Retail News - what’s happening across the retail landscape

The Entertainer runs

The Big Toy Appeal

The Entertainer joined forces with The Salvation Army last month to launch The Big Toy Appeal: a campaign that aims to give as many underprivileged children as possible the joy of opening a present on Christmas Day. The initiative encouraged customers to pick up an extra toy to donate when they visited The Entertainer’s stores.

For every toy donated, the retailer also donated a toy, doubling the number of donations. Shoppers at the retailer’s website TheToyShop. com were able to join in too by adding a gift to their online basket. Customers have donated more than 60,000 toys since the appeal launched in 2018. This year the appeal aimed to reach a total of 100,000 toys.

The chain also brought back its Letters to Santa workshops. Children attended sessions in-store, where letter-writing elves helped add a little extra sparkle to their Christmas list letters and delivered them direct to the North Pole. Kids can expect a personal reply from Father Christmas himself before the big day.

The workshops were a huge success in 2019, with more than 22,757 children taking part.

Smyths opens in Merry Hill

Smyths Toys Superstores cut the ribbon on a new branch on 5 November at the Merry Hill shopping centre in Brierley Hill, West Midlands.

On opening day, shoppers were treated to free candy floss and plenty of goodies. On the weekend of 6 November and 7 November, the party continued in-store with special guests including Chase & Rubble from Paw Patrol and CoComelon’s JJ, and many more dropping by at various intervals.

Meanwhile, Smyths recently partnered with Hasbro to offer the nation their very own personalised Cluedo boards for the festive season.

The Cluedo Personalisation Tour travelled across the country with 21 live dates at seven Smyths stores between 22 October and 28 November, giving shoppers the chance to create their very own family edition of the whodunnit game.

From Colonel Mustard to Miss Scarlett, fans were able to replace famous suspects with pictures of their own friends or family - making games night that bit more personal this Christmas.

Asda partners

with Peppa Pig

George at Asda has partnered with Peppa Pig and Ecologi to offer a range of clothing made from responsibly sourced cotton through the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) as well footwear, accessories and wooden toys and playsets made with FSC-certified wood from responsibly managed forests, as part of Hasbro’s Plant with Peppa campaign.

Plant with Peppa aims to teach children about the importance of trees, and Peppa Pig’s reforestation programme pledges to plant 10,000 trees at projects based in England, Wales and Scotland. A variety of trees including oak, maple, crab apple, cherry, silver birch and Scots pine will be planted, and families will be able to check their progress either at the virtual Peppa Forest on the Ecologi website.

Consumers prepare to spend £21 billion this festive season

One in four consumers intend to splash out more this festive season, with an average spend of £428 per person - up from £384 last year, according to PwC. This increase, which is across all age ranges and regions, means a total predicted spend of £21 billion on presents and celebrations: up 12% on 2020.

PwC forecasts that given the disruptions of last year, the increased spend will be driven in part by more people planning to spend Christmas with extended family, leading to more gifting opportunities. Meanwhile, recent price inflation means people expect they will need to spend more.

It adds that the first two weeks of December will be the busiest for Christmas shopping, but more than half of consumers will have bought most of their presents by the end of November. Concerns over stock levels, delivery times and further impacts of Covid are forcing consumers to shop earlier than usual to avoid disappointment.

Hamleys heads

for Westfield London

Hamleys has signed a lease for an 11,000sq ft permanent store at Westfield London, scheduled to open in Spring 2022.

To maximise on the Christmas shopping period, a pop-up Hamleys shop opened in the shopping centre on 19 November, which will operate until the permanent store’s launch. Visitors to the pop-up can expect Hamleys’ world-famous in-store experiences, including live demonstrations, special guests, and festive entertainment.

The permanent shop will showcase a new store concept, featuring engaging and educational play areas, with interactive and exciting installations, as well as a year-round programme of in-store events and character appearances, adding to the centre’s already established family brands, including LEGO, The Entertainer and KidZania London.

Meanwhile, Hamleys has announced a Christmas partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity GOSH. The initiative includes the launch of a limited edition run of 1,500 Hamleys GOSH Bears, with £16 from the sale of every bear being donated to the charity to support seriously ill children from across the UK.

Strong half-year sales for The Works

The Works has published its half-year trading update for the 26 weeks to 31 October, which shows some promising trends.

