artandcraft
The art of being crafty
The Art and Craft category is one of the most resilient in the industry, and is showing strong growth in the early months of 2013. Poor weather has benefited indoor activities immensely and this is one sector that has reaped the rewards. Tom Roberts reports.
Goldfish and Bison L
ess dependent on licences than other sectors, the Art and Craft category relies more on strong innovation to keep it driving forward.
The category’s year-to-date sales value stood at just over £29m
in 2012, and now in 2013 that value is closer to £30.3m year-to-date. David Allan of DKL put it nicely when he told Toy World that “consumers are being very careful with their money nowadays, but Art and Craft toys will always get purchased. The sector is certainly not recession proof, but it is recession resistant.” According to NPD stats, the Art and Craft
category was up by 5% the first quarter of 2013, and the month of March itself was up by 15%, which represents a very strong start to the year after being slightly down towards the end of 2012. It’s not hard to see that the effect of the coldest Winter season for 50 years is certainly being felt, as Flair’s Lindsay Hardy points out: “We always notice increased demand in Art and Craft if the weather is poor during school holidays.”
38 Toyworld
The category this year The core play patterns in the creative play category have not changed much over the generations and continue to reflect the ages and stages of development that all children will go through. Key activities such as drawing, painting and colouring have changed very little over the years, and remain just as critical to a child’s development as ever. The category’s offerings do well because they are seen as educational, good value for money, and an opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their children. The above reasons explain why retailers continue to expand their Art and Craft offerings in-store, and why there is constant consumer demand for the category. According to Leon Jarmolowicz, Vivid has made a very positive start to the year in this sector thanks to strong Spring listings and early sales, and fantastic support for the company’s Back To School programme. He said: “Crayola is outperforming the market year to date and key high-ticket introductions for Christmas will continue to drive momentum in the sector
through to the end of the year.” Leon also said that we can expect a strong mix of core basic items, great fashion-driven lines and the latest innovative toys this year, adding: “As we move through the Summer, you can expect to see our most standout Back To School programme ever, including our first ever stationery TV campaign. For the Christmas season, we have fantastic innovation in the Marker Airbrush, following close to one million unit sales in the USA last year, as well as the latest in girls collectables with Hot Heels, allowing you to design and decorate your own miniature fashion shoes.” David Allan is also positive, confirming that the market sector has definitely grown for DKL, adding that Hama specifically has “increased in value by over 10%”. He added: “The poor weather has certainly been a big help, and it’s like I always say: ‘a rainy day is a Hama day’.” Ross Ainsworth of Interplay said that, based on his company’s sales, the sector is holding up well so far. He said: “Our myStyle Craft kits and Craft Party ranges are exceeding expectation so far this year. Sales are way up in the independent sector, and we have very positive listings with major accounts.” Lindsay Hardy is also bullish about the state of the category, and told Toy World that last year Flair revamped a lot of its classic brands, such as Cool Cardz, Shaker Maker and Comic Maker, and all have seen good momentum being carried forward into this year. She said: “Gelarti is the top paint kit brand and has a lot of innovative new sets in 2013. Inkoos has exceeded all the forecasts, and Aqua Beads continues to perform as the number one craft kit brand. The all-new Plasticine range is coming shortly, and the new line up and price points have previewed really well. Squidgems and Basix will be two key items, and we are also introducing the award-winning Glitzi Globes into the UK; it was toy of the year in Australia so it’s expected to do really well over here. We’ve also got Skwooshi, which the Kids Zone testers at Toy Fair rated it the best thing they reviewed.” Goldfish and Bison’s Daniel Estrin pointed out that the company’s Art and Craft products are launching for the first time this year, but that the initial reaction to the items being launched has been as good as he could have hoped for. He said: “There is genuine excitement about the return of Spirograph with a new 3D element. I think the opportunity for retailers to stock a TV-advertised product, with a heritage brand, and at price points that give better value than its competition, will
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