One thing Rovio's Angry Birds isn't short of is merchandise, yet according to CMO Peter Vesterbacka, a large portion of goods sold on the market are entirely unofficial.

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in Beijing, however, Vesterbacka said the Finnish studio is taking steps to address the issue, with tackling the Chinese market the order of the day.

Merchandise matters

"There's a lot of Angry Birds products in China and most of them are not officially licensed," he said at the event, sporting his usual Angry Birds hooded top.

"We get a lot of inspiration from local producers," he added, suggesting the firm is often inspired by unofficial merchandise and looks to "copy these products and make them real."

One way of ensuring consumers only buy official goods, however, is to launch Angry Birds stores – something that will kick off first in China, Vesterbacka revealed.

"We want to sell officially licensed and good quality products, but at the same time we have to be happy that the brand is so loved. That's why we're building our first store here in China. Hopefully we'll have quite a few in the next 12 months."

Vesterbacka claimed Rovio is looking to generate around $100 million in revenue from Angry Birds merchandise in China alone in 2011.

[source: MCV]