12 minute read
Trade Talk - suppliers reflect on their key achievements and challenges of 2021
TRADE OPINION Trade talk
This month we ask suppliers to reflect on their key achievements and challenges of 2021
Calling all suppliers and distributors! We’d love to hear your views. Get in touch with Clare@lemapublishing.co.uk to have your say!
SCOTT EDEN
Product Director Wilton Bradley
Our electric ride-on vehicle range has had huge success this year. This range of exclusive, officially licensed models allows kids to experience the thrill of getting behind the wheel of their very own electric ride-on car. Many of these products were recognised for their design and innovation, bringing home some of the top awards in the industry. Our BMW X5 won Gold in the Best Outdoor category at the Made for Mums Awards and the Gold Top WOW Factor at the Right Start Awards.
Of course 2021 has thrown plenty of challenges our way, but our business has adapted very well, and our foundations have allowed us to continue to move forward. We have a vast supplier base, many of whom we have been working with for several years. So, despite the lack of buying trips and shipping delays, we have still managed to push on with developing and delivering great new products - all on time to launch to our customers.
KATE GIBSON
Managing Director Gibsons
We had a huge year of growth in 2020, so to match this with a great year in 2021 has been quite an achievement, and building our stocks and availability has been a key priority.
There have certainly been a few challenges to contend with this year, not least Brexit, widespread cost increases and implementing an entirely new IT system. Returning to the office as a whole team was a powerful moment and although we are fully embracing hybrid working, we’ve seen such a positive impact on collaboration, planning and ideas generation through all being together again. Having the right people in your business driving it forward is key to your success, and we’ve made some fantastic appointments this year.
JACK PROBYN
UK Marketing Manager Winning Moves
Without a doubt, our biggest achievement has been a year of promo opportunities with one of the biggest companies in the world, McDonald’s. Together, we’ve produced several ranges of Top Trumps that have gone into millions of Happy Meals up and down the country. In addition to that, we’re also immensely proud of aligning our Top Trumps brand with COP26 [the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference] and NatWest by hosting a competition for schoolchildren to raise awareness and ideas about climate change and how it can be stopped.
Above all, we’ve learned that people still know we’re in a pandemic and, while they’re all starting to adjust to a new life after it, they need some help along the way - times with loved ones, friends, family, and using games and toys to aid with that. All we can do is try to deliver the best possible products.
RICHARD NORTH
CEO, Wow! Stuff
Growth. We are back in significant growth mode so I’m very proud of the innovation the team is creating and their ‘never give up’ attitude. We have moved into different categories such as preschool, which we’ve long wanted to do, and now we have three major brands in the toddlertech category: Gruffalo and Friends, where we are Master Toy; Peppa Pig; and CoComelon.
Another big goal was to expand geographically, and we now have a German warehouse supporting Europe and boots on the ground in Spain, France and Latin America, which adds to our UK and Asia sales teams. We now have a good product presence in 32 countries - up from 16 in 2020 - and we’re just scratching the surface on our sales potential.
You need the right team. It’s all about the people and the culture you create that helps you weather all storms.
SAM IRELAND
Operations Director, Bigjigs Toys
To keep the stock moving through the business. There have been so many delays and changes to shipping, that it’s been a massive achievement to have shipped as much as we have.
That we as a business and an industry can deal with almost anything that is thrown at us. We’ve all had so many challenges to deal with this year, but we’ve overcome them and are here to tell the tale.
CHRISTINA AIKMAN
International Marketing Manager Mookie Toys
It’s been an important and exciting year for Mookie Toys after officially opening Mookie France. Our European HQ is based in La Ciotat and is the new home to all of Mookie’s exciting brands.
We’ve learned the importance of planning ahead within every aspect of the business, but to always be prepared to be reactive due to unpredictables in the market that may occur.
EEJAY ENYI
Sales Director Zimpli Kids
Managing to not only rise above all the challenges that Covid threw at us, but to excel in very difficult times. We’ve had several record-breaking months of sales, managed to bring manufacture of our fastest growing sector (Bath Bombs) in-house and mitigate all the China supply issues that the industry has seen, by working together as a team and carefully planning to ensure we have no breaks in supply. We’re proud to say that we kept our team safe with robust Covid-safe protocols in place in all aspects of the business, while increasing output and keeping customers happy.
We’ve learned that we have an amazing team here at Zimpli Kids, who genuinely care about the business and are happy to work flexibly and think outside the box to ensure that all our goals are met, while having fun along the way!
JO DRAGE
Sales Director, Thames & Kosmos What’s your company’s biggest achievement in 2021?
Apart from getting through the year without too much drama, I’d say our biggest achievement was to translate, amend and sell a record amount of Exit calendars. We have committed to sell the same advent calendar next year, due to unexpectedly selling out in weeks, and we will also add another to our range.
I’ve learned how to turn on a sixpence, and that staff CAN be just as productive at home. I’ve also learned how important it is to have a good team around you - which we are lucky to have.
TRADE OPINION Trade talk
This month we ask suppliers to reflect on their key achievements and challenges of 2021
Calling all suppliers and distributors! We’d love to hear your views. Get in touch with Clare@lemapublishing.co.uk to have your say!
