From the Publisher

As I write this month’s column, we find ourselves a few weeks past the midway point of the year. The first half has – by and large –gone the way most people thought it would.

We knew there would be an abundance of excess stock from certain major players to move through. We knew there was no brand-new stand-out craze on the horizon (although plenty of new and established lines are still doing the business). We knew that some consumers would be short of disposable cash. Taking all that into consideration, using a football analogy (which our American readers might now appreciate if they have been watching Ted Lasso), we have reached half time and I think it’s fair to say that we’re still very much in the game.

This month’s Circana column (page 30), written by Melissa Symonds, illustrates the point neatly; despite all the challenges, the UK toy market has reached half time down by only 2%. And, as we all know, nobody wins anything in the first half – as ever, we won’t know how 2024 will finish up until the final whistle blows on New Year’s Eve, and frankly anything can happen between now and then (and probably will).

The fact the UK toy market is broadly keeping pace with last year is no mean feat, when you look at the broader economic conditions: interest rates in the UK have risen to their highest level for fifteen years, meaning that a significant percentage of the population is being financially squeezed in a manner we haven’t seen for a very long time. And given that group includes many younger mortgage owners, a large number of whom will also be parents of young children, this financial pressure is inevitably going to have an impact on the toy market.

However, as I have said before, there is nothing any of us can do to influence economic policy – so we have to focus on what we can do to encourage those who can afford to buy toys to part with their cash (come on grandparents, time to step up…). The crop of summer movies should offer some welcome short-term respite: several toy retailers told us that Transformers sales picked up after the release of the Rise of the Beasts film, while the Barbie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies will have both hit screens by the time this issue arrives on your desk.

Anticipation for both movies is high, helped enormously by the fact that they are actually great movies (the Toy World team has seen both, so we can personally endorse attest to this). In addition, you have to pay tribute to the incredible promotional campaign that Mattel and Warner Bros activated ahead of the launch of the Barbie movie. Hat

tip to the marketing teams of both companies, who really have delivered fantastic activations and achieved amazing results. I am sure that Paramount will also be pulling out all the stops to get behind the Turtles movie launch, despite the challenges presented by the writers’ and actors’ strike in Hollywood, which has seen movie stars pulling out of promotional appearances in support of the strike. This is certainly a situation to keep an eye on, as it could not only impact movie promotion, but more fundamentally, disrupt filming, which could well see numerous movies and TV series being pushed back to later time slots, or maybe even moved back a year. With licensed toys outperforming the overall toy market in recent years, this is potentially of concern for the toy community –especially if the strike lasts until the end of the year as has been predicted in some quarters. Toy companies and buyers will have planned production and on-shelf dates to match the original timelines: postponements and delays will have repercussions far beyond content release dates.

Nevertheless, as with the economy, there is little that toy companies and retailers can do but sit and watch, hoping for a swift resolution. In the meantime, all we can do is to concentrate on the job at hand, which will revolve around making the most of the new launches starting to arrive at retail and gearing up for the festive season, which will be upon us before we know it. Hopefully this issue will point you towards plenty of new lines to get excited about for autumn winter; in addition to our coverage of the latest news and new products, we shine a spotlight on some of the most enduring product categories, including Soft Toys, Wooden Toys and STEM / Educational. We also preview the forthcoming Autumn Fair and there are some fascinating articles addressing key talking points from the market, including the BTHA’s concerns over super absorbent polymers being used in products that are destined to be played with by kids (i.e. blasters) and a heartfelt plea from Midco’s Dave Middleton to suppliers, asking for independent retailers to be given a fair crack of the whip when it comes to product launches. It can never be said that Toy World shies away from covering sensitive issues, expressing a forthright opinion or articulating concerns – it’s what a good trade magazine does.

We’ve been doing this for 12 years now – and we’re very much looking forward to our 12th birthday edition next month, which is already shaping up to be an absolute belter. See you then as we celebrate 12 years of keeping the toy community up to date with everything happening in this fascinating, fast-moving, ever-evolving market.