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www.toyworldmag.co.uk Moshi Series 6 launch breaks records
Moshi Monsters generated its best sales results to date from the recent launch of Moshlings Series 6. Moshling sales tracked 15% ahead of previous best launch performance and NPD data still shows the 5 Pack Blister Card item to be the clear number one selling item in the UK. Coupled with the successful recent launch of Micro Moshi, Vivid is cautiously optimistic that the brand will achieve retail sales approaching £70 million for 2013 (Vivid products alone), which is around 15% higher than 2012. Neil Bandtock, Vivid’s managing director, said: “Retailers continue to be very pleasantly surprised by the continued upward progression of Moshi Monsters toy sales with each new series launch. We’re pleased to see the Moshling collector base in the UK is still growing and will continue to produce quality collectables that kids love.” Series 7 Moshlings is scheduled for an August launch ahead of the ‘back-to- school’ peak in collecting and swapping.
Tomy launches ‘Britains got talent’ campaign
Newsanalysis:
The Easter trading period in retrospect Toy World takes a look at the Easter trading period from the point of view of the independent toy retailers. Tom Roberts reports.
After the Christmas break Easter is the next important trading period for many toy retailers. It’s usually a good opportunity to make sales because the Easter weekend is traditionally a time people spend at home, and are more likely to take a jaunt to their local high street.
That said, it is always
a tricky trading period to predict; just like the weather. Honestly, who could have predicted all the snow and icy-cold winds this year? The weather itself has become something of a recurring theme in some of the
Britains Farm Toys has launched a nationwide competition to fi nd a farming star to be the face of their 2014 toy collection. The aptly named ‘Britains got talent’ competition, supported by the NFU, will launch over the Easter weekend, and is open to children aged 5–9 years old who love farming and farm toys. Competition fl yers will be distributed via the NFU at selected events throughout April and there will also be a downloadable entry form available from launch on the NFU’s
farmingdelivers.co.uk website. The winner of the competition will feature in the 2014 Britains toy catalogue and also receive a pack of Britains Farm Toys to add to their collections at home. Emilia Lawes, sales and marketing manager of Agriculture at Tomy Europe,
said: “We’re really excited to have the NFU supporting this competition and we’re looking forward to seeing the entries come in. No one knows farm toys like the children and collectors, so this is our way of thanking them for their support and giving them the opportunity to get more involved.” This campaign marks the beginning of a plan of year-round activity for
Britains with the NFU which will also see Britains supporting the NFU’s Let’s Talk Farming Roadshow and Farming Delivers campaign this Summer.
articles Toy World has published recently. Our Outdoor Toys feature in the March issue was fi lled with weather talk, as you’d expect, and this month’s NPD article focuses on analysing 2012’s weather against the sales results. We just cannot escape the fact that our British weather, something that’s often lampooned by other countries, can have a very deep impact on the toy industry’s well-being. But despite the inhospitable climate, the overall trading picture does not seem
to have been affected as badly as some people might think. In fact, the majority of retailers I spoke to have experienced good footfall and sales over the Easter period, which is very encouraging to hear. Jon Starling of Starlings Toys said: “The Easter weekend was reasonably busy, and that was despite the cold. We experienced good footfall across all four of our branches. Our core toy lines are selling very well which included lots of games, puzzles and pre-school lines fl ying off the shelves. As you’d expect, Lego is selling well for us, helped by a voucher deal being run through Toymaster. If you ask me, consumers seem to be leaning towards the core categories because they know they can rely on the prices, and that they will have lasting appeal.” Jon added that the Easter weekend being early defi nitely had an impact: “The early Easter will have helped March’s fi gures, but leaves April to fend for itself; let’s hope we have a good April too.” Midco Toys, Dave Middleton’s business, saw both stores also experience a
strong Easter with respectable footfall. A store manager I spoke to said that the business saw robust sales driven by pocket money toys (Moshi Series 6 doing particularly well), and the new Iron Man 3 Lego playsets were proving popular. Alan Caswell of Arcade Toy Shop said that “business was good across most
categories”, and that it was only really when it snowed heavily that there was any noticeable drop in customers (although the resultant sledge sales were a help). Strong products for Alan included Bin Weevils, Moshi, My Little Pony, Monster High and Lego. Stephen Barnes from Toybarnhaus said that “more than usual, the lack of Easter eggs in the market at the big multiples benefi ted us a lot, with kids getting either a toy or £5 to spend. With the school holidays falling in the two weeks after Easter, overall sales were good.” It does seem particularly advantageous timing, and one that other retailers picked up on. Helen Gourley of the Toy Hub said: “Good Friday was phenomenal, and we did better than we ever could have expected on Easter Sunday; we were very busy. I gave a member of staff the day off on Good Friday, and we had so many people coming in that I had to come in and help. For girls, we saw a lot of Ty Beanies selling, probably because they’re a nice alternative to chocolate, and for boys it was all about the Lego. Games also did very well for us, especially the Paul Lamond Scrambled Egg game which fl ew off the shelves. We also sold a lot of travel games, which was our featured product we placed right by the doors.” So, as you can see from the feedback above, it looks like it was an encouragingly
Wizard Limited, Wizard House, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 8DR phone 0208 943 0121 Fax 0208 977 9074
sales@wizardtoys.com
10 Toyworld
positive Easter weekend trading period for the independent toy retailers. Easter is always a tricky one to predict, but its importance as a post-Christmas sales dipping stick cannot be underestimated; here’s hoping these positive results are echoed throughout the rest of the year’s key trading periods. Toy World will be sure to keep you updated.
@toyworldmag
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