RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD
Tablet talk
As Samsung unveils its first ever kid’s tablet and Tesco aims to have its own ‘kindle-like’ tablet on shelves this Christmas, Robert Hutchins asks the retail panel if the market’s newcomers can compete with the big players
Helen Gourley, Owner, Toy Hub
“Kids in our area seem to prefer to use tablets designed for grown-ups, i.e. the iPad. I
think the apps and games are too limiting on child- focused tablets and they like the interaction that an iPad has with other technology in their home such as Apple TVs and iPods, etc. So, as far as we are concerned, in our area, Apple rules. We have struggled to find any other real competition as customers would rather opt for something with similar use. If they can’t afford a tablet, then they are usually opting for an iPod.
“Samsung, Tesco, Toys R
Us and Kurio may all be releasing their own tablets and joining the likes of Leappad and Innotab, but the market isn’t necessarily reaching saturation point. Technology is always growing. The problem with these brands, however, is that they seem to fail to have a unique selling point. All of them are doing what each other one does, so there doesn’t
68 October
seem to be anything to get customers hooked. “Therefore, we won’t be selling tablets this year. We did try with the Innotab last year, but the prices were driven down online through multiple retailers doing special discounts. This is an area to avoid for us if we want to protect our margin. We also found that many customers were actually looking at full- blown tech such as iPads and iPods for their kids rather than a child-specific toy. We will certainly be using the shelf space more wisely this year.”
Brian Simpson, Manager, ToyTown
“If I offer the Innotab and LeapPad, that is
plenty of a selection of
tablets for our core market and gives us a superior margin return (until these goods are decimated by other retailers, as has occurred every year in the run up to Christmas) than the other products like Kurio. “However, educating our
kids through technology is becoming an increasingly
important portion of toy retailing, and we fully support the toy suppliers such as LeapFrog and VTech with their products. “When it comes to the
likes of the Kurio, etc, we tend to stay away from these as they are more game-focused and tend to give the retailer a significantly lower margin than the more well-known suppliers.”
Stuart Grant, Buying Director, The Entertainer “Samsung hasn’t even approached us with its new tablet release, so I imagine
that they are going through traditional consumer electronic channels, as opposed to toy channels. This wouldn’t surprise me. The types of margins that they’re prepared for, it just wouldn’t fit a toy model. My gut feeling is that if they tried to come to toy retail, they would struggle to get the distribution because we just can’t work on consumer electronic margins. “In essence, there are
two levels to the market. There is the educational
market, featuring the LeapFrogs and the VTechs of the world. These very much cater to the bulk of the turnover within the toy industry. I think these will be reasonably unaffected by the Samsung introduction. The likes of Kurio, Lexibook, Samsung or even the Oregon Scientific are aimed at the older age group. These are completely different tablets, they are almost a dumbed down, restricted and controlled grown-up tablets, but cater for (with lower tech and therefore lower price points) a younger person. This market is highly competitive and not one that we choose to trade in. “Toys R Us and Tesco
releasing their own kid’s tablets I suppose was inevitable. We don’t compete in that market, the margins are historically very tight in those products and I don’t think they will ever touch
LeapFrog and VTech; they aren’t seen as educational devices. That whole market is driven by volume. Tesco and Toys R Us can probably pump through the volume globally, but there are very few UK retailers that actually have the volume to drive down the prices to compete with other people. “However, the market is so big, I think people continually upgrade as new technology and features become available. I think it’s fair to say that this is a fad. The toy industry is following trends that exist in the adult arena. In five years time it will be something else. No doubt with the Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch rumoured to come out, the next big thing in the toy industry will follow. So I think as fast as the market becomes saturated, something else will always come along to take over, and the fad will have to move on.”
RETAILIL ADVISO
SORY BO
BOARD
Turn to page 59 to find out who’s part of our Retail Advisory Board. If you’re a toy retailer who’s interested in joining, please email
dominic.sacco@
intentmedia.co.uk
www.toynews-online.biz
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