Mr. Winning: Zapf Creation today is the leading manufacturer of play and function dolls with accessories in Europe. The company was founded in 1932 and was established by Max and Rosa Zapf in Rödental, Germany where we still are right now. After the war, we started to doing business here from Rödental. In 1958, the second generation, Brigitte and Willi Zapf, took over and they started the internationalization of the company, mainly in the European markets.
TWST: Which are your core markets in Europe?
Mr. Winning: We are operating all over Europe. The core market certainly is still Germany where we have a market share of roughly 60%, followed by the UK where our market share is about 30%. We are also in Spain, France, Italy, and Central Europe.
TWST: Can you talk a little bit about your approach to market?
Mr. Winning: We normally enter a market with a special play and function doll that we promote through TV-advertising. We especially focus on the Christmas period, but if we have a product launch in spring we will also support it with a big TV campaign. After this, we add lots of accessories so that we establish a play concept, and then the next step is to get more products, both play and function dolls and accessories, on the shelves, so that in the end we hopefully have a full range on the market. Normally that takes about four to five years. For example, in Spain we started in 1993 with the BABY born doll, which is our most famous pay and function doll. We are currently number two in Spain behind the big local player and we have a market share of roughly 20%.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ZPFG.DE
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