7 minute read

Company Profile - Toynamics

Exceeding expectations

January 2021 marked Toynamics UK & Ireland’s first full year of trading, having undergone a significant rebrand at the start of last year. Despite the obvious challenges, the company has enjoyed double digit growth in 2020 and in 2021 has seen the same level of increase. Toynamics - at its core a distributor of brands including Hape, Skip Hop, Nebulous Stars, Dinosart, Nanoblock and Timio - continues to grow its retail distribution, ranges and reputation as a quality onestop-shop for toys. John Baulch and Rachael Simpson-Jones sat down with MD David Allan and head of marketing Emma Damerell to discuss the company’s outlook on what lies ahead.

Under its Hape parent company, Toynamics’ portfolio of brands is expanding all the time, Wooden toy brand Hape, craft and creative brand Nebulous Stars, DinosArt, nursery and baby line Skip Hop and construction range Nanoblocks have now been joined by innovative audio brand Timio, while a high-quality metal bike range is also set to join the portfolio soon. Yet more big news is also on the horizon, but – as is so often the case - Toy World has been sworn to secrecy for the time being.

Considering the tender age of this company, coming through the pandemic the way it has is deeply impressive. Fortnightly forecast and budget meetings, held throughout the year from March 2020, consistently under-called the company’s performance, as sales surpassed all expectations and brands took off with consumers. This was a pleasant surprise for David, who had expected sales to be challenged and the move to online shopping to impact the business somewhat. And while Toynamics’ brands proved themselves during the pandemic, David’s team did too - the appointment of Emma as head of marketing is highlighted as one of the most important decisions the company made during the disruption caused by Covid-19.

“We needed to push our brand marketing; previously, we were mostly reliant on simply getting our salespeople ‘out there’, but they didn’t have that marketing support they needed,” explains David. “This year though, we’re a transformed company, with professional marketing in place and the appointment of Playtime PR, a new sales team, new products which have been freshly categorised, and the addition of new brands that will give us a firm foothold in new and expanding categories. We’ve massively improved our structure over the past few months, and our position with it.”

The biggest wooden toy supplier in the world, parent company Hape International owns three Chinese factories (and is in the process of building a fourth), as well as a bamboo forest used to create sustainable toys crafted from the fast-growing, renewable natural resource. The company’s size and strength means Hape enjoys preferential deals on containers from China, and while there is inevitably still pressure on logistics, Toynamics is confident of receiving its shipments quicker than most. This is a major plus for retailers hoping to secure stock in a year that is likely to see serious shortages of toys, especially as we get nearer Christmas. David says the company has a great many containers arriving each month, guaranteeing good stock holding into the latter part of the year. However, with containers costing anywhere between $16,000-$22,000 each, and the increased cost of raw materials - wood has gone up +25% in the past six months, while labour has gone up +18% - prices have had to increase. Readers of the Liam O’Shea Viewpoint in the July issue of Toy World (‘Ducking prise rise communications’) may recall that the Wicked Uncle co-founder named Toynamics as a supplier that was raising prices the right way, explaining clearly what the increase would be, when it would take effect, and why it was necessary. Getting consumers to accept rises is a little trickier, according to David; price points must change, but this is no easy subject to broach in a society that ranks perceived value for money above much else. Luckily for Toynamics, the strength of its ranges is a big help.

Until recently, Hape had not been enjoying the visibility this quality wooden toy brand deserves, but thanks to a new approach to marketing and social media that has put the brand front and centre in consumers’ minds, that has all changed. Wooden Toys is a competitive category that historically has been dominated by a handful of players, but Hape’s enormous depth of range is carving it a place on shelves and in toy boxes across the nation.

“Anything you want in wood, we’ve got it,” David enthuses. “Hape is a one-stop-shop for wooden toys, across infant, music, railway, role-play, dolls houses, jigsaws and more. These aren’t your basic wooden toys either. The range is peppered with features that bring interactivity and technology to play. The Fun Fat Fryer, for example, sizzles when kids are cooking, and the microwave emits a realistic noise. Retailers know that Hape toys are high quality and offer healthy margins, and they are backed up with incredibly strong marketing support. Emma is driving home the message on social media that Hape also offers longevity and is a sustainable brand. In China, power for the factories is generated using solar panels, while excess FSCcertified wood is turned into biofuels.”

Wooden toys may form the heart and soul of Toynamics, but Hape Holdings owner Peter Handstein is casting his net much wider in his efforts to grow his business. The goal is for Hape International to become one of the biggest toy companies in the world. This explains the company’s spirited approach to acquisitions.

Aware that new business brings new life to companies, David and his sales team are actively seeking out new opportunities in the marketplace, recently adding Hobbycraft, Next and Studio to its growing list of retail partners. This is easier said than done, however, with some retailers wary of trying new brands or agreeing to deals with new suppliers in the current climate. The lack toy fairs has compounded this. Getting hands-on with toys forms a large part of the buying decision, and retailers have told Toy World repeatedly over the last few months that they’re feeling the lack of this aspect of trade shows most keenly. To counter this, Emma created Toy Fair in a Box, an assortment of Toynamics’ top 10 newest toys, beautifully presented with ribbons and personalised labels. The boxes were sent out to 90 retailers, so that buyers had the chance to see and touch the toys with their own eyes and hands. It’s a simple concept, but it worked a treat. Retailers were given the knowledge and confidence in the products to place orders, and new business was generated as a result. These initiatives are no replacement for the fairs, though; David has booked his stand for Toy Fair 2022 as soon as he was able to do so, and obvious longing fills his voice when he speaks of the annual trade show’s much-anticipated return. He says: “I miss the fairs, I miss the social evenings, I miss meeting people. I can’t wait for the shows to return.”

Toynamics’ new outlook on marketing can’t be understated. The company is totally committed to supporting its retailers on an individual basis, working with them to create a bespoke plan encompassing POS, competitions, digital marketing, and social media that drives people in - and products out. “We’re making sure marketing is personalised to the retailer,” explains Emma. “Every retailer is different. Next will require something completely different from us compared to a small indie toy shop. We want to make all our partners feel loved. With price increases and stock shortages affecting the entire toy industry, the amount of support we offer our retailers goes a very long way in reassuring them that we really do care. At the same time, our efforts are really helping get our brand out there, especially Hape. Whatever a shop needs, we’ll listen and build a plan that provides it.”

Toynamics’ caring approach doesn’t end with getting products into shops either, David tells us. The company’s customer service team will follow up with retailers to find out how its ranges are performing, and if, on the rare occasion, something hasn’t quite worked, they’ll endeavour to either offer solutions or swap it out for something that should perform better. A lot of stores closed for the lockdown with stock, so part of Toynamics’ current focus is on remerchandising this to boost sell-through. Smaller retailers who may have implemented an online presence for the first time during the pandemic are also being supported with assets and imagery for their social media channels, as well as advice on how to present products in the digital space as opposed to the physical.

Ever the optimist, David is firm in his belief that the rest of 2021 will be very good indeed. He believes people will soon begin to move on from the past 18 months, enjoying travel within the UK and a measure of normality that we’ve all been craving. “We all want to enjoy a great Christmas, and toys will always be a staple of that,” he adds. “I say to my sales team that all we have to do is make sure the right toys are in the right shop, with the right marketing, in front of the right consumer. If we’ve done that, the rest will follow.”

This article is from: