The ongoing spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus could bring some unwanted changes to the toy market. It could also delay some new toys like Baby Yoda, Gizmodo reports.
The outbreak has already led to cancelled conferences, delayed movies and conventions. It also brought to a halt many factories after workers there were diagnosed with the virus.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Hasbro filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that notes it anticipates a general impact on its production facilities in China. It also says that the coronavirus already has impacted some of the manufacturing and shipping abilities of the company.
Basically this means that the company is expecting delays to some toys and products. And if the outbreak worsens, then would refrain from going to the shops or even shopping online for a while. This will mean lower sales and problems for toy companies in general.
Hasbro says that overall everything is still on track for the year. Despite that the company is already developing further plans to address the impact. “While we have developed and continue to develop plans to help mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus to our business, the efforts will not completely prevent our business from being adversely affected,” the filing continues, “and the longer the outbreak impacts supply and demand the more negative the impact it will have on our business, revenues and earnings, and the more limited our ability will be to try and make up for delayed or lost product development, production and sales.”
So far Hasbro hasn’t announced any delays to products.
