ty beanie babies first came out in 1999.
ty beanie babies first came out in 1999.
when did ty beanie babies first come out?
1999
in 1993 ty inc. launched beanie babies, a series of small plush toys shaped like various animals. he focused on selling the $5 or $10 beanie babies to small independent toy stores rather than large retailers like toys r us or wal mart, preferring to have multiple small clients rather than a handful of large ones. he drove up demand by artificially restricting items shipped to each store below requested orders, and by creating deliberate shortages by discontinuing old items and introducing new ones in an essentially arbitrary manner rather than the more common toy industry pattern of releasing new items once or twice a year. a secondary market developed when collectors began reselling the toys at greatly inflated prices, and various books, magazines and accessories like carrying cases devoted to beanie babies appeared. at the peak of the beanie craze circa 1999, the privately owned ty inc. is believed to have earned over $700 million in profits in a year. the beanie babies phenomenon, coupled with the rise of the internet, is cited as elevating warner to billionaire status with a net worth of over $2.5 billion.
ty warner
teenie beanie babies returned to mcdonald's in july 2009, featuring beanie babies 2.0, the subseries of ty beanie babies. consumers could log onto http://www.ty.com/ and play online with their new teenie beanie as a marketing decision to raise public awareness and garner interest in the beanie babies 2.0 virtual pets. originally, there was a 30-day trial period for playing with the toys online, but now the company has decided to allow consumers to keep their virtual pets for an undisclosed period of time (albeit indefinite.)
teenie beanies