Shelf Sheet (Wood Ver.) 970 x 440 mm
shoptalking Round and round we go
Toy World’s Kayleigh Conway speaks to independent retailers about the hot topics of the month. With high praises for 2013’s backend introductions and even higher hopes for new innovations in 2014, our experts tell Kayleigh what they’re looking forward to unearthing at this year’s shows.
David Middleton managing director, Midco
Toymaster, Staffordshire We have had quite a few winners this year. Minecraft has come into its own just recently, we have been selling it for almost two years but these last few month it has taken off. We do well with weird stuff and Walking Dead has been big for us this year, Breaking Bad also. Rainbow Loom has sold really well backend. I’m going to London, Nuremberg and New
York. Hopefully I’ll see some good product, but I have a feeling it might be a case of same-old same-old. In the 1980s there was new stuff coming out all the time that became timeless and now we get rehashes. Someone needs to invent a new classic. I think toys work best in their most basic form; we don’t need apps and other stuff. There’s nothing better than Snakes and Ladders or Monopoly. The consumer understands basic toys, and the retailers understand basic toys. London is good for meeting with friends and having a laugh, having some beers and good nights out, telling the suppliers that everything they are showing is rubbish, even if it isn’t. The toy industry has become too serious…. Toys should be fun, Toy Fair should be fun; I think we should have a
Midco Toy Fair party and let the good times roll. Nuremberg is good if you like sausage, ‘cause that’s all you’re gonna eat whilst you’re there. It’s good to find different stuff that isn’t really around over here and it’s easy to find suppliers because all welcome shipping to the UK. New York is in New York, so the Toy Fair could be a complete waste of time and you’re still in New York. They are a step ahead of the UK there; there’s newer and better product, and you’re seeing stuff that puts you one step ahead of the game. I saw toys there last year that might not hit Europe until 2014 - this isn’t such a big deal as it was 20 years ago, but the internet obviously makes people aware nowadays of what is available - and in New York you are definitely seeing the future. First quarter of the year I think will be
The charming world of
boring, usually new stuff starts to arrive around the end of January once everyone has gotten over Christmas, then until Easter things are quiet. The Lego movie is obviously coming out, so I guess that will be good, but I think people need to remember the primary function of Lego is in the toys. When we normally invest in a movie, say the Avengers, we are bouncing sales off the back of the movie success, whereas with the Lego movie, surely they are bouncing ticket sales off the back of the toy sales.
Connectable & Collectable making toys Limited 4 Ramsay Court, Hinchingbrooke Business Park,
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 6FY For more information call: 0843 557 4062 or email:
sales@epochmakingtoys.com Toyworld 45
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