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We're a few hours away from 2016, and therefor the perfect time to look back at 2015 and make our predictions (and plans) for the next year. You can also find our wrap-up and predictions from last year here if you want to compare them.

Website improvements

MLPMerch.com 4.0
The biggest update of our website was during the launch of MLPMerch.com 4.0, our forum and our Checklist feature. Our website is now faster and has improved responsiveness for smaller devices (e.g. smartphones). The Forum and Checklist feature created a big interactive step for the future of our website, so that people can contribute to the website outside our blogposts. The Checklist and Wishlist have also been a much requested feature, as people were maintaining their own lists based on our databases. Apart from that we also launched our very own newsletter, which automatically informs you daily about the new additions in the databases.

Growth in numbers

MLPMerch.com 2015 Pageviews
Our pageviews started well in January, but didn't grow much higher during the year. They kept pretty steady around 400.000 per month. In total we got over 4.7 million pageviews, which is over 3x more than last year!
In total we wrote 834 posts this year (including this one) and our most popular post is the 2015 NY Toy Fair with over 23.000 views. And of our databases it was the Blind Bags database who scored the most views: 397.000.
Our forum currently has 514 members,208 of them have a checklist/wishlist and those lists contain 58.000 items together.
Another fun fact: During the 2015 MLP Merch Battles we got 143.000 votes!

2016 Plans and predictions

For 2016 we have a lot of plans for this website. We're going to give everything a new design, overhaul the databases, improve the checklist feature, fix bugs, new databases and work on a brand new version of the Android app that will stay in sync with our databases.
We're planning this for Q1 of 2016, and we hope you're all excited for it!

Our predictions for 2016 are the huge demand for Equestria Girls Minis figures. So far these posts are some of the most read articles on our website, and the first batch at Target and Amazon is selling out quick. We've already heard rumors for a second set coming soon and expect that many will follow.

Of course the biggest announcements will be made at the 2016 NY Toy Fair, so we can't wait to see the Hasbro stand their. We expect to see a new Friendship is Magic Collection, more plans for the Explore Equestria line, new EqG Minis and perhaps a plan from Hasbro to revive the POP Ponies line.

We'll also present our first panel at Heart's Warming Con in Frebruary next year, which will be an exciting moment for us. During our panel we'll talk about the NY Toy Fair (which is 1 week before our panel) and answer merch and website related questions from the audience.

And as always: feel free to provide us with feedback and suggestions for our website, blog posts, databases and forum. We welcome all ideas to improve our website even further!

We wish you all the best in 2016!

8 comments :

  1. Sounds great.
    Happy new year! Have a good day and a good life!

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  2. No predictions for the GOOD Equestria Girls line?

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    1. Exactly, same as every year: New movie and a new line (this time Legends of Everfree). We do exepect to hear more about this around the NY Toy Fair (with some luck even before Hasbro announces it).

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  3. MintiCherriChocolateDecember 31, 2015 9:53 PM

    My predictions:

    Build a Bear Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon, Lyra Heartstrings, and Starlight Glimmer.
    Blind Bags: Starlight Glimmer, more Trixie (as usual...Hasbro REALLY likes Trixie...), CMM with marks
    Brushables: Hopefully more Starlight (they seem to like her a lot, as with Trixie), possibly more "Cutie Twisty Doos"? Not a fan of them, but maybe.
    Equestria Girls: New movie or show Legends of Everfree,
    EqG Dolls: Legends of Everfree dolls
    Plush: CMM with Cutie Marks

    Possibly some merch where Diamond Tiara doesn't look mean anymore? Well, those are MY predictions. Happy New Year everypony!!!

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  4. Too bad that Gala Dress Rarity never came out this year... I really hope it wasn't cancelled!

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  5. SCREW EQUESTRIA GIRLS, I want Colorful Coloratura figure, upcoming FiM Collection (maybe Twilight! or Rainbow Dash, Rarity), POP n' Funko vinyls. It's all about other-kins baby!

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  6. Hmm my predictions are
    Blindbags:maybe more sunset shimmer
    Brushables:more background characters
    Eg:more background characters

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