Stepping into summer

The busy staff at Giddy Goat Toy s in Didsbury, Manchester, have been stepping out in style to raise Toy Trust charity cash, while also wooing post-Covid parents who may not have been into a toy shop since their kids were born during or after the pandemic. The store’s Amanda Alexander reports from the frontline…

Well here we are in June already, and as always it’s been a busy few months for the Giddy Goats.

I’d love to say sales were booming and we were all working our socks off packing online orders, serving customers and unpacking new deliveries, but sadly after what was generally a strong start to the year, sales definitely took a downturn in April and May. It’s always hard to know exactly why this happens as I can only ask the people who do come into the shop how they feel about the cost-of-living crisis and not the ones that don’t, but anecdotally the people I have chatted to have said that it’s the ongoing feeling of money not going very far, particularly in terms of the supermarket shop, that is leaving people feeling their disposable income is down.

Being proactive and of a positive disposition, I’ve tried to adapt and to source things that are under a tenner but still look like they are good value and good quality gifts to give. Galt does a fantastic range of craft kits that sell for under £8; Orchard Toys has a great range of games and puzzles I can sell for under £10; and Keel Toys’ Bobballs and Mini Motsu are both under a fiver - and we have made sure to keep a good stock of these lines in. We’ve also ordered a wider range of pocket money toys, such as several different Mash’ems and a whole load of squishy things including cats, balls, sausage dogs, carrots, bananas and chillis. Average basket value is down and I am faced with the dilemma of wondering whether this is a ‘bad thing’ as it’s due to having a wider range of lower-priced items in stock, or a ‘good thing’ as it means that at least customers are buying something, even if it’s a £2.99 toy instead of a £10.99 toy.

Being customer focused, I’m working on it being a good thing as we’re giving customers a choice of good-value products, and I hope that in time we will benefit from being a wellstocked yet affordable toy shop, but it’s not easy when a couple of quiet days turn into a few quiet weeks.

As we also recognise that there’s a customer life span and that our customers generally drop off the conveyor belt once the youngest child reaches high school, we figured we needed to reach out to new local parents, especially given that those who had babies during Covid had only ever shopped online for kids’ stuff initially and might not know our shop existed. So, we approached a number of local baby classes and offered vouchers to give to their customers. Five different groups immediately took us up on our offer, recognising the value of being able to offer a voucher to parents who signed up to their next group of classes - and so we have given out approximately 200 £5 vouchers. The vouchers can only be redeemed when customers spend £25 or more and they only have a few weeks to spend them. Potentially we are giving away £1,000 but taking £4,000, hopefully more as people go over the £25 mark. More than that though, we're hoping that people find out about our shop, come in, like what they see and become a long-term customer. Planning this and sorting out vouchers has kept us pretty busy during May and doing something proactive makes you feel more positive.

We’ve also been kept busy trying to get our steps in as team Giddy Goat signed up to do One Million Steps In May, as part of the Toy Trust’s May Mayhem Fundraiser. As well as raising money, the challenge has been beneficial to our staff through encouraging everyone to look at their daily steps and think about how they can increase them. Exercise has so many benefits for both our physical health and mental well-being; and it’s often cited that we should be aiming to achieve 10,000 steps a day, and walking is a great way of working towards this goal, so I hope that by taking part in the challenge I have encouraged my staff to gently increase their own exercise levels. As the members of our team range in age from 17 to 70 it’s been really interesting to compare what different people do on a daily basis and to create a little bit of literally healthy competition between them.

I’ve also been taking part in a programme of Netwalks for Small Business Britain (again helping the step count!) and have met some really lovely people. The Netwalks are aimed at anyone who runs or works for a small business and are as much about encouraging exercise and well-being as networking and swapping business cards. We swap tips about what social media channels work best, and we’ve had digital marketing experts provided by BT on some of the walks and they have let us pick their brains and given us tips on all things digital, from SEO to Google Analytics and setting up Facebook adverts. I’d definitely recommend seeing if there is one near you as it’s a national programme and overwhelmingly positive (plus you get free coffee and cake at the end of the walks!).

We’re also happy to have had a much-needed shop makeover recently. The scruffy tatty old exterior was sanded, undercoated and repainted in a fantastically bright poppy red.

So we’re hoping the makeover, the lower priced lines and the vouchers offer will bring people in and then when in they’ll find something they like and that they can afford and that they’ll become regular customers. Let’s see…