However, by January of 1993, the need to generate new products was becoming evident. As can be seen in Figure 1, sales and net income were beginning to level after the previously cited phenomenal growth. After doing a market analysis of possible products, Mr. Barnes decided that the baseball card market was a good area for potential new sales. Baseball cards were a popular product not only among youngsters but also among adults who were trying to recapture the experience of their youth.
A market survey by Ike Barnes indicated that the Topps Chewing Gum Company was the largest competitor in the industry. The company actually had a public distribution of its common stock in 1987. Other major sellers in 1993 were Upper Deck, Fleer, Leaf, and Donruss. All produce millions of baseball cards on an annual basis. The card can be purchased in packs of 15-20 cards for $1.00-$3.00 at drug or convenience stores or in boxes of 700-800 cards for $20 and up. These larger quantities of cards were usually purchased from sport card specialty stores or at baseball card conventions (over 1000 such conventions throughout the country took place a year).