkinz or Ganz. We put this site together for your information and recreational use only.
Images courtesy of Webkinz and other online sources. Thanks!