While no-one is pretending it\u2019s easy at the moment, thankfully it seems that the toy market is continuing to buck the general retail trend. We don\u2019t have the launch of the Argos catalogue in summer to galvanise the market these days, but there are plenty of new lines hitting shelves over the coming weeks to start injecting some excitement and \u2018newness\u2019 (a word I dislike intensely \u2013 someone please come up with an alternative as soon as possible so it never has to assault my ears or brain ever again) into proceedings.<\/p>\n
Overall, retail is pretty grim in the UK right now: according to the British Retail Consortium, sales in physical stores and online have now dropped for three months in a row, while prices in the UK are currently rising at their fastest rate for 40 years. Total retail sales decreased by 1% in the five weeks between the end of May and the start of July, compared with an increase of 10.4% in June last year. And yet\u2026. Mattel shares have actually been rising this week following an upgrade from Goldman Sachs, which was predicated on the belief that toy companies are better placed to withstand economic uncertainty than many other categories.<\/p>\n
Hasbro is another business in good shape, as the 200+ attendees at this week\u2019s Peppa Pig partner event<\/a> learned. There is positive momentum in both the toy and licensed Peppa ranges, and there are already strong brand plans in place for next year, building towards 2024, which will be Peppa\u2019s 20th anniversary. An incredible achievement and you can see why Hasbro intends to paint the trade pink that year. Congratulations to all the winners of the awards given out on the day, brilliantly dubbed \u2018The Oinksters\u2019 \u2013 there was a strong showing from the toy category, with both Character Options and Wow Stuff triumphant, along with retailers Tesco and Asda.<\/p>\n Toy retailers can also take heart from this week\u2019s Amazon Prime Day, which apparently saw many sale prices looking remarkably like normal prices from last year, and overall, toy deals didn\u2019t seem to be especially prevalent or outrageous. Collectively, the toy community probably heaved a sigh of relief \u2013 the last thing anyone needs right now is current or best-selling lines being killed for the rest of the trade in an unnecessary two-day bloodbath in the middle of summer. I liked the way someone described Amazon\u2019s approach: \u201cThey want to be the lowest price\u2026but they want the lowest price to be as high as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Lego finally confirmed that it would be pulling out of Russia indefinitely.<\/a> Although the company had stopped delivering products to Russia back in March, its shops remained open despite most other international retailers pulling out of the territory. However, Lego has now confirmed it will be ending its partnership with Inventive Retail Group which ran 81 Russian shops on Lego’s behalf. Even though it did not specifically cite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the move, it is unquestionably the right decision for a company as ethically and morally impeccable as Lego.<\/p>\n I was sad to hear that Eaglemoss has given notice of its intention to call in administrators<\/a> \u2013 I remember meeting the team when it first entered the retail space a few years ago and was always impressed with the quality of the product the company produced. Unfortunately, a fall in revenue from \u00a368m to just over \u00a330m in the company\u2019s latest accounts suggests there were significant issues, and there have been murmurs for a few months which hinted that all was not well.<\/p>\n Conversely, Character Options will be delighted to have been appointed by Playmates to distribute the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy range in 2023<\/a>: a Classic TMNT range will launch for Easter 2023, followed by a line based on Paramount Picture\u2019s highly anticipated animated new feature film, set for release next summer.<\/p>\n Over in Hong Kong, Hong Kong\u2019s new health chief has claimed that \u201cconditional quarantine-free travel could be allowed by November\u201d<\/a> \u2013 although the word \u2018conditional\u2019 appears to be doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. To be fair, readers of the Blog will know that I was told something similar several months ago, so there is clearly movement in the right direction in terms of loosening restrictions. But, as ever, the devil is in the detail \u2013 and there were some very mixed messages in the comments attributed to the new Secretary for Health. Within the space of a single article, the possibility of removing quarantine completely and moving to a five day quarantine were both mooted \u2013 and those are two very different scenarios for international visitors, especially when you consider the traditional timing of the Hong Kong Toy Fair and the opening of the showrooms in TST.<\/p>\n In addition, it was suggested that visitors could be subject to PCR testing (which is fine) and prohibited from attending \u201chigh-risk venues like bars.\u201d\u00a0 Ok, but what about restaurants – or even bar\/restaurants? Or trade shows and showrooms? Would these be classified as \u201chigh risk venues\u201d? What constitutes the risk \u2013 the number of people, the density, the ability to control interactions?<\/p>\n As I see it, a sizeable number of people from the global toy community would welcome the opportunity to return to Hong Kong \u2013 but in order to do that, they need reassurance that the goalposts won\u2019t be moved after the trip has been booked, or \u2013 heaven forbid \u2013 while they are there. No-one wants to be forced into quarantine if something suddenly changes. The challenge is whether anyone in the Hong Kong government can offer travellers a cast-iron guarantee \u2013 and if that isn\u2019t feasible, how many will be prepared to take the risk?<\/p>\n Finally, with the new football season a few short weeks away, if you would like to join our Toy World Masters League this year, the entry code is vnpxlv<\/strong>. We already have lots of last year\u2019s contestants signed up, but if you play the game and want to join in and compete with fellow toy people, head to fantasy.premierleague.com <\/a>or drop me an email john@toyworldmag.co.uk<\/a> and I will send you an email invitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While no-one is pretending it\u2019s easy at the moment, thankfully it seems that the toy market is continuing to buck the general retail trend. We don\u2019t have the launch of the Argos catalogue in summer to galvanise the market these … Continue reading