beyondbrics

“Barbie is popular everywhere but when you go to Shanghai, mothers there are so passionate about her.” – That’s what Richard Dickson, Barbie’s general manager said ahead of opening a 6-floor flagship store in downtown Shanghai.

But Shanghai mothers’ passion, it seems, didn’t translate into sales. On Monday morning the vast Barbie store closed its doors, becoming the latest foreign retailer to hit the rocks in China.

According to Bloomberg, Barbie’s parent – Mattel – did not give a reason for the closure, and promised that this was certainly not the end of Barbie in China.

“Mattel continues to be committed to developing the Barbie brand in China,” the company said in the statement. “In 2011, the company will take all of the great experiences previously only available at the Barbie concept store in Shanghai to many more consumers in broader areas across China.”

The move comes hot on the heels of Best Buy’s decision to abandon its branded stories in China, while Home Depot beat a retreat from the Chinese market in January.

But Barbie’s closure perhaps won’t come as much of a surprise to those following the fortunes of Mattel’s most famous marque. Sales targets were lowered over a year ago, as visitors failed to turn into renminbi at the cashier’s desk, and then failed to turn up altogether.

Retail experts saw the writing on the wall a while ago. Shaun Rein from the China Market Research Group foretold Barbie’s failure on Forbes.com over a year:

Barbie made the mistake of paying too little attention to local consumer tastes. Chinese women tend to like cutesy, girlish pink clothes (think Hello Kitty), not the sexy and skimpy kind Fields designed. Odd as it sounds, Snoopy-branded clothes, cartoon logos and all, are hot sellers for women entering the white-collar workforce.

He also pointed to pricing problems (i.e. things were too expensive) and the fact that big flagship stores don’t benefit from existing footfall – unlike setting up shop in one of Shanghai’s big glossy malls.

Blogger Christine Tan – who muses on China at Shanghai Shiock! – blamed the store’s ‘terrible location, terrible storefront, lack of strong interest in Barbie in China, and the fact that the shop soon felt like a ghost town’.

Media Markt, watch out.

Related reading:
Selling in China: be unique or don’t bother, beyondbrics
Chinese shop till they drop in Japan, beyondbrics