Every holiday season we comb through our search data to find the season’s most popular products. Some are recurring favorites – like Ugg boots (much to my chagrin) and the Wii, but to help mix up the wish lists some new entrants swing through each year and for 2008 it is Bakugan. These popular toys are based upon a Japanese anime television series Bakugan Battle Brawlers, using metal cards and round, magnetic miniature figures that spring open to fight. Over the past 5 weeks, searches on ‘bakugan’ have been driving increased traffic to the Shopping & Classifieds category as holiday buyers seek out the much-desired toy.

Scarcity seems to make the heart grow fonder, so the demand for hot products always translates into searches to locate any retailers that may have the product in stock. The Wii game console has been the holiday challenge over the past few seasons and now the Wii Fit game has also become a hot commodity, with both appearing among the top 10 ‘in-stock’ searches.

Variations of the Bakugan toys have also started appear in the ‘in stock’ searches, so we may see them follow the path of the Wii (although no Bakugan Finder websites just yet). Now is a good time for retailers with inventory of Bakugan toys to exploit their availability & capture sales. Don’t worry, if your feet are cold, Ugg boots are still in-demand, with plenty of supply.