Talking Shop

Reydon Sports widening the field

Reydon Sports has spent the start of this year working its way further into the toy sector through toy shows and fairs and is already reaping the benefits.

Since Covid, Reydon Sports has grown “massively”, after expanding its offering beyond sports equipment. The team began to diversify into outdoor toys, games and leisure allowing it to take on a lot more products and brands.

In the last 18 months, the business has joined the Toymaster Group and attended its first regional toy shows in April, followed by the May show in Harrogate. Through all the changes, the company has seen its turnover more than double from £7m to £16m.

The biggest partnership for Reydon Sports as yet has been with Nerf. Its distribution of the blaster products began about a year ago, and this year Nerf is set to expand its product range and allow Reydon to distribute globally.

Andy Griffin, marketing director, told Toy World: “That includes flagship products like the Nerf Howler, as well as the sports range; with Nerf overall we have really made our mark on the toy market. Another wholesale business is distributing the brand at the moment but we’re taking over full distribution towards the end of the year. It’s the main partnership we’re focusing on in the toy sector.”

The Toymaster May Show has already proved to be a “massive catalyst” for Reydon in reaching new audiences and achieving its objective of becoming more visible in the toy industry.

Andy said: “What we learned was that a lot of toy shops probably didn’t know we exist - or that, although we are a sports wholesaler, we do a lot of hybrid rages that marry sports and toys. I think it opened up their eyes. One major product range we have been selling to them is football team merchandise; people were coming to the stand specifically asking about this range, which they hadn’t had access to before.”

Reydon’s team merchandise, from Hy-Pro, featured football team licensed goods from the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona, including items such as pencil cases and backpacks that can work well in toy stores.

Andy added: “Having access to all of those retailers and those contact details, and advertising in Toy World, has massively helped to put us in front of these guys, and we’re starting to get some really good traction. Working with Toy World has educated us massively about the toy sector. We’re now investing much more budget and time into the advertising side of things, which has really paid dividends.”

Andy also highlighted the fact that retailers can order just one product from Reydon at a time if they wish. “This makes it easier for smaller toy retailers to work with us,” he explained. Although the company can deal with smaller orders, it has a very workable minimum carriage paid order of £200. With around 7,000 SKUs to choose from, this offers a an extremely attractive proposition for independent retailers.

As well as the trade shows and supplier events attended so far this year, in Q1 the company ran two weeks of roadshows in Ireland, where it has a large customer base. Following all this groundwork, Reydon is now entering its peak season – in the summer months, it makes its highest volume of sales.

Andy concluded: “As we look towards Christmas, we’ll start connecting with all the toy retailers again in order to arrange Christmas deals. This year, we’ll be looking to build on the growth that we’ve had over the last five years – and we fully intend to be going into another year of growth.”