News: 'Everyone has eye on India...'
(RTR 21/06/2006) New York - While licensed products ranging from Superman coffee mugs to Jeep-branded strollers pervade US store shelves, the makers of such merchandise are studying how best to gain a foothold in the Chinese and Indian marketplaces.
"Everyone has an eye on China and India," said Charles Riotto, president of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association, or LIMA, at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York on Tuesday.
Riotto said the two countries are still in the very early stages of licensing, given the countries' lack of a broad-based understanding of the concept and the prevalence of counterfeiting.
One turning point for licensing in China could be the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he said. The Chinese government owns the licensing rights to those games, and Riotto said the licensing industry is hoping those rights will lead to more widespread understanding in China of how licensing works and the necessity to crack down on counterfeit products.
Riotto said LIMA has an office in Shanghai, which gives it a chance to explain licensing to various Chinese government agencies.
"We entered that market with the understanding that this is going to be a long-term process," he said.
LIMA does not yet have an office in India, he said, because it would not support itself.
But he said makers of licensed products are eager to enter the market given the vast size of India's population and the high percentage of the population that speaks English.
In terms of U.S. licensing, Riotto said manufacturers paid $5.952 billion in licensing royalties in the United States in 2005, up 1.8 percent from 2004, according to LIMA's annual report on U.S. royalty revenues conducted by researchers at the Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School.
Riotto said this was the first time in the eight years that LIMA has conducted the survey that all categories of licensing -- from art to nonprofit to music -- showed growth.
"To me, that shows our industry is very healthy across the board," he said.
Entertainment and character licensing still dominates the field with a 44 percent share of the market, LIMA found. But corporations are becoming savvier licensors, with trademarks and corporate brands coming in second with an 18 percent share.
"What we've seen over the last couple of years is corporate brands using licensing to create a lifestyle image for themselves," he said.
"Everyone has an eye on China and India," said Charles Riotto, president of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association, or LIMA, at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York on Tuesday.
Riotto said the two countries are still in the very early stages of licensing, given the countries' lack of a broad-based understanding of the concept and the prevalence of counterfeiting.
One turning point for licensing in China could be the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he said. The Chinese government owns the licensing rights to those games, and Riotto said the licensing industry is hoping those rights will lead to more widespread understanding in China of how licensing works and the necessity to crack down on counterfeit products.
Riotto said LIMA has an office in Shanghai, which gives it a chance to explain licensing to various Chinese government agencies.
"We entered that market with the understanding that this is going to be a long-term process," he said.
LIMA does not yet have an office in India, he said, because it would not support itself.
But he said makers of licensed products are eager to enter the market given the vast size of India's population and the high percentage of the population that speaks English.
In terms of U.S. licensing, Riotto said manufacturers paid $5.952 billion in licensing royalties in the United States in 2005, up 1.8 percent from 2004, according to LIMA's annual report on U.S. royalty revenues conducted by researchers at the Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School.
Riotto said this was the first time in the eight years that LIMA has conducted the survey that all categories of licensing -- from art to nonprofit to music -- showed growth.
"To me, that shows our industry is very healthy across the board," he said.
Entertainment and character licensing still dominates the field with a 44 percent share of the market, LIMA found. But corporations are becoming savvier licensors, with trademarks and corporate brands coming in second with an 18 percent share.
"What we've seen over the last couple of years is corporate brands using licensing to create a lifestyle image for themselves," he said.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 17:09
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