Mattel Turns To AI As Toy Sales Soften Ahead of Holiday Season

Mattel is banking on artificial intelligence to boost its "creativity" as the toy industry faces additional declines going into the crucial holiday shopping season.

Company chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz told Yahoo Finance that AI and technology would "play a key role in how we continue to evolve what we do."

"At the core, Mattel is a creative company driven by innovation," Kreiz said during a Monday interview at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference in San Francisco. "We see AI as a tool, as an opportunity to elevate our creativity even more than we have done in the past."

Kreiz said AI could help the toy giant in "multiple ways," including increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of time needed to get new products to market.

"It's about cost optimization and ultimately will also be about integrating into product," he said. "But it's a bit early to talk about how we are looking to do it."

Toy sales in the U.S. fell by $2.4 billion, or 8%, last year and global sales dipped by 1% during the first six months of this year, according to market research company Circana.

Kreiz said Mattel expected "the industry to still decline, but less than what we thought at the start of the year" and "return to growth after time."

"The fundamentals of the toy industry are very healthy. Toys play into a fundamental human behavior of play, which is not going away," he said. "Parents will always prioritize spending money on their children, especially when it comes to quality product and trusted brands."

In addition to its core business, Kreiz said Mattel was also focusing on expanding "outside the toy aisle."

"And for us, this is about content — film and television, location-based entertainment, consumer product and merchandise, and, very importantly, digital as well," he said.

Following the smash success of last year's "Barbie" movie, which grossed $1.45 billion worldwide, more than a dozen other features based on Mattel toys are reportedly in development.

They include Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, the Polly Pocket and American Girl dolls, and the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game.

Mattel's stock price dipped 2% Monday morning but appeared to be rallying and was trading at $18.74, down 1.2%, at 10:45 a.m. ET.