Licensee Feedback – Half time report

Half time report

Now that we are over half way through 2021, LSB catches up with a selection of licensees to find out how the year has been for them so far, their big challenges and successes and the hopes they have for the remainder of the year.

Below: Stock this season is clearly going to be king, says Anthony.

Toby Davies, commercial director, Steamforged Games

“Brexit took a toll on the speed we could get goods out to customers and that had a real knock on effect on their ability to re-order. I’m pleased to say we opened up a hub in the Netherlands mid June and we’re now able to

deliver even better customer

service to our EU trade partners Inset: Steamforged is than pre-Brexit. in a good spot Our biggest success in 2021 was heading into the second half of 2021, the Monster Hunter (licensed from says Toby. Capcom) Kickstarter in April, one of the largest of the year so far with a whopping £3.4 million. We’re in a good spot going into the second half as we had already factored much of the above in our budget and have some very exciting products launching in the next six months. I don’t think we’ll need to go into extra time to deliver decent YOY growth.”

Anthony Duckworth, md, Dreamtex

“We’ve had a surprisingly great start to 2021 launching several really strong ranges into the market place. Xbox and Liverpool FC in particular have been incredible and these have bucked the market trend for sales in a period which is usually fairly flat. Non-essential retail opening has added to the strong supermarket and online business that carried us through the pandemic and given us a strong platform for AW21. Stock this season is clearly going to be king as shipping rates become more challenging, but we have found that by working in partnership with our customers, solutions can be found to ensure the consumer is not disappointed. We need to be fully focused on delivering our new ranges for this autumn and spring 2022 which includes BT21, Bluey and Among Us. Issues surrounding delivery schedules and extended factory lead-times remain prevalent as we investigate all solutions to try and keep production on time.”

Dan Grant, licensing director, Danilo

“Given the massive challenges that everyone faced last year, Danilo actually ended the year in a healthy position. However there are still many challenges ahead as we move through the rest of 2021. Shipping has become the biggest talking point with the lack of containers and massively inflated prices putting pressure on margins. The welcome return of high street stores has been a relief. We also hope to see a much higher number of calendar stores open in 2021 to help drive distribution and sales across Q3 and Q4 this year following a tough end to 2020. We are positive about the rest of 2021 and expect the business to perform beyond the levels we experienced in 2019 when the business was showing good growth.”

Above: DPI has remained flexible, says Michael.

Michael Ball, sales director, Drew Pearson International (Europe)

“2021 has continued to throw moveable goals into our path and the business has had to be flexible to react quickly to changes.

It has been great to see retail stores finally opening and trading again, while online retail has been key during the lockdown period and we will continue to develop this business further. The major supermarkets are still trading well in our product area, although pressure on price is, as always, a constant. Many retailers are ramping up the change to sustainable materials and our supply base has been able to react to this well.

The sharp and continued increase in freight costs has put further pressure throughout the supply chain. We are working hard with our shipping department to minimise the impact, but there is no getting away from the effect this has already had on margins and shipments.”

Ben Lowe, account manager, Roy Lowe & Sons

“Thankfully for us, demand for socks has remained strong throughout the period, and with the reopening of all bricks and mortar, we are

seeing signs of a strong

recovery for our business. Sales through our online channels have leapt to new heights, and we have increased our investment in these areas to support further growth.

Gifting has been a key

focus for us for a few years now, with last year’s B&LLA for our Kellogg’s cereal box socks testament to our team’s efforts in this area. Through Roy’s Boys we have been able to bring families together with our matching sock gifting ranges which has been great to see. The addition of our baby and toddler leggings, personalised PJs, greetings cards and personalised gift messages has added real value to our online offer.”

Above: Ben says that Roy Lowe has been busy building its gifting offer.

Mel Beer, licensing director EMEA, Amscan

“With all those postponed social gatherings now being scheduled in and all of Above: The launch of its sustainable costume portfolio has been a great those missed special achievement for Amscan, says Mel. occasions of last year, we’re expecting a long summer full of celebrations. We’re not sure there’s any place where Brexit wouldn’t have been a shock to the system given the ease of trading with the EU for so many years. However, we had spent the previous 12 months preparing for this situation, so we found ourselves fortunately better prepared than a lot of businesses. Even so with this preparation in place there had been many additional processes which we had to successfully navigate through to ensure continuity of supply to our valued customers. This is combined with the cost of distribution increasing and the need to ensure we carefully consider greater lead times. One of our greatest achievements has been being first to launch our sustainable costume portfolio, which after a seasonal trial, sees Warner Bros. licensed designs and classic themes added to the mix for this year.”

Hollie-Ann Robinson, marketing manager, Dennicci

“The continued uncertainty has been difficult for many during the past 12 months. The whole supply chain has been affected, from the mills with their ever rising yarn prices through to freight and haulage shortages driving up prices, we’ve worked harder than ever alongside our suppliers, to provide a service that we are proud of in these circumstances.

With the majority of our customers being grocers that have remained opened, we’ve managed to succeed through the pandemic and come out the other side with their support. The key for us as a group is ensuring we are forward thinking; the pandemic has changed how we have worked and we will continue to adapt as we return to some kind of normal. We hope to continue the year on a positive note, building upon our ever-growing relationships with our key partners, licensors and retailers.”

Faye Rashad, design and licensing manager, Misirli

“It’s certainly been a tough 18 months with a stop-start feeling. However, business has been fantastic, the team have and Above: Misirli is continue to work hard to play catch predicting a strong close of up from retailers been closed and year, says Faye. teams furloughed, securing some great business across all product categories both on licence and own brand.

Containers are a challenge as ports are bottle necking, but the merchandise team is working hard to ensure we deliver. We are predicting a strong close of year with success on a number of new brands alongside our ever growing own brand generic business.”

