Retail Interview – TNP chats to Martin Blyth

A walk on the wild side

TnP chats to fl edgling toy retailer Martin Blyth, director of Heart of England Wildlife Park in Worcestershire about his animal-themed product offer

Tell us about Heart of England Wildlife Park.

Last September I gave notice on my secure and stable career in education management and completed the sale of my house to realise my dream of opening my own wildlife park in Worcestershire.

Heart of England Wildlife Park is a conservation-focused enterprise, and we are currently going through the planning process with the intention of opening our physical environment in late summer.

In the interim, we have created an online shop selling a range of gifts, toys and home décor. We have also recently started using Amazon and eBay to increase sales of our toys and gifts.

What are your key product categories?

Imaginative play and soft toys. As a wildlife park, all our products are themed to animals and wildlife. We started our online shop featuring toys of animals that we intend to exhibit at the park, but since demand has been stronger than anticipated we have expanded our range to cover a large number of animal-themed products.

We initially started with a limited range and only stocked a very small amount of Playmobil and Schleich fi gures and Ravensden plush animals to test market demand. As our business is primarily focused on the conservation of endangered wildlife species, we wanted to offer a product range that was closely associated with our ethos.

We recently expanded into selling the popular ‘That’s Not My...’ sensory book series by Usborne Books, which complements our existing offering well. In the fi rst half of the year we intend to develop relationships with a greater number of suppliers such as Keycraft and Orchard Toys.

Desert Fox fi gures within 24 hours!

What are your best sellers?

Playmobil’s recent extension of the Family Fun range to include zoo animals has proved popular. The Hippo and Calf in this set have really caught the imagination of our customers. The Red Panda Habitat from the same collection offers great value for the number of pieces and this set is popular across all our online distribution across all our online distribution channels. We sell a consistent number of Schleich toy animal fi gures and if I’m honest, it’s the Schleich products that I enjoy selling the most, because they are an incredibly lifelike representation of the animals we will have at the park.

What product launches have impressed you so far this year?

The Playmobil Family Fun series, featuring a range of instantly recognisable animals including Rhinos, Alligators and Meerkats. Although these items are sold singularly, there is a real opportunity to bundle products together and offer discounts to customers. The expanded Living Nature soft toy range made with recycled plastic materials is also an impressive development and we intend to order this range imminently. Despite the slightly higher price point, the quality of the product offering - in addition to its environmentally friendly credentials - make this a certain winner. The latest Schleich fi gures have continued to be popular too: we sold out of its new Highland Cow and Desert Fox fi gures within 24 hours!

As our business is “

primarily focused on the conservation of endangered wildlife species, we wanted to offer a product range that was closely associated with our

ethos ”

How has trade been for you in Lockdown 3? you in Lockdown 3?

We’ve noticed that our sales fi gures month-on-month on fi gures month-on-month on Amazon have continued to increase; it’s evident that consumers place signifi cant emphasis on convenience and free delivery. Lockdown 3 has caused issues in other areas of our business including planning enquiries and face-to-face meetings enquiries and face-to-face meetings at other zoological collections. But on at other zoological collections. But on the other hand, it’s helped us solidify our online offering and generate vital cash fl ow while we face planning delays elsewhere. Traffi c to our own online store has also increased signifi cantly during the latest set of restrictions and we are keen to build on this moving forward.

How are you preparing for opening?

I can’t go to the supermarket without being approached by locals who want to talk about which animals we are getting and which zoos those animals are coming from! We’ve hired an excellent zoo consultant to address the animal welfare side of the business and I’m focusing on the most important commercial aspects of the wildlife park: the café and gift shop.

We’ve been meeting suppliers using Teams or Zoom and have been able to view product samples. A priority for us is to continue building our network of suppliers so that when we do get the thumbs-up from the local planning department on our physical environment, we can open our café and gift shop at the earliest opportunity, even in advance of opening the rest of the park.