Supply Chain Research

The annual build-up to the release of the latest film in the Star Wars franchise starts with toy releases in April and the unofficial “May the Fourth” Star Wars Day. Sales prospects for film merchandise don’t look good, with a 38% drop in U.S. inbound shipments in the 6 months to April 30 on a year earlier. Yet, that’s mostly due to the financial failure of Toys’R’Us. Excluding it as a buyer shows all other importers’ demand increased by 2% over the same period. It remains to be seen, however, what the effect of the earlier-than-usual release of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” on May 29 will d...