Julie Jones, md, Redan Publishing

Elliott Peckett, director, Smiffys

“One of the main challenges we have faced in the first half of 2021 is rising freight costs and container shortages – container prices have increased over tenfold compared to previous years and delayed deliveries from China continue to affect stock availability. However, we’re combatting this by encouraging our customers to place orders early for key events such as Halloween to ensure they have stock coverage.

The start of 2021 was tough for the industry and our high street customers in particular due to being closed for so long. Since reopening however, the positivity we’ve seen from our customers has been the uplift we’ve all needed after a hard year.

Overall, we are feeling very positive going into the second half of 2021 as Covid restrictions look set to be lifted. Covid has taken away the opportunity to celebrate and dress up, not the demand to do so.”

Above: Smiffys’ Elliott is feeling very positive going into the second half of the year. “The children’s magazine market has held up well, especially as parents were looking for things to entertain Above: Children’s magazines their children with during the being under the spotlight for plastic covermount toys has second home schooling period. been another challenge, Despite strong sales, it has says Julie. been a particularly challenging time. We all know that shipping has been in a very unstable position. In a lot of cases, we’ve had to adjust our schedules and on sale dates, and move some covermounts around.

Children’s magazines have also been under the spotlight for the plastic covermount toys, so we have spent a lot of time reassuring our retailers and licensors that we have already made great leaps to become more sustainable where both our packaging and toy covermounts are concerned and that we are continually researching and developing new ideas for more sustainable covermounts.”

Tim Kilby, brand and ecommerce director, Character World

“2021 has had its fair share of challenges for everybody in the industry. We are working hard with our supply chain and retail partners to ensure we have stock availability, especially for the key Christmas period this year. Despite all this Character World is having a good year. Our core licensed business has grown with retailers in UK and Europe, we have launched some new innovative products in the wellness category and finally our licensed portfolio is strong across all key demographics.”

Above: Tim says that Character World’s core licensed business has grown with retailers in the UK and Europe.

Livy Coare, licensing and marketing manager, H&A

“Our new kids’ licensed signings including Super Mario, Batman and Crayola have given us a fantastic start to the year, adding to our already market-leading portfolio of Disney, Marvel, Warner Bros. and L.O.L. Surprise.

Rising freight costs remain a big challenge for us, as with many other businesses, however we are very much weathering the storm and our expert relationships have enabled us to tackle this issue head on. H&A’s commitment to environmental change has meant that our packaging is now 100% recyclable, and we have also eradicated the use of PVC materials and successfully removed all plastic tags. With our gift 2021 ranges confirmed, we feel confident in delivering yet another successful year for our brands.”

Matt Reynolds, md, Little Brother Books

“2021 has been a phenomenal year so far for us at Little Brother Books. However, we have experienced the same challenges as most in regards to unprecedented Above: Matt says rises in cost of goods, material LBB’s wins have outweighed its availability and transport issues. challenges. We have great relationships with all our suppliers, so we have worked with them to minimise the risks as much as possible. We understand they are in an equally challenging, so compromise and positive partnerships are the only way forward.

However I am glad to say, our wins have definitely outweighed our challenges this year. 2021 is highly likely to be our biggest year to date at LBB with over one million copies printed for our Christmas season alone.”

Sue Stanley, licensing director, Brands In

“2021 is shaping up to be a great year for us. It’s not been without a few challenges, but in general we’ve come through the global pandemic relatively unscathed. We secured several new retail partners due to last year’s seismic shift of consumers purchasing clothing online, in addition to the up-lift in print on demand, which we were already focusing on as a growth area for the business. Two major new retail partners are on-boarding as we speak and this will be announced very shortly, and bring exciting opportunities for the business in the UK; in Europe we’re continuing to grow our distribution, particularly with the extension of our current licences. Our main challenges six months into 2021 have been shipping and pricing, neither of which can be resolved quickly, unfortunately. However, we ride these storms, as all businesses will have to do, but at the same time we are seeing there are some really great opportunities out there and we are keen to capture all of them over the coming months.”

Above: Neither the shipping or pricing challenges can be resolved quickly, says Sue.

Lawrence Boon, md, Fizz Creations

“We took a huge leap forward in 2021 – launching 12 new licensed ranges from the iconic movies such as JAWS, E.T. and Back to the Future, right through to character fun with Minions, Trolls and Peter Rabbit and leading gaming titles such as Tetris and Sonic.

Creativity and collaboration are at the core of Fizz; it’s what helps us design and develop awardwinning product so really, one of the biggest challenges is that we have had to work remotely. That said, while it has been our greatest challenge, it has equally been our greatest achievement – each and every one of our team has pulled together in a phenomenal manner to bring together our biggest launch of licensed product to date.”

Above: Fizz Creations has taken a huge leap forward this year, says Lawrence.

Rob Broadhurst, sales and licensing, Aykroyd & Sons

“As we navigated our way through the first half of this year, delivering on an extremely strong SS21 programme and building our biggest ever AW order book, the outlook was extremely positive, but tinged with caution due to the ever growing noise around container availability and prices – especially as we are still predominantly a landed supplier, which ironically is usually a strategic advantage for us and our retail partners.

So far we are trying to manage/mitigate this in collaboration with our retailers, but it’s proving somewhat difficult as the situation is so volatile. In essence we won’t know until the end of the season what the actual impact has been.

In effect we are sat in a similar position to where we were this time a year ago – the demand is clearly there for licensed apparel, our order book is testament to this, and the outlook is still clearly positive but we once again find that factors beyond our control are having a huge effect on getting product on to shelves to satisfy that demand.”

Right: There is ever growing noise around container availability and prices, says Rob.