Interview
themselves. This generation doesn’t want to be given a list of tasks, they want to be given a perspective on something and then given the chance to try to solve any problems. Finally, we need to paint a picture of what the future is going to look like for them. With every single one of our people, we want to be able to say: this is what you’re doing now, and this is what we want you to do in the future as you progress. We’re not perfect in every respect but
we’re working on what we call our Talent Pipeline, identifying the people who we think will be particularly interesting for us as we move forward. I know it’s a cliché, but people are the most important asset in our business. We use other people’s brands, other people’s manufacturing plants. We even rent our offices. So, our main assets are our people, they’re what ties everything together.
Where do you see Sambro in another quarter of a century? Ideally, we’d be a mini Hasbro – that’s the big dream. But it’s probably some way away! In terms of the way we trade now, we have a strong focus on about 30 customers, both in the UK and overseas, and a very strong focus on value retail. Some of our bigger customers are discount retailer Action, which operates on the Continent, B&M and TJ Morris [Home Bargains], but we also want to further our e-commerce objectives. We’ve just recruited a very senior figure, Jon Hartley, who is leading our growth on Amazon, eBay and other marketplaces. It’s something the business has tried several times over the years and not succeeded in, so we’re keen to make it work. And we want to continue to be a very important partner to our key licensors. We don’t want hundreds of licenses because it’s just too difficult to manage. We have four or five key partnerships at this point [among them Disney, Mattel, Hasbro and Nickelodeon] and we want to focus on those.
Sambro’s Barbie Style and Sew Machine
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We want to be a good partner to everyone
we work with… We want them to know that they’re working with someone who has their best interests at heart
” TN-SPR22-AARDVARK SWIFT.qxp_TN-SPR22-AARDVARK SWIFT 04/04/2022 15:02 Page 1
It’s probably hard to choose, but do you have a favourite Sambro product? Paw Patrol is our biggest seller, so the accountant in me would say anything Paw Patrol-branded. But when I look at our products, I’m also attracted to some of the more niche ones. There’s one called the Craft Caddy, which our team in Bury has developed, which is filled with rubbers and pencils and things like that. I’d have absolutely loved one when I was a kid. We’ve got a Peppa Pig branded one and a Paw Patrol one, and they just look really great.
Thanks for speaking to us, Paul. Before you go, is there anything else you’d like to shout about? I suppose the one thing that immediately springs to mind is the relaunch of Love & Hugs. It’s a health and beauty range, and Sambro’s own IP, which we’ll sell in the UK and also in the EU. We’re very excited about it. We’ve had a fantastic reaction to it when we’ve presented it to our customers – both the grocers and the value retailers. We’d just love it to do really, really well.
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