RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD Retail’s New Year revolutions
In the first of a series of features, we ask members of the ToyNews Retail Advisory Board about the trends and challenges ahead. This month, Toymaster, Sainsbury’s, The Entertainer and Morrisons discuss everything from discount retailers to later Christmas shopping
Which current trend is having the most impact on your business?
Ian Edmunds, operations director, Toymaster: Christmas shopping is getting later and later each year, which is great for the independents as we can cope and adapt to this far better than any multiple. But it does cause sweaty palms, sleepless nights and requires a great degree of self-belief not to panic.
What’s been your highlight of 2012? Edmunds:Yogi Parmar’s 50th birthday party at the May show; it was fantastic to see 450 people having such a great time.
And what’s your biggest challenge at the moment? Edmunds:The economic situation the country finds itself in, and keeping up with the ever-increasing pace of change that revolves around the internet and social media.
Stuart Grant, buying director, The Entertainer:I think the biggest challenge toy retailing has is the discount retailers who are basically feeding off clearance and end of line product. Because of their business model and structure, the margins they need to work on are very thin, so the value they can offer the consumer is huge when compared to something we can sell. That’s really challenging
because we’re educating a consumer to go to a discount retailer first before they turn up at a toy shop. So they’ll go in if they’re looking for a big box with a brand. They’ll get it at a fantastic price. There’s zero chance of any toy manufacturer ever making any money out of a product going through their tills because all they’re doing is
56 February
Competition, discounting, and driving business. The ToyNews Retail Advisory Board reveal their views on the challenges facing the toy industry. ToyNews spoke to (left-to-right) Ian Edmunds, Operations Director, Toymaster; Marc Dean, Toy Buyer, Morrisons; Stuart Grant, Buying Director, The Entertainer; Tom Folliot, Senior Toy Buyer, Sainsbury’s
buying the clearance. How does the industry
deal with that? In the discount retail sector, bargain stores are expanding fast. They’re taking turnover from lots of different industries out of traditional retailers and that’s a challenge. That’ll be the
If you could change one thing within the toy industry what would it be? Edmunds:Nothing, because in 12 months it will all be different anyway without me doing anything– change is the only constant, as far as this industry is concerned.
“Christmas shopping is getting later
and later each year, which is great for the independents.” Ian Edmunds, Toymaster
biggest threat going forward and my biggest worry. The industry isn’t making money from those sales. That’s a damaging place for the industry to go to.
What have been some of your top-selling toys or categories in 2012? Tom Folliot, senior toy buyer, Sainsbury’s:Girls has been our biggest growth area for 2012 and it is no surprise that Moshi Monsters has driven this. Minifigures from LEGO have been one of our biggest volume lines outside of our own-label ranges, and the Olympic figures drove massive volumes, too.
How were your Christmas toy sales in 2012 compared to 2011? Marc Dean, toy buyer, Morrisons:We focused on a straight £10 big box toy offer, which includes some fantastic branded and licensed products. Sales have been excellent and customer feedback has also been positive. The big success for us is we’ve proved customers will buy into our toy range along with their weekly shopping. We don’t have the space in our stores for some of the bigger ranges that you find in some of our competitors, so it was great to walk into Morrisons stores at
Christmas and see customers with toys in their trolleys.
How often do you feel it’s right to run a toy sale or promotion? And how much do they drive customers into stores? Stuart Grant:We tend to put together a robust promotional plan over Christmas. We can only sell toys; we can’t match what a grocer is doing. In a lot of cases it’s hard for us to compete with the deep discounting that’s going on. The focus for us is not to go head-to- head with another retailers.
Edmunds:Given that NPD reported that October sales were down eight per cent and that was when there were more promotions than ever, you have to ask whether we are kidding ourselves that they are driving consumers into our stores.
What are your plans for 2013? What would you like
to have achieved this time next year? Edmunds:Having fewer competitors.
Dean:Our ‘Store of the Future’ concept will continue to be rolled out to further stores throughout 2013 and beyond. All converted stores will receive an all year round toy offer so this is really great news for us. We are currently the
fastest growing retailer in the business and this will continue.
What trends in the toy industry – or general retail sector – do you predict will come to the fore over the next 12 months? Folliot: I predict there will be little change in the buying habits of customers and they will continue to be driven by great value and promotions too. 2013 will be an especially
big year for toys for boys and we are excited by what we’ve seen at the previews so far.