Marketplace looks at why the Barbie flagship store in Shanghai is not a huge success:
This saleslady hawks Barbie-brand eye shadow. Was $17, now $12. T-shirts are half off.
It’s a big comedown from the store’s ambitious opening in March. Back then, brand designer Richard Dickson promoted the Barbie-brand wedding dress for real-life brides: $10,000.
Richard Dickson: So you getting married. And oh my God, a Vera wedding dress, how fantastic. If you buy the Barbie Vera Wang wedding dress, you get a collector doll that wears the exact same dress, and we will sculpt that doll in your likeness.
Now, Chinese shoppers seem to have left Barbie at the altar. Parent company Mattel has replaced the store’s general manager and revised its sales targets.
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