Licensee Feedback: The opportunities and challenges from 2022 so far

Now that we are approaching half time in 2022, LSB asks a selection of licensees if the year is panning out as they anticipated in terms of opportunities and challenges, and what is the one thing they would like to achieve by the time we reach the all-important Q4 period?

Talking shop

Above: The summer period is key to the success of 2022, says Mordy.

Mordy Benaiah, licensing director, Pyramid International

“At the start of the year Pyramid set itself very ambitious targets for 2022. We knew that importing from China was still going to be a challenge and let’s face it, we are still paying a high price for containers, plus the lockdowns which have been happening in several regions in China have caused delays. As long as you can manage timings and try and keep costs to a minimum, then there is light at the end of the tunnel. We had just started as a business to make breakthroughs in Russia which has now completely stopped. Other negatives affecting most people across Europe are cost rises and inflation. Back to the positives, Pyramid had a surprising and very strong Q1. We are delighted with the sales and it comes down to the sales team’s hard work backed up with some great film releases like The Batman and Fantastic Beasts 3 leading the way in the cinema. TV streaming is also strong with Disney+ titles bringing fans further into wanting merchandise. For us, the summer period is key to the success of 2022.”

Allana Holmes, home and lifestyle brand and sales director,

Hunter Price International

“We have a vision to become the retailers’ choice for innovative and design-led consumer products and we’ve carved out three clear product divisions to provide focus for the business: Home & Lifestyle, Stationery & Craft and Toys & Activity. We began the year on a huge high after our most successful Spring Fair to date. Our home & lifestyle division took centre stage, as we launched our first collection for the Style

Sisters and also debuted the new brand we developed for TV personality, Billie Faiers, Chapter B. We achieved our major objective of securing our launch retail partners, as well as starting conversations with our potential 2023 partners. These launches have been the perfect springboard to our year and as a result we’ve opened some very exciting doors, across all of our divisions. We’ve been able to turn the continuous challenges around shipping and rising costs into opportunities, by demonstrating we can create new, inspiring and engaging brands during an unprecedented time. We’ll also be announcing a series of exciting new partnerships throughout the year - a key objective will be to bring these new collaborations to life through industry leading NPD innovation.”

Norman Thompson, md, Imagine8

“The year is panning out better than expected, and I would like to believe the reason is because of a simple choice. When faced with all the uncertainty through the pandemic, my heart reminded me that life is precious, Above: Norman wishes us all that we are not invincible. We kindness, friendship and collaboration. learned new ways to connect, do business, collaborate, learn, serve, spend with our families and lead fulfilling lives.

Choose to be kind, do something that makes you happy, is good for you and good for others.

There are always opportunities and challenges; what are you focused on, and are things happening to us or for us? When choosing to be kind, like attracts like, partner with people you like, take care of each other, be grateful and have fun along the way. Kindness, friendship and collaboration are my wishes for you all.”

Inset: Amscan is enjoying a strong performance on dressup, says Mel.

Mel Beer, licensing director EMEA, Amscan

“Despite the backdrop of challenges now familiar to us all (eg stock, freight and increasing costs), Amscan International is having a fantastic 2022 – currently up YOY across all our licensed ranges, with a particularly strong performance on dress-up.

We’re excited for Q4 when stock will start arriving for the new licences we have secured for Halloween (Squid Game) and World Book Day 2023 (Roald Dahl, Bluey, Pip & Posy and Miffy), with more licences to be announced very soon.”

Anthony Duckworth, md, Dreamtex

“We’ve found that the main challenges are still with shipping lead times and

external delays from

factories. We have factored these challenges into our annual forecast and prepared accordingly to avoid any surprises. Q3 & Q4 planning is well under way as orders are being placed well in time for stock to arrive for the busy sales period.

We want to maximise the Above: Q3 and Q4 fantastic licences we have and hit the retail deadlines for promotions planning is well underway at Dreamtex, says Anthony. already booked during this period.

We’re looking forward to making further progress with our new venture, Dreamtex Earth and completing more of our sustainability goals. We also have some exciting new launches which are currently behind the scenes, we can’t wait to release them into the market.”

Georges Ghougassian, group director licence and brands, Rubies

“We’ve started 2022 strongly thanks to big theatrical releases with The Batman and the halo affect off the back of Spider-Man: No Way Home. World Book Day played a huge part in the accomplishments of a healthy first quarter. As official corporate partners, we were

delighted to see the event celebrated across the

nation and with this, an impressive influx of orders as consumers rushed to get costumes for their little ones.

One thing we’ve successfully achieved and continue to maintain is the availability of our products and distribution across EMEA. We want to continue making sure our stock availability is optimal for key seasons fast approaching in Q4, as it is fundamental to the roll out of our 365 strategy and enhancements to our ever growing ranges. There are already very positive

signs with stock

coming in and the flow is set to be steady and available in the run-up to the busiest time of the year.”

Above: Georges says that Rubies has maintained the availability of its products and distribution across EMEA.

Terry Lamb, licensing director, Corsair

“This year is certainly going as expected, with regard to increasing raw material costs and the ongoing shipping issues. While these are likely to continue to throw up challenges for some time yet, thankfully we’d anticipated this and planned ahead. We have a lot more

control and visibility than we had over the previous year or so.

