store news. All our staff are Facebook people and are good at picking up quirky toys and customer comments so they text their thoughts to Sam and I and we Tweet them out. “Voucher codes and offers are redeemed back


from Facebook and Twitter to the website, which increases our reach way beyond our geographical area.”


All this interaction isn’t solely business focused


either. Kirit knows that in order to gain traction with the local ‘Twitterati’ you can’t be constantly shouting sales messages at them. So, Cuthberts also tweets about local events like the farmers market in St Albans or a local Heritage event or an open day at the Fire Station. That way, their messages get re-tweeted and the status of


“Voucher codes and offers are redeemed back from Facebook and Twitter to the website, which increases our reach way beyond our geographical area.”


Cuthberts as St Albans’ local toy shop is cemented. “People on Twitter even direct message us to


make orders,” adds Kirit. “People are using social media now to reserve toys that they will then pick up in-store. It’s a very powerful medium.” The Cuthberts set up is very clean too. The


brothers have invested in EPoS and in many ways the stores run themselves Monday to Friday, which frees up Kirit and Sam to focus on the buying and growing the business. “All the systems are in place,” says Kirit. “Other


sites can be bolted into it as they come on board so the framework is there. It’s very clean.” Clean lines in the store are one of the most


noticeable elements of the store layout. From the freestanding Schleich display unit in the front to the themed display areas for wooden toys, construction, dolls and pocket money toys, the store wants to be shopped rather than rummaged around. Whether Kirit and Sam can find similar


opportunities within Hertfordshire remains to be seen. Hemel Hempstead has been looked at and discarded and so too has Harpenden. Finding the right location at the right price is a much about being in the right place at the right time as it is about being skilful negotiators. “We’re enjoying the toy business,” says Kirit. “As


we grow into year’s two to three, we’ll be able to buy better and have more money. In five years time, we’ll see what the value of the business is and take it from there.”


viewpointIndie


Gaps, gaps, gaps and more


gaps! It’s the bane of my life... really!


J


ust as I think I have the product range right in the shop, there stands in front of me a great, gaping, larger than life hole in the shelf. I’m not talking about anything that can


be fi xed by an overalled, gorgeous hunk of a workman - no... it’s product, or the softer word


would be... toy! I’m wondering whether you’ve guessed by now that


what’s on my mind this month is... Gaps!! Independent retailers are an intelligent breed, so why oh why does it take me so long to recognise, accept and deal with the fact there is something missing? Maybe I’m just fl ummoxed. Maybe it’s because I know that the answer doesn’t necessarily lie within the myriad of catalogues I have hanging around my business. Or maybe I’m a ‘fl y by the seat of my pants’ kinda gal! I can feel a rant bearing down on me and my poor


little fi ngers can’t quite keep up with the pace of my brain – nothing changes there then … So, why do gaps cause me such a problem? Well,


put quite simply, the toy fairs are over for the next six months which means the only resources I have available to me, are those that I picked up whilst I travelled across the world (okay, slight exaggeration) to fi nd funky, new and exciting suppliers and agents. Has it worked (the travelling and catalogue thing)? Well, err, to be quite honest with you... sort of! What’s the big crisis? I am absolutely paranoid


about favouring one gender and age over another. I like balance. But I have realised in my short stint in the toy industry that balance doesn’t necessarily exist, that there will always be a slant in one direction or another resulting in the headache that is... gaps! Of course we listen to our customers. They will often


talk about products and ranges that we don’t hold or ask for a certain age and gender that we are clearly missing from our range. But, what I have found over the years, is that responding to customer requests doesn’t always end up in a big enough demand for that range. Look at your local Tesco Express / Metro as an


example. I would love them to stock gluten free products; it would make my life so much easier. Realistically though, they are concentrated versions of their


superstores and the product mix in these smaller versions will have pinpoint accuracy for the needs of their surrounding customer base (as do their main stores). Ultimately, this is what we need to be like as independents. We need to listen to our customers’ needs and desires but balance that with deciding whether you’ll get enough throughput of the product range. Another example… Playmobil. We get asked for it and I absolutely love it. I think it’s dramatic, imaginative, looks great and has everything you could look for in a range for an independent shop, but do you know... it just doesn’t work for us, we’ve tried and for the life of me I don’t know why. When I realised we were lacking a certain…something in the shop I looked at Playmobil again because on paper it does everything you need. That’s when the gaps start to be painful – when you have an obvious answer, but you know that it’s not the ‘one size fi ts all’ solution. So what do we do when we need to fi nd something


to fi ll a gap on the shelves that can’t be fi lled with Playmobil, Meccano or Airfi x or the like? Cry for a little while maybe? Then, brew up (a nice sugary, steaming black coffee) and plough through the ridiculously huge piles of supplier catalogues that you brought back from the various toy fairs knowing this moment would come. Are you wondering yet whether we’ve managed to


sort our gaps? Yes, we have. I’m really chuffed with the end result actually. Utilising our main suppliers and a couple of additional smaller niche suppliers we have managed to pull together a really strong product mix ready for Christmas – in the nick of time. Lesson 2: Each time I write for Toy World I learn


something new about the way I work and realise that quite often there is a much smarter way of getting things done. I must address this “in the nick of time’ philosophy and get more focused and planned – it would save hours of panic and stress!


*Jo Nicholson owns and runs Little Nut Tree Toys in Wilmslow, Cheshire.


Jo Nicholson Little Nut Tree Toys


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