Trading for the multi-channel value retailer of toys, arts, crafts, books, and stationery has been ‘stronger than expected’ with a two-year like-for-like sales increase of 14.5% and total two-year sales growth of 17.9%.

Gavin Peck, CEO of The Works, commented: “It’s clear from these results that our products resonated extremely well with customers during the pandemic, helping them to read, learn, play and craft through lockdown. “Our strong sales in recent months demonstrate that demand has been maintained and customers continue to value our offer. It’s particularly pleasing to see that whilst our online sales continue to run at almost double their pre-pandemic levels, store sales are also growing.

“Looking ahead, we have a fantastic range of products for our customers this Christmas with initial demand for them already very strong. We are cautiously optimistic about prospects for our peak sales season and our ability to trade through the ongoing supply chain challenges faced by the majority of our sector.”

The Works opened three new stores, closed five and relocated four, trading from 526 stores at the end of the half-year period.

M&S launches FAO Schwarz online and in stores

M&S is launching FAO Schwarz in 20 stores across the UK and on M&S.com. A bespoke offer of about 50 bestselling items (a mix of FAO Schwarz, Discovery, Discovery #Mindblown and Sharper Image products) has been selected, including toy racing cars, music mats, craft kits and plush toys.

The M&S store openings are billed as the first time the toy brand has been available on local UK high streets. The FAO shops will be trialled next to M&S gift shops and located within M&S Kids product areas. An experiential approach is also being tested with magicians set to perform at two of the biggest stores (Stratford and Bluewater) every weekend.

FAO is the latest addition to the ‘Brands at M&S’ strategy, which aims to offer a wider selection within its core categories and introduce complementary categories where the retailer doesn’t have a full offer such as kids’ toys and stationery.

M&S said: “Having this breadth of range is crucial for growth, with over 30% of our customers planning to purchase toys this Christmas.’’ Toys have already proved a popular new product option for M&S customers: 64% of orders for an Early Learning Centre product (which landed on the M&S website last year) also include at least one product from another M&S department.

Menkind acquires

Hawkin’s Bazaar

Gifts and gadgets retailer Menkind has completed the acquisition of Hawkin’s Bazaar and Stocking Fillers, previously owned by H Grossman, for an undisclosed sum.

Hawkin’s Bazaar was created in 1973 as the go-to place gifts for children of all ages. Stocking Fillers was established in 2007 and was set up to make shopping for Christmas stockings and presents easier.

Under the deal, Menkind will take over the websites, customer data and stock. For now, customers will have access to the existing websites but in due course they will be redirected to www. Menkind.co.uk.

The acquisition will provide customers with a significantly larger range to choose from and the benefit of a more seamless customer experience journey, thanks to Menkind’s years of expertise in the gifting industry. Its first store opened in 2002 and it can now be found in more than 60 locations around the country and online. In the lead-up to Christmas, Menkind is expanding its presence with pop-up stores in key locations.

Hawkin’s Bazaar CEO David Mordecai commented: “We are delighted to have been acquired by Menkind. They are market leaders in the gifting industry and bring a world of experience, which makes it truly exciting for this deal to take place.”

Paul Kraftman, CEO at Menkind, added: “We are proud to continue the growth of our business through the acquisitions of these great brands. Reflecting back to 10 years ago, we were among the three main independent gifting retailers alongside Red5 and Hawkin, and thanks to our dedicated team and expertise we’ve gone from strength to strength, enabling us to acquire these businesses and offer an unrivalled proposition to our customers.”

Aldi removes plastic from wooden toy range

Aldi is removing all plastic packaging from its entire wooden toy range. The supermarket chain’s Specialbuy range includes 26 items, including medical carts and pirate ships.

The wooden toy range originally launched in 2016 and has proved very popular with customers looking for unusual and sustainable Christmas gifts. Shoppers can also pick up giant soft toys, which have also had their plastic packaging removed, and an eco plush toy made from recycled plastic bottles. Available either as a bear in Aldi uniform or a selection of endangered animals - including a Galapagos penguin, sea turtle and blue whale – these toys are made from 100% recycled polyester.

This change across Aldi’s toy range will result in a 54-tonne reduction in plastic packaging each year. This initiative has been achieved by making several adjustments, including substituting paper tape for plastic and replacing bubble wrap with paper wrap, meaning the range’s packaging is now made from 93% recyclable materials.