We spent a good deal of time through 20/21, developing new suppliers both here in the UK and in mainland Europe - this has led to shorter lead times and less reliance on shipping from the Far East. I’m really pleased with how this is working out, in particular with our ability to supply directly into our EU customers. As a result of this, we have had a few new

opportunities come our way.

We do still find one or two Brexit driven challenges thrown at us, but are now finding ways to alleviate these.

We’re fortunate in having some strong properties and strong retailers; the order book is looking very healthy, particularly Q3/4.

The one thing we want to achieve by Q4 is an empty warehouse with all deliveries being made in full and in good time! Overall we’re confident in how this year should end up.”

Above: Terry is confident on how the year should end up for Corsair.

Barry Hughes, md, Golden Bear

"We are living in a rapidly changing world and this will always give rise to many opportunities and indeed challenges.

By Q4 I would love to see continued growth for all our major licences and I would love to have seen further great strides made in our sustainability journey.”

Above: Barry is eyeing continued growth for Golden Bear’s major licences. Right: Brands In is working to bring changes in the sustainable space, says Sue. Below World peace and stability are on Lisa’s wish list.

Lisa Shand, md, Blueprint Collections

“The year is going to plan in terms of sales opportunities, however challenges just keep coming in with rising costs and logistical problems. By Q4 I would like to see world peace and stability.”

Sue Stanley, licensing director, Brands In

“2022 is a year of two key focus areas for our business, which will represent pillars of growth across all that we are doing.

The first is a combined one: offering great product at the right price across our traditional fast fashion routes and also through our print on demand and personalisation capabilities. We are

expecting personalisation to be even more

popular for 2022, especially over the key Christmas gifting season. Our print on demand for click and collection in-store or next day mailing has really turned a corner for us and it’s very important that we have the ability to manage demand in the key selling seasons.

Our other focus is on offering sustainability. As part of the fast-fashion industry we know only too well that we need to do our part, as our sector has been a major contributor to the challenges that now face the sustainability debate. We are working hard internally to bring to market some exciting changes in this space.”

Ashley Holman, director, ToyTopic

“Despite some interesting shipping challenges mid-way through Q1 caused by various Chinese ports being closed due to Covid restrictions, we are happy to have got all of our new ranges to retail and will start to see them on shelves from mid-May onwards which is exciting for anyone, but especially for a relatively new company such as ourselves.

As we go through the summer, understanding consumer spending habits given the huge recent rise in the cost of living and how that affects purchases and therefore repeat orders is key, as we then build to the all important Q4 period. For us, making sure we don’t let down any of our retailers is the number one priority for sure, especially with China still in varying degrees of lockdowns even now.”

John Packard, publishing director, Farshore

“Children’s books as a category continues to

perform really well

both for ourselves and market wide. We Above: Farshore is seeing standout success with its saw growth in licensed gaming titles, says John. characters and annuals last year which showed a return to tried and tested properties and formats. I expect this trend to continue into late 2022, and our initial conversations with retail partners have been positive, especially in the annuals category where we have over a third of the market. Some standout opportunities for us include our Disney and gaming titles in this format.

We’ve been especially pleased with our performance on PAW Patrol on the preschool side. Another area where we’ve seen strong double-digit growth is gaming books. We’re launching innovative new gaming titles for all ages, and we’ve substantially increased our Pokémon rights. Last year was plagued by logistical issues in getting stock into stores, but we weathered it better than most thanks to our fantastic production team. This year I’m confident we’ve got really robust plans in place to make the most of every opportunity.” Left: World Book Day was another big success for Smiffys this year. Below right: Elliott is hoping for another record Halloween for Smiffys. Above: Lauren says Posh Paws has worked hard to ensure volume stock of key lines on the ground for key trading months. Left: Gabby’s Dollhouse plush is launching from Posh Paws later this year.

Lauren Shipman, group brand and marketing director, Posh Paws

“We have had a very

positive start to the year

and with us entering the big summer movie months for Jurassic World Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru - which we have stock available for customers to order now - we’re expecting this momentum to grow throughout Q3.

Our Swizzels Love Hearts gifting collection continues to open new opportunities for us at retail, both in-store and online.

The ongoing issues with production and shipping times from the Far East haven’t gone away and they don’t look like they will any time soon, but we’re not alone in this and we have worked tirelessly to ensure we had volume stock of key lines on the ground for key trading months and we continue to do so with new product launches (like Gabby’s Dollhouse) coming later this year.

We remain in constant communication with our suppliers to make sure we’re on top of the situation and can work closely with our retail partners to create solutions (if needed) to ensure continued supply of product.”

Elliott Peckett, director, Smiffys

“World Book Day was another success for us and the feedback from customers has been very positive. We are looking forward to a summer season how it should be – back to partying! We are expecting our festival and hen and stag do season to be busier than ever.

The industry continues to face supply chain challenges with production and shipping lead times from China significantly longer than normal, not to mention the continuing product cost increase and UK inflation at record levels. We are, however, feeling incredibly positive about the second half of the year, as we have received a record number and value of forward orders for Halloween and Carnival 2023.

We have also had the opportunity to grow our licence portfolio rapidly in the past year and we look forward to the launch of a number of new collections.

By the time we reach the Q4 period, we will have our stock levels optimised after placing record volumes of orders in China. This will allow us to cater for a bumper summer and prepare us for what we hope will be another record Halloween.”