Company Profile - Kidicraft

We’re going to need a bigger warehouse...

caught up with Kidicraft owner and director Roy Greenwood to hear about the latest developments at the company.

After a booming year, in which Kidicraft saw its sales grow by a staggering 62%, the company is aiming to expand on this success by moving to much larger premises and taking some of its jigsaw puzzle production in-house.

Like many manufacturers, the Lancashire based company looks to China for its manufacturing, but challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and port congestion have prompted it to look at ways it can avoid shipping delays and streamline the process of getting product to customers, as and when they need it.

Kidicraft’s new offices and warehouse close to the M65, which are 10 times the size of the company’s former premises, will allow the company to bring the full product production of some of its ranges inhouse, Roy tells Toy World: “We were in the previous unit for about three years but after just 18 months, we had outgrown it and were forced to use third party warehousing. The move is a big jump forward – in the last warehouse we could hold just over 100 pallets, but in the new property we can hold about 1,000.”

He adds that one of the main challenges facing retailers at the moment, along with shipping price increases, is availability of product. “We are trying to alleviate this by bringing in extra product and overstocking our warehouse, to try and ensure that we maintain availability.”

The situation will also be helped by Kidicraft bringing some of its production in-house from next summer, which will see the company cover everything from laminating, cutting, bagging and retail box manufacturing. The only process it will not handle directly is the printing of the top sheets, which will be carried out by a neighbouring print business.

“During the pandemic, one of our customers came to us twice, wanting 30,000 puzzles each time, but we couldn’t supply them,” says Roy. “If we’d had the equipment in-house, we could have put day and night teams on and got them produced in two weeks.”

The in-house production investment is just part of the future-proofing strategy of Kidicraft, which has seen exponential growth since it was launched by Roy on his kitchen table just six years ago. The company also has an agreement in place for a distribution centre and salesperson in the Netherlands, which is currently on hold due to the lack of being able to supply product.

“We will be opening an office and warehouse distribution in the Netherlands to cover Europe, and for those products made in China we will just double up production,” explains Roy.

Kidicraft is also looking to expand its jigsaw puzzle ranges even further and bring in more complementary plush lines. Its Plush & 3D Puzzle range of four characters – Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Batman and Superman – has proved hugely popular since the launch in March this year.

In January, the company will launch a new licensed range with Animal Club International for pre-school ages and upwards in traditional puzzle styles, which Roy admits “is a whole new sector for us to move into.” Kidicraft also plans to extend its plush and puzzle offering into its generic animal range, offering plush toys to accompany jigsaws of animals such as koala bears and giraffes.

Animals remain a popular theme for puzzles, says Roy, as does nostalgia themed imagery, with 1000-piece puzzles selling particularly strongly: “We

have the Ye Olde Shoppe range and it’s that type of genre within the imagery that seems to work really well,” he says.

Due to the lockdowns, more younger people are reaching for traditional puzzles and the Harry Potter line has been particularly successful. Collaborations with artists come about through years of contacts, going to licensing exhibitions and also seeing what else is out there in the marketplace, and sometimes these can be obscure, young artists that don’t get much exposure. “It’s trying to find those little diamonds,” explains Roy.

The company also produces a range of 3D stationery items such as notebooks, posters, postcards and bookmarks and Roy says there are also expansion plans for these lines.

Kidicraft is working to make its products more sustainable and will soon convert its puzzles into a new premium range board, which is not only thicker and better quality, but 100% recycled, so the only new material used is the laminate on the top and bottom of the puzzle. The current stock is 85% recycled, and Roy hopes this will be a win-win for both consumers and the environment.

“We wanted to improve the quality of the puzzle board and at the same time be more sustainable by aiming for 100% recycled board. The first batch has finished production and five 40ft containers should arrive by the end of August,” he tells Toy World.

The Kidicraft team is excited to showcase all the new lines at the Autumn Fair this September, and Roy says he is champing at the bit to get out and meet customers again and introduce his daughter, Katy, who has just joined him at the company. She is currently moving around the business learning all the individual aspects such as sales, marketing and logistics.

“It can’t come soon enough,” he says. “I appreciate it is going to be different because, with travel restrictions, international buyers won’t necessarily be there, but we are hoping that UK retailers will come and see the products that they haven’t seen for quite some time. Nothing beats meeting face-to-face and chatting about the products while you have them in your hand.”