from the W


elcome to the August edition of Toy World. The British Summer has finally arrived with a vengeance, and as the UK basks in glorious


sunshine, the mood of the nation seems to have been lifted ever-so-slightly. Whether the air of positivity is solely the result of the return of the sun to these shores, or whether the recent sporting endeavours of Andy Murray, The British Lions and Chris Froome have also contributed, it just seems that people have been a little more optimistic in recent weeks (and not before time too, some might say). From a toy industry perspective, the upturn in the weather was timed to perfection; with kids breaking up from school and parents needing to keep them occupied, toy sales have hopefully benefitted. Last month’s BTHA Industry Day was as


productive and thought-provoking as ever. The BTHA always lines up an interesting selection of speakers for this event, and this year was no exception. Kicking things off, Amy McGee of the Javelin Group spoke about the future of retail. No surprise that e-commerce featured heavily in her presentation; the UK apparently still leads the way in this area, with 10% of UK purchases now made online as opposed to 6% in Germany and 0.9% in Spain. By 2015, Amy predicted that over 30% of toy sales could be made online, while Amazon is expected to double its overall sales in the same period. All of which made her opening line – “Shopping is getting better for consumers, but being a retailer is getting much tougher” – all the more prescient. And the fact that Amy suggested that ‘high service’ toy retailers should get better terms than other retailers certainly went down well with a certain Mr Grant. Amy was followed by Jae Mather, who gave a sobering talk on sustainability, which did rather put things into perspective. Essentially it could be summed up as follows: your turnover may be a couple of


publisher John Baulch - @Baulchtweet


% down, but the planet is going to hell in a hand cart, so let’s not ‘sweat the small stuff’. I was even prompted to ask a question, something I rarely do (in case I completely mess it up). The exchange went thus: Me: “Taking your points to a logical conclusion, would you say there is a fundamental incompatibility between consumerism and sustainability.” Jae: “Yes”. He did elucidate, but given the room was full of people for whom consumerism is at the core of their daily working lives, he clearly had to be a little cautious. In fairness, I have to say that Jae was the surprise of the day: I really didn’t expect to be fascinated by what he had to say, and I’m more than happy to admit that in hindsight, my gentle cynicism about his presentation topic was wholly unfounded. This being the toy trade, although we are slap bang in the midst of what could turn out to be the longest warm spell for decades, our collective thoughts have already started to turn towards Christmas. Hamleys was first out of the blocks, when it released its festive top 10 list last month, a full six months before the big day. The following week saw The Entertainer release its Christmas predictions during the mi-PR Christmas Open House event. Three products appeared in both the Hamleys


and Entertainer lists – LeapFrog’s LeapPad Ultra, Flair’s Doc McStuffins Doctor’s Bag and Spin Master’s Sulley Mask. Both lists struck a good balance between traditional and tech toys, licensed and non-licensed items and featured a wide range of price points. Indeed, with both lists avoiding naming one specific toy as the must- have item, press coverage so far has featured a host of different products, which I believe is good for the industry as a whole. There are obviously many more lists to be


unveiled over the coming months (too many, some might argue...), and there will always be some debate over how early the whole ‘Christmas push’ should start. Interestingly, despite the aforementioned early flurry of activity, the main


toy industry media event – Dream Toys – has actually been moved back a couple of weeks this year, from October half-term week to November 6th. I am also hearing rumours of toy companies looking to push their TV advertising commitments later this year; indeed, several TV companies have privately expressed concerns about this trend and admitted that they will be struggle to fulfil demand in the peak weeks. Nevertheless, many toy companies appear to have decided that sales are going to be later than ever this year, and have planned their promotional activity accordingly. As we go to press, unfortunately there’s no


positive news to report on the ModelZone front. No ‘White Knight’ has materialised as yet, and the prospect of that happening seems to be receding with each passing day. I’ve always maintained that when one retailer gets into difficulty, others are ready and waiting to fill the gap. Admittedly, ModelZone is a highly specialist operator, which might well provide a stern test to my theory; but, who knows, maybe there are even a few toy retailers weighing up the opportunity. Hobby customers are certainly a loyal bunch, and very soon they’ll be looking for somewhere else to spend their cash. On the positive side, ModelZone’s wholesale


arm Amerang has been sold to Ripmax, saving 18 jobs in the process. Talking of opportunities for toy retailers to


weigh up, this month’s ‘Have you considered...?’ focuses on the band One Direction and the host of merchandise available. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to refer to them as ‘the hottest band on the planet’ right now, and with their fan base starting at five/six years old, arguably the demographic fits toy shops well. With a brand new 3D movie launching this month and a national tour next year, there is no doubt that demand for 1D merchandise is going to be massive. So I hope the toy industry will grab its share and not let all the sales go through other retail channels. We’ll be back in September with our second birthday issue. It’s going to be a cracking edition.


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