8 minute read
Retail Interview - with Tom Hampton, gifts
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 fi rst 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 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?
The toy industry is “ We have a really broad range one of the as we want to provide gifts for children of all ages, including those big kids who are 18-plus. warmest and most
Our main focus with kids’ gifts welcoming is to offer a great selection of I have 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 encountered ” 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. What are your key categories?
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 fi nd 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
showroom tours that were nearly as good as the real thing!
What are your current best sellers?
Soft toys performed really well over Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, and we saw some fantastic numbers this year from this range. We launched LEGO recently on the site and that has hit the ground running, which has been exciting to see. Arts & crafts products have been consistently strong for us over the last year as customers have looked for things to do in their own homes. And our book offering goes from strength to strength.
What lines have you started stocking recently?
Apart from LEGO, we’ve been working hard to introduce a whole range of new brands to the site this year. These include Character Options Peppa Pig’s wooden range, Hasbro Games, Disney Princess dolls, PlayDoh and Fisher-Price.
What do you offer that other ecommerce retailers don’t?
What sets Moonpig apart from gifting suppliers is the fact that we’re a cardsfirst, occasion-based retailer. We’re a great platform for brands to have their products on, as we offer a seamless experience for customers. Once they find the perfect card, we use algorithms - powered by machine learning and data science - to recommend a gift that matches that card (whether that’s a gift from the same licensed range or one that matches the age and interest group). It’s a one-stop-shop experience for the customer who can order a card and gift that arrives in one neat package. And when recipients see a Moonpig box, they instantly know there’s something exciting inside.
Our aim is to reinvent the gifting experience. We want to become the gifting companion for our customers. And we’re doing that by using technology to make it as effortless as possible for our customers to be as thoughtful as possible. We have made significant investments in our platform and data science capabilities in the last few years to transform the business from a tech-enabled retailer into a datapowered technology platform.
Where are you taking your product offering next?
Our ultimate aim is to have a breadth of children’s products that can offer a gift opportunity for every children’s card purchase. This starts with baby products (and new baby products for their parents as well!), and proceeds across all ages and stages of child development.
Letterbox products are something we’re asked about a lot and this is a focus across all our gifting categories. With toys, it can be a challenge to find products that actually fit through letterboxes. But it can be done, and often to great effect, so I’d love to hear more from suppliers that have great offerings in this area.
I also think we have a lot of opportunity to develop our preschool categories, particularly with learning and development toys. Any parent who has been homeschooling recently will appreciate how challenging it can be to engage children in education, and I do think this is something that a great educational toy can help with, as well as being great fun to play with. VTech is a great example of a brand that does this well. And as society starts to open up again, outdoor toys will become an increasing area of focus.
Having products that directly correspond to our licensed cards is one area of focus, and I’m looking forward to seeing products based on tentpole family blockbusters such as the Marvel movies and Minions 2, [due to be screened] at cinemas later this year. Gaming brands are also a growing area for us and I’m on the hunt for gaming merchandise for kids as well as teens and young adults.
Did you know?
Moonpig is constantly looking to add new brands to its offer, so Tom would encourage anyone with a great toys range to get in touch with him at commercial. gifts@moonpig.com. Here is the list of all the toy brands currently on offer at Moonpig:
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Positive customer reactions, whether through sales numbers or feedback. The people in the toy industry are some of the loveliest to work with too.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
Technology! It’s always frustrating when the Wi-Fi suddenly fails.
Where do you perceive the greatest opportunities?
The growth opportunities at Moonpig are enormous. We want to continue improving our offer to ensure we can match the right card and gift, so both the sender and the recipient have a great experience. That means extending our range, whether by introducing more branded products, working with partners on exclusive products or offering gifts for all budgets. We want the experience to be seamless, so we can offer customers a licensed card, licensed gift and even a balloon to go with it.
Where do you face the biggest challenges?
Children’s products are a particular challenge to ensure we offer someone shopping for young people an appropriate gift every time. Grandparents buy different gifts from neighbours, friends and younger relatives. Also, sometimes the sender may not know the recipient that well. Children of all ages are at different development stages and playground trends are enormously fast-moving. Our children’s offer needs to recognise those differences. To enable that means we need to have a breadth of range to accommodate all, but also make the shopping experience easy for users.
Finally, what’s your favourite toy or game?
I’ve always been a fan of board games, especially ones designed to be raucous and played with excitable groups. Pie Face is great fun!
