I hope everyone had a good Coronation weekend’s trading. I am only guessing, but I suspect that Saturday was mostly a bit of a washout, literally and metaphorically, until at least mid-afternoon, if not the whole day. It certainly hasn’t been a vintage start to the year from a weather perspective here in the UK – hopefully that changes soon, or I am going to be the palest man in Las Vegas next month (not to mention the only one without a single tattoo).
However, I went into my local town centre on Monday, as I was bored and had nothing better to do – and it seems an awful lot of other people had the same idea. So, hopefully, it all levelled out across the weekend to make it a respectable few days’ trading overall.
As I write this week’s Blog, one (rather optimistic) person who was hoping to see some cricket in Derby has given up at lunchtime, and rather than spend the entire day in the bar, he has asked me for the address of the Midco store in Derby so he can go and take a look. Admirable commitment to the toy cause, and good for Dave to have built such a reputation that he was the first place that sprung to mind when rain stopped play.
Next week will see us catching up with plenty of indies at the Toymaster show in Harrogate. The weather forecast currently suggests it may be cloudy but not rainy, which will be fine (not to mention making the marquees rather more palatable than they can be when it’s warm and sunny).
Over 2,500 people have read our May issue online over the past week, which features our largest-ever Toymaster preview section – currently still the only proper preview available for the show. If you are attending and want to get yourself in the mood by seeing who’ll be there and what great new lines they’ll be showcasing in Harrogate, there really is no better place to start planning your trip. And with Irish party night on the Tuesday, followed by Toymaster awards and Golden Teddies being presented on the Wednesday evening, the social side of the event promises to be as lively and unmissable as ever.
As next week will be week 20 of 2023, the show comes at a good time to assess how the specialist toy community feels the year is panning out. My instinct says that most people will feel challenges remain at retail, but that the first 20 weeks of the year were not as bad as people had feared – although maybe that’s my ‘Mr Brightside’ tendencies kicking in.
Sure, we could all sit and moan about the economy, the weather and how much clearance stock is floating around the market this year, but there’s nothing much we can do about any of these things. What we can do is to look at the strengths within our own businesses and talk to our partners about how we can do more together. Simplistic, maybe, but business doesn’t always need to be over-complicated.
The toy market thankfully has many great carry-forward ranges that are continuing to perform strongly, and there is no shortage of great new lines coming through. Yesterday, someone excitedly sent me a presentation deck for a new range they have literally just signed which is due to launch in August – no hanging around, sign the deal and get the product to market quickly, which is arguably the way it should be. We’re looking forward to sharing more details once the press release has been signed off over in the US – hopefully next Wednesday (a small clue there as to which property has been signed…).
There has also been further news from the Toikido camp this week, after it appointed IMG to represent its new Pinata Smashlings IP for consumer products and experiences. I’m looking forward to seeing the toy line on the Character stand in Harrogate next week, just ahead of its launch this summer.
As Isaac Larian quite rightly points out on LinkedIn most weeks, ‘new sells’. One of my all-time favourite contributor articles (from many years ago) quoted a buyer who told a supplier – apparently with a completely straight face – “We had a terrible year last year, so we aren’t taking on any new suppliers this year” without even beginning to appreciate the irony in what they were saying. I am sure few retail buyers of any size these days could afford to be so passive.
One of the reasons I love the indies is their reactiveness and flexibility, their ability to move swiftly to capitalize on emerging trends and their ‘finger on the pulse’ approach. They are at the sharp end, they talk directly to consumers every day, and they can change over ranges anytime they want – they aren’t governed by rigid buying seasons or limited to bi-annual ranging decisions.
They may not all have scale or clout on their side, but they care passionately about what they do – it’s more than ‘a job’ to many of them – and they care about the toy market…because that’s the only market they operate in.
The good news is that toy suppliers are increasingly appreciating the invaluable contribution that the indies make to the toy community, and I sense that they appreciate the importance of supporting specialist retailers with point of sale, exclusive lines, marketing support, deals and other ways of attempting to level the playing field. Of course, there is still a long way to go – indie retailers are all individuals with their own buying preferences who can be like herding cats on occasion, and not all suppliers find that easy to work with – but I think we will see next week just how far the indie retail channel has come in recent years. Am I optimistic for a good show? You bet I am…I’m Mr Brightside. See you in Harrogate.
