Feature - Outdoor Toys

Bubbling with excitement

While 2023 was a challenging year for Outdoor Toys, it seems that suppliers are ready to draw a line under last year and focus on making 2024 a success. Caroline Tonks looks at what is coming to life across the category and how suppliers are approaching the summer season.

Punxsutawney Phil, the American groundhog celebrity, gave people reason to celebrate when he didn’t see his shadow this past Groundhog Day. Although this might be a US tradition, the sentiment of having an early spring, rather than six more weeks of winter, is something that everyone around the world can relate to. Here in the UK, children and adults alike are ready for warmer weather, to escape the gloom, shed their winter coats and spend hours in the sun once more. The industry has risen to the challenge, creating a plethora of outdoor toys to satisfy children of all ages.

Bubbles are in the air in 2024, with a number of suppliers highlighting bubbles in their portfolios for the year. Funrise’s Gazillion Bubbles is celebrating its 20th anniversary. To commemorate this achievement, there will be a handful of new items launching, such as the Double Bubble Blaster and the Roaring Rex Blaster. Both lines come with a bottle of solution, with the Gazillion Bubbles 2 Litre solution having taken home the title as top bubble item in 2023, according to Circana reports. AB Gee has announced a selection of bubble ranges, with the Fubbles No-Spill and the Fun-Finiti Bubble Machine. Both ensure maximum fun with no messy spills and are perfect for active play.

During his time at London Toy Fair, Thomas Wohl of Argosy Toys was fully booked, seeing many ranges and suppliers. When asked about any standout products in outdoor toys, he selected the Water Wall by Wilton Bradley. “This is something different and really appealing,” he told us. “Children get to put the guttering on the wall in whatever order they please and then make the water flow down. Then they can experiment with moving the parts around.”

Simba Smoby and Little Tikes will both be releasing products with a similar theme this year. From Simba Smoby comes the Smoby Activity Wall, a two-sided play wall with activity games on one side and a modular water circuit on the other, equipped with gutters, reservoir, rocker and paddle wheels. Little Tikes’ range includes the bestselling Fountain Factory Water Table and the Build and Splash Water Table, combining building and water play with endless fun. According to Alaina Cornish, senior brand manager at MGA Entertainment, the new Build and Splash Water Table will bolster Little Tikes’ sand and water collection and can be used year-round, growing with the child as they develop. “At Little Tikes, we are passionate about creating toys that engage, excite and ignite imaginations. We know this launch will do exactly that,” said Alaina.

MV Sports launched over 150 brand-new or refreshed products at Toy Fair. Phil Ratcliffe, commercial director at the company, highlighted the Stitch range of wheeled toys. “Customers are fervently buying in and were very complimentary about the cool Hawaiian colourways and decoration,” he explained. The new range of Squishle Scooters, with squishy plush onboard carry pouches, was also a big hit with customers, along with new light-up 10” Balance Bikes. “These bikes went down a storm across all licences, with funky high intensity daylight visible wheel hubs,” Phil added.

The week after Toy Fair, Hy-Pro showcased a selection of products to global retailers at Spielwarenmesse. On display in Nuremberg was the internationally recognised and patented Zinc Flyte 2-in-1 scooter suitcase. “With no assembly required, the Flyte scooter suitcase is the perfect addition for every child on an adventure, making journeys with children stress-free,” said Vinny Iaciofano, commercial manager at Hy-Pro. “Come rain or shine, this handy waterproof travel companion is suitable for everything, from a trip to the park, a sleepover at a friend’s or a holiday abroad.” New for 2024, Zinc has launched two new additions to its light-up range, the Zinc T-Motion Sunshine and the Zinc Dazzle Big Wheel scooter. Both products have over 20 different lighting functions, allowing riders the ability to personalise their scooters at just the click of a button.

Reydon Sports’ marketing director, Andy Griffin, is most excited for the launch of the Nerf Howler, part of the Nerf range for which Reydon has secured the UK & Ireland distribution. “It is a hero product for the brand and an exclusive for Reydon,” said Andy. “It is suitable for all retail stores, and we are excited about giving access to the Toymaster group.”

Alan Marquis of Wharf Post Office, a member of Toymaster, has had great success in his relationship with Reydon Sports. “Although we’re located at the seaside, we don’t sell high volumes of outdoor toys. However, we do stock Nerf Howlers and we’ve done a lot of business with other Reydon Sports lines,” said Alan. “Foam bats and balls sell extremely well for people to take to the beach. We prefer to stock branded items, rather than the typical seaside wares, such as generic plastic buckets and spades.”

Digital and social media campaigns have become a commonplace promotional strategy, allowing for close contact with clientele and retailers, and the chance to share new ranges with fans and beyond. This spring/ summer, Little Tikes will be supporting its collections with a heavyweight digital media campaign that drives

consumers to purchase both in-store and online. “Our UK-focused social media channels give us a huge source of support, providing a consistent touchpoint for our customers that allows us to engage with fans in the UK and Ireland directly as we promote our products and share new announcements,” said Alaina.

Little Tikes plans to focus on growing its online reviews to supports its retail partners, renewing the popular Tikes Testers initiative, which drives awareness for collections using a panel of toy testing families across the UK. “This year’s panel will be refreshed with new recruits, all primed and ready to help put our toys through their paces and share their reviews and experiences online and on social media,” explained Alaina. Little Tikes will also use its external partners, Butlins and Diggerland, to help increase brand visibility by showcasing products to visitors across their respective sites, reaching new audiences and driving desirability in a hands-on way.

MV Sports has brought kids’ wheeled toys under the MoVe brand, which will implement a significant brand marketing campaign across both the trade and digital/ social media. “Now that all of our licensed and own brands are under the same name, it will widen the awareness level of our products,” commented Phil. “The new branding is derived from our existing MV logo and is the perfect epithet for kids’ wheeled toys and active play.”

Given the inconsistent weather and the absence of a prolonged dry period over the summer, 2023 was a challenging year in the Outdoor Toy market, with sales down -16%, which equates to a drop of £38m. It’s also important to bear in mind that many consumers invested in larger items for the garden during the pandemic, which inevitably had an impact on last year's numbers. But 2024 could be a different story.

Hy-Pro understands how tough it has been economically for the country, referencing how customers’ purchasing habits have changed. “Zinc has experienced customers looking for great value products at entry price points,” said Vinny. “Furthermore, the re-sale value of products and brands has become an important driver for customers.”

At Reydon Sports, the team has seen cautious buying from retailers and according to Andy, this was mainly due to high residual stock levels across an array of brands. However, the company is keen to do all it can to encourage new orders. “We don’t stipulate any minimum order quantities and we also make sure we are offering generous discounts,” he tells us. “This helps place new brands and products with customers.” For the year ahead, Reydon Sports is planning to be more selective with the brands it offers as a wholesale business, streamlining its offering. The company will work closely with groups like Toymaster, listening to its members to understand what is required and obtain a better perspective on supply needs.

Alaina said that Little Tikes is feeling positive about the year ahead. “Last year was challenging for all outdoor toy suppliers, which was exacerbated by the milder than average and exceptionally wet summer season,” she explained. “We are excited to showcase our new launches but also have great confidence in the Little Tikes carry forward. Our buyers have positively anticipated a great summer season, and we hope to see this resonate with families as we move into the warmer months.”

To mitigate potential challenges throughout 2024, Little Tikes will have a focus on Risk Strategizing. “That means having a contingency marketing plan in place that ensures we have a Plan B for all outcomes,” added Alaina. “Whether that’s unforeseen changes in the toy market, an unpredictable economy or simply bad weather.”

Phil agreed