The final installment in our week-long series focuses on the 2018 nominees for Online Toy Retailer of the Year.
The British Toy & Hobby Association has announced the finalists for the Toy Retailer of the Year Awards 2018. In the category Online Toy Retailer of the Year, the nominees are as follows:
The Entertainer
The Entertainer’s new website offers a more refined consumer journey for faster shopping, improved performance to support increasingly high levels of traffic – especially during peak seasons such as Christmas – and a new predictive search engine for ease when locating products. With almost 80% of The Entertainer’s web traffic coming from mobile users, the website has also been designed with a mobile-first approach to enhance browsing on tablets and phones.
In addition, the updated website now closely reflects the branding found in store and allows shoppers to view products by the same categories such as action toys and figures, dolls and soft toys, and arts and creative play.
Smyths Toy Superstores
Smyths Toys’ ‘audience first’ focus on its digital platforms is reflected in its strong platform growth and performance on Google Shopping, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and recently PopJam. The retailer’s email alerts, which are distributed to its customer database, have a high open rate proving they are engaging and relevant. Click and collect is also available within one hour, while a range of free delivery and next day delivery options ensures consumers can shop whichever way they want.
Shop Direct
The toy category has become a real focus for the Shop Direct business over the last few years, and in 2018 the company was tasked with growing both category demand and awareness within a challenging retail landscape. Last year saw a significant investment from the business to support the toy category, while sponsorship of Milkshake on Channel 5, a toy-specific marketing campaign including TV adverts for both Very and Littlewoods and a renewed focus on the on-site journey, have positioned Shop Direct as a leader in toy retail.
The winners of the prestigious Toy Retailer Awards will be announced at the annual Toy Industry Awards held at Olympia, London on Tuesday 22nd January 2019. The gala event, which takes place on the first evening of Toy Fair, is organised by the BTHA with the Toy Retailers Association (TRA), which will also present the Toy and Supplier Awards 2018 on the same evening.
To read the full Toy Retailer of the Year Awards feature, which details all the categories and nominees, please click here to be taken to the January issue of Toy World.
