RETAIL INTERVIEW MOONPIG
‘Our aim is to reinvent the gifting experience’ TnP talks to Tom Hampton, gifts buyer - toys, novelty gifts and gadgets, at online retailer Moonpig What’s your background? I started my retail career nearly 15 years ago at Waterstones as a Christmas temp unpacking boxes in its stock rooms, and that started a bit of a love affair with retail. From there I worked in various retail and ops-based roles, before starting my first buying position in 2011. Since then I’ve held buying and merchandising posts across Waterstones, Harrods and now Moonpig. This has been really exciting as they encompass very different sectors, from high street and luxury retail to airports and e-commerce, and as such have been unique experiences. I’ve covered quite a few different gifting product categories over the years, including technology, book accessories, Christmas products and pet accessories. But toys is the area that I’ve worked in longest, and the toy industry is one of the warmest and most welcoming I have encountered.
Tell us a bit about Moonpig. Headquartered in London, Moonpig Group is an international gifting platform comprising two brands Moonpig and Greetz - serving more than 12 million loyal customers
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What are your key categories?
across the UK, US, Australia and the Netherlands. Moonpig was founded by Nick Jenkins in 2000, right after the dot com bubble burst, but he felt there was a gap in the market. We were pioneers of the online greeting card industry, and on top of this leadership position, we’ve now built a fantastic gifting business.
How would you describe your range?
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The toy industry is one of the warmest and most welcoming I have encountered
We have a really broad range as we want to provide gifts for children of all ages, including those big kids who are 18-plus. Our main focus with kids’ gifts is to offer a great selection of birthday presents. Our strategy is to pair the perfect gift to match both the sender and recipient, however old or young the child, and however close the sender is to the child concerned - whether friend or relative. For example, we're broadening our offer to cover licensed products that may be appropriate gifts from aunts and uncles, as well as heritage products that grandparents may be more comfortable with.
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We want to make sure we have gifts for all age groups, so we cover baby, preschool, construction, arts & crafts, action toys, dolls, children’s books, soft toys, games and puzzles. At a rough count we have 40-plus brands, but we are actively looking to expand our ranges and take on more partners. So we encourage any household brands to get in touch to talk about getting their products on our site. We deal with around 30 suppliers and we’re currently working alongside LEGO, Rainbow Designs, Posh Paws, Great Gizmos, Playmobil, Ravensburger, Winning Moves and TY UK, as well as Hasbro, Mattel and Tomy via our distribution partners.
How do you find toy products? In a pre-Covid world, trade shows, rep visits and showroom presentations would be the norm, but it’s obviously been very different this year. Trade press has been a reassuring constant source of information, and I think everyone has become an expert in video calls and presentations. Having said that, it’s been great to see the innovative ways that suppliers have been reaching out and highlighting their products. I’ve taken part in some virtual
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