Ravensburger has confirmed the appointment of Richard Collins to continue the company’s trajectory of growth in the region.
Richard will oversee Ravensburger UK’s entire portfolio which includes the flagship brand as well as the ThinkFun, GraviTrax, Brio and CreArt brands, spanning the puzzles, games, play sets and craft categories.
Commenting on his appointment, Richard said: “I’m excited to be joining Ravensburger to work alongside an exceptional team and continue upon eleven years of sales growth. Tim has built a strong team full of energy, experience, and expertise, and I’m honoured to now be leading them as we continue the Ravensburger success story in the UK and Ireland.”
He brings to the UK business a wealth of omnichannel retail experience, having previously held leadership roles at fashion label Emilia Wickstead, high-end outdoor furniture brand White Stores and as managing director at Fossil UK. Richard’s experience includes not only commercial experience in P&L leadership, but also expertise in new business development, multi-platform customer focused strategies and strong team management.
Richard’s immediate commercial focus is to maintain the strong trajectory of growth which he has inherited, with an emphasis on sales and marketing channels. His product portfolio focus is to build upon the successful 2021 launch of the craft painting-by-numbers brand CreArt, maintain momentum in the family and immersive games categories, launch the latest GraviTrax Power construction play system scheduled for launch later this year and ensure that Ravensburger’s long-standing puzzles reputation with retailers and consumers retains its market leading position.
At Ravensburger UK, Richard will oversee a growing team of staff, with five direct reports including head of Sales, Derek Scott; head of Marketing & Product Development, Katy Fletcher; head of Operations, Colin Reeves; head of Finance, Julia Darwin and the recently appointed online shop manager, Laurie Williams.
Ravensburger’s UK business has doubled in the last six years, having notably grown its games business and made a strong entry into the craft category under the leadership of Tim Hall, who will remain with the business in an international licensing role. The company is currently the UK market leader in the adult, children and 3D puzzle category, holding more than 45 licences in its portfolio. Brio turnover in the UK has trebled under Ravensburger’s management since it took on the brand in 2015.
Richard Collins added: “With exciting product development and improving digital capabilities we are in a strong position to deliver on our long-term strategies. I’m looking forward to meeting many of our retail partners over the next few months, including attending the Toymaster show later this month, and building on established partnerships to deliver mutually beneficial revenue. Ravensburger is renowned for its innovation, and we will continue to surprise and delight our customers across all categories.”
