Industry Forum

INDUSTRY FORUM ASTRA

2023 and Beyond

by Sue Warfield, ASTRA President

We have all changed. 2020 did that to us. We reinvented ourselves, our family life, our businesses, and how we meet. We learned and yes, we grew. One of our biggest lessons learned: things will never be exactly as before. From ASTRA’s perspective, that can be a positive.

Let’s rewind just a bit. In 2017, ASTRA held 3 in-person focus groups of our members. e outcome of that was to form our Innovation Council, and they continue to meet still - every Friday morning for an hour on zoom. It is made up of retailer, manufacturer, sales rep, and a liate members. When formed, they were initially tasked with looking at the future of retail in 5 years. ey had some incredible insights, and had a plan in place to test out new and innovative ways for stores to reach consumers. en Covid hit, and all of that changed.

Fast forward to 2022. eir task was to look at the future of gatherings. What is important to our members? What can we do di erently? What we should not change? is past spring they held 7 di erent round table discussions, via zoom, to hear directly from those we serve. e results of these round table discussions were analyzed over a full-day meeting and a new word was coined: pivotablility. It’s what we all need now, and will continue to need as new challenges appear. Lesson 2 from 2020: there is no status quo.

Speci c, actionable ideas from our round table discussions, committees, board members, and lessons learned by our sta are in the works and include:

· Changes to our trade show oor for 2023, a change in how we organize our educational o erings and a change in our registration options for Marketplace & Academy in Columbus, June 11-15.

· e Toy Boat, sailing February 20-24, 2023 is a pivot from the usual “trade show” and focuses on new products, order writing of in-stock products to ll shelves, working with manufacturers to plan programs, planograms, sta training, and events for the year, game night, plus sharing ideas and brainstorming with colleagues. For e Good Toy Group, Learning Express, and the Toy Collection members on board, they will be looking for catalog items. For smaller and newer manufacturers, it gives them an opportunity to be on a more level playing eld with the larger booths that o en draw the attention of buyers. We are lling cabins, so check out more details at https://astra.glueup.com/event/ahoy-mates-52830/

Will this take the place of any other trade shows? Absolutely not!

· We highly encourage attending other shows, including our own Marketplace & Academy in Columbus. We will be present at January Gi Shows and ToyFest. We’ve worked closely with ToyFest to provide retailers an incentive to join us on ToyBoat and attend ToyFest. We see these as two unique o erings with two unique opportunities to grow your retail business. If you attend both the Toy Boat and ToyFest, ASTRA will foot the bill for one room night at one of our hotels in Columbus for Marketplace & Academy and ToyFest will pay for one room night at their host hotel at ToyFest, February 27-March 3, 2023.

· Regional gatherings are currently being planned to include more game day events, educational options, and in-person round table discussions

· Our Certi ed Play Expert Program has been revised and updated. Not only will we be o ering this program during the 2 days prior to Marketplace at Academy in Columbus, we are working on o ering it at other locations, so that we can bring the program on the road to a business. A customized version just for the retailers is in the works.

· With the impact the round tables had for both ASTRA and the participants, we are working to form groups with similar demographics and economics that can meet via zoom at various times during the year. ese groups can share with one-another, and provide additional input to ASTRA as we develop new resources for our members.

is is just the start of what we see as the future for 2023. Our Innovation Council is now looking at what the next 3 years may bring, and how we can stay a step ahead of any challenges that we may face. Pivotability is the word. We are on it!