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Bhav Patel
they’ve gone off like a steam train; I think they’re set to be a winner this year and next. Lego is plodding along, as we’ve had a shortage of stock, and everything else to be honest is driven by price, there have been great numbers but the competition have driven through the numbers so it’s not a true refl ection on the industry. Moshi is selling well, and Power Rangers are doing great since the move to Channel 5 in July. Stand out products for me are Turtles and
ToyWorld_TalkingShop_Header2 19/12/12 12:57:11 - 1 - (Proce
owner, Toy Galaxy It’s been a busy year for us, mostly behind the scenes as we have opened up three stores in 2012, but on a retail front overall we are happy with the general performance. The year started off quite well, but with the Olympics and uncertainty of the weather the Summer season did prove a challenge. Moving on from that and into the main season, things seemed to have picked up albeit slightly later than we would have liked. Christmas sales have been fairly good this year and I think
Furby; they’re just off the scale. Also for next year I can see Iron Man doing very well, and the Spider-Man setup looks great. It’s hard to say for Pre-School; the problem is with new products that they either kick off or just die, and a lot of the new releases have not actually worked. But I think Tree Fu Tom and Doc McStuffi ns are going to be really strong. Star Wars Angry Birds have also had a massive stock shortage; I think they’re going to be pretty strong for the fi rst half. But it’s going to be tough in a very heavily traded market place; there are few brands that are selling without being promoted, which creates a hard place for people to try and make money and a hard precedent to get out of. Customers are educated to wait for a deal, like on clothes and jewellery, whether it’s a voucher code or 10% off; the toy market is no different to that, and you end up in a rut that you then can’t get out of. Even if the economy recovers I think there are a few more years of a tough trading environment ahead. Even the big players are holding on by their fi ngertips and trading very hard to survive, which creates instability in the market to the point where they’re doing deals that don’t make commercial sense. So we’ve budgeted for it to be a tough year, which we did for this year, and that has worked well for us. It’s been generally tough for the independents this last year; the only reason we’ve managed to outperform is because of our ability to create media campaigns which the others can’t necessarily afford, and because we are like Argos and Toys R Us in that we are a big player, so we have the clout to demand the promotions which may not be the case for Toymaster members. The promotions are funded by the suppliers, and because manufacturers value what we do as a retailer they enable us to promote in line with the market place. We get heavily supported because of our size, whereas it’s been a tough run of things for everyone else and they don’t get the same level of promotional support. Also, closer to Christmas manufacturers selling the rarer products use this to crowbar other stock in, so everybody’s playing the game to hit their numbers, and the independent trade probably aren’t involved in those sorts of negotiations. I would never wish anything bad upon them, if they lost the independent trade it would be very sad, we need each other to keep the industry going.
46 Toyworld
many retailers have been careful with their purchasing, hence why we have not seen the huge price drops and stock clearances we normally expect to see at this time of the year. The ‘last-minute rush’ made its famous appearance again this year as many consumers seemed to be waiting for the last-minute deals. The top sellers for us this Christmas have been Pillow Pets, Lego Friends, Skylanders, Moshi Monsters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which made it onto the shelves just in time for Christmas.
The independent sector has been fairly steady this year, although it is fair to say trade is becoming more and more challenging. From dealing with exclusive early launches on big brands to being put at the back of the pecking order for the must-have toys, it’s always a battle to keep your customers happy when competing against the nationals. But I do believe that independents can still maintain their reasonable market share by concentrating on what makes them a destination store for their local customers. 2013 looks to be an interesting year already with the release of some great movies. If Disney
Planes has even half of the success Disney Cars had, it will be a huge hit, so that is one to look out for. Along with that, many great movies are being launched in 3D which should help boost trade such as Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. Along with that I think it will be a strong year for the action fi gure market with Spider-Man, X-Men, Turtles and Superman all making the big screens. Looking back at 2012 there was a great surge of interest and demand for online play- related products such as Moshi and Skylanders, so keeping a close eye on that market is now a key for toy retailers. At the Toy Fair I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the new Lego launches for the year,
as well as looking out for merchandise relating to the forthcoming movie releases for 2013. The Toy Fair always gives a good insight into what upcoming trends will unfold and with so many suppliers showcasing their products there, for once we can walk into what is the biggest toy shop in the world and be wowed by new product, that in turn will allow us to give our customers that ‘wow’ factor when it’s on our shelves.
David Middleton
managing director, Midco Toymaster Business has been very good this year; we are way up on last year, we have tried a lot of the new things and gone down different avenues, and it seems to have paid off. Christmas sales have been awesome so far. We sell so many lines now but we always do well with WWE Wrestling figures, which have remained great. Orbeez and Blingles from Character have been good; Lego as always; Furby has been selling out as soon as it arrives; and VTech has been good. We have also seen a strong start from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I hear a lot of stories of doom and gloom from the independent sector, but I think the shops that have been proactive have done well. You can’t just sit in a shop with the same stock all year waiting for the customers to come to you. Nothing I’ve seen so far for 2013 jumps out to me with an amazing ‘wow’ factor; companies seem to be playing it safe. Flair’s Tree Fu Tom looks good, as does Little Battlers from Bandai. My Little Pony has taken the USA by storm, so maybe we will see some of that happen over here. Disney’s Doc McStuffin has done amazing in America; maybe that will happen here as well. I’m looking forward to just seeing all the cool stuff at Toy Fair this year, drinking in the
Hilton afterwards and making a prat of myself. It’s just good to see people and talk toys. Love Toy Fair.
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