If Christmas was the breeding season for the electronic hamsters known as Zhu Zhu pets, this year expect to see an explosion in the population of the Guangdong-made rodents.
Shoppers snapped up millions of the toy pets at Toys 'R' Us stores around the world. In coming months, the retailer will offer a wider variety, more accessories and new characters to make the fuzzy pet a playmate not just for girls but also for boys, said Gerald Storch, the chairman and chief executive of the largest United States retailer that specialises in toys.
The pet toy was in such demand that shoppers queued up in snowstorms before stores opened at 6am during Christmas, Storch said.
About a million Zhu Zhu pets were sold during Christmas week alone across 850 stores in the US, he said in an exclusive interview.
'It was the toy of the year,' said Storch, whose wife queued up at 6am one day and has collected 25 of them. 'We expect to sell more this year.'
A Zhu Zhu pet costs only US$9.99, but it has a wide range of accessories such as a car, boat, 'funhouse', a tunnel and ramps as well as a play set priced at about US$130.