ALEXANDER SMITH
Managing Director, Wotch Creations
The company’s biggest achievement was being issued a granted patent in the US.
“The learnings of 2021 were to establish a strong retailer network and engage the online audience with
The learnings of 2021 were to establish a strong regular content that is not just retailer network about product” and engage the online audience with regular content that is not just about product.
KERRIE CORRIGAN
General Manager Coiledspring Games
This year has seen the Coiledspring team expand with additions to the sales team and a successful launch of our Coiledspring Heroes range. The heroes are a selection of leading, family-friendly titles that represent a cross-section of our entire range. We’ve also adapted to the virtual world and are remaining flexible in the ever-changing digital environment. Our marketing has more emphasis on the digital sphere, and we’ve seen immense growth in this space this year.
“Supply chain and logistics What have you learned from the challenges of 2021?
have been the main Supply chain and logistics have been the main challenge across the industry. We’ve challenge” overcome these challenges by consolidating orders and keeping open and transparent lines of communication with our customers. We’ve been working hard to maintain these high levels of communication around stock levels and shipping and are actively ensuring our retail partners reciprocate this as well. Maintaining this communication level will be key going into 2022. We’ve certainly learned to be more resilient and flexible as we continue to adapt to changes and mitigate the risk of factors that are largely out of our control.
ANTHONY MARKS
Managing Director, Fanattik
Where to begin? We signed licensing agreements with ViacomCBS for SpongeBob and TMNT, and with Hasbro for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic The Gathering. To think that this company started from my spare room and is now producing toys, gifts and collectables for two global players such as these is mind-blowing. We also won a Business Masters Award, were nominated for Gift of the Year in the UK, and won pop culture awards in the US for our collectables, home goods and accessories. To top it off, we recruited more team members and moved into our new Fanattik HQ. What have you learned from the challenges of 2021?
To delegate. With Brexit, shipping issues and Covid, rather than let all that pressure sit on the shoulders of one or two people, we recognised the need to create new positions within the company and recruited team members to help with these challenges. Having more head space to focus has enabled the team to drive the huge growth that the company has been experiencing these past 24 months.
PAUL SCHAFFER
Managing Director, Plum Play
We have a lot to be proud of this year! We have launched many new products and have adapted to a whole new industry amid the pandemic. But Plum Play’s biggest achievement has got to be our expansion into international markets. We now export to more than 50 countries, have offices in the UK, Hong Kong and Sydney, and are set to be bigger internationally than domestically this year for the first time in our history.
Like all businesses over the past 18 months, we have had to adapt our business model in response to unprecedented changes brought about by the pandemic - most recently, the supply chain disruptions that have affected many businesses like ours. Our business model has become much more flexible and nimbler, which has helped us deal with new challenges over the past few months and will make our business much more resilient to new changes in the months ahead.
STEVE FINCH
Director, Boppi
Navigating this far! It’s been such a tough year, what with Brexit and Covid. Such events might normally happen every 50 years, let alone two big events in the space of a year. But the first proper trade show we attended - Autumn Fair - was fantastic. It was great to interact with so many new customers and open so many new accounts.
To adapt to change better. You can become a little rigid as the business matures and I think this year has shown how adaptable businesses and people can be if needed.
Talking retail TnP loves to hear your views. In this issue we ask retailers what's selling well in
the run-up to Christmas
Dr Wendy Hamilton
CEO, Grasshopper Toys (Curious Minds Science Ltd) Helensburgh, Scotland
What’s proving popular for big-ticket presents?
LEGO Defender, LEGO Ferrari, LEGO Lamborghini, and LEGO Porsche; the big Tamiya kits; and the huge Melissa & Doug plush items. What stocking fillers are selling well?
Playmobil figures, Chattering Teeth, Stretchy Santas, and slimes and putties - will they ever go out of fashion? If Santa gave you three wishes this Christmas for your business, what would they be?
That Christmas was postponed until March - get those containers into the port and unloaded! That our government gets a grip of its knickers and starts to listen to the concerns of SMEs. And finally, I’d like a paperwork fairy to come and action and file all our paperwork please.
Emma Scott
Retail Operations Manager Birmingham Museums Trust
How have you been preparing for Christmas trading?
We start preparing in early autumn and launched after the October half-term holiday. So our Christmas gifts and ranges are already out and on display at our museum sites: Thinktank, Aston Hall and Sarehole Mill. What’s proving popular for bigticket presents?
LEGO: we have Star Wars and Harry Potter sets. What stocking fillers are selling well?
Cuddly animals from Ravensden such as meerkats and lions do well. If Santa gave you three wishes this Christmas for your business, what would they be?
First, to make it easier for us to get our products - currently any that are coming from outside the UK are proving difficult to get hold of and take a long time.
Second, for everyone in Birmingham to make Birmingham Museums’ online shop their first port of call when buying presents! We are a charity and rely on self-generated income. Buying a gift from us means customers are also giving back to and helping preserve the city’s heritage. And third, that the world gets back to normal in 2022!
