What do blankets with arm holes, robotic hamsters, and magnifying glasses have in common? Imports of all of these products are WAY up for this holiday season. Apparently, in America, it's important for people to stay cozy while maintaining mobility with their TV remote. God Bless the Snuggie. Kids want to play with intelligent robot hamsters. Take a look at Zhu Zhu Pets. And Sherlock Holmes International (a Sherlock Holmes Fan Club...I'm not kidding: website) may be planning a secret international conference for all of it's members because (it's elementary my dear Watson) magnifying glass importations are up almost 300% this season!
Holiday season imports are going full steam, and Panjiva's latest offering, Trade Trends, displays trade data for a given product over the last few years up until the most recent month. One can also see which countries are shipping more of a given product and which are shipping less. Talk about transparency! It's a great way to get an idea of trade flow and which countries might be producing more of certain kinds of products over time (perhaps indicating a country's forming competitive advantage?), seasonality of products, and which products retailers are expecting to do well in the near future. Check out the data below to see this holiday season's hits and misses:
Not so cool this Year:
Sorry Miley. You may want to buy a Snuggie and stay at home this year. You're not old enough to party yet anyways...
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