Webkinz have become a blinding success in the two and a bit years that they’ve been around us. Now that Webkinz are a huge hit - just like most famous things, they are starting to get… errrm… similar coutnerparts.

Webkinz were created by Ganz in 2005 and have now taken America and Canada by storm! The latest Webkinz, the Black Cat Webkinz has been snapped up almost instantaneously. The Black Cat Webkinz was meant to come out for Halloween, but, as with most commercial products now, the Black Cat Webkinz has found its way onto our shelves and Webkinz Stores two months prior to Halloween. If you’ve already got a webkinz black cat, then you might want to name it with our 40 Names For Your Webkinz Black Cat article.

Because Webkinz have become so popular, many people are trying their best to take some of that “thunder” and use the now powerful Webkinz brand to their advantage. Many Webkinz sites online now have been a culpret of this, but are changing now.

One of the biggest reasons why Webkinz has become so popular is not only because of their amazingly high quality, or their extra cute designs, but because of how many people actually use and play on Webkinz World. Webkinz now has an estimated 4 million players. With that many other people has potential “friends”, many kids across the country are tuning in to Webkinz as a passtime they can enjoy with the majority of their friends.

4 Million people playing Webkinz World means that at least 4 million Webkinz have been sold, which acts as tasty bait for Webkinz rivals & competitors. One of the most well known Webkinz competitors is Shining Stars, which has been the source of a large debate in Our Webkinz Forum.

Shining Stars are, admittedly, almost a carbon copy of most Webkinz. With the same animal designs and the same idea of having secret codes used on a virtual Internet world, much like Webkinz World.

The only real difference that can be deduced between Shining Stars & Webkinz is the fact that Webkinz are generally better designed, with more elaborate and exotic materials being used on the Webkinz Animals.

Although Shining Stars are O.K, they are nothing special in my view. Their descriptions and prices all seem to suggest a weaker competitor to Webkinz and Webkinz World. Webkinz pride themselves on quality Webkinz Stuffed Animals at a price which reflects both the popularity of the Webkinz toys and the quality of the products.

Shining Stars, although they do look cute and adorable, don’t seem to be up to standard as far as quality is concerned. Webkinz also boast a bigger fanbase which is always going to win fans over to the Webkinz camp.

The biggest selling point for the Shining Stars is the fact that whenever you purchase a Shining Star, you get to name your own star, as well as have some proceeds automatically donated to charity - something that Webkinz currently does not do.

However the big sticking point with this, as any charitible business venture, is the fact that people buy a product such as Webkinz or Shining Stars because they like the product. If they wanted to doate to charity, I am sure they will take the time to do that seperately. The same goes for naming a star; whereby the star naming probably costs a fee for the Shining Stars company, which could be saved and passed onto the end user.

However you look at it - Shining Stars have performed a sure-fire marketing trait: Sell what’s already selling. Webkinz are currently HUGE and are also big business… something that Russ Berrie have seen and taken hold of with some pretty good results.

Shining Stars look to have started to advertise on TV, whilst Webkinz currently don’t need to delve into the depths of mass advertising just yet, with the huge popularity surge they are currently experiencing.

Personally - Webkinz are more appealing to me. Webkinz offers a more friendly, focused and popular Webkinz World to us, the Webkinz fans… whilst Shining Stars currently seems like a “gamble” to buy. By this, I mean they are the type of toy that you would probably buy once to check them out and see if you liked them… if you didn’t then it would be ony $15 down the drain.

Webkinz are the only stuffed animals for me - Shining Stars isn’t popular enough for me yet but still I will give them 10/10 for effort!

Tags: Webkinz, World, Shining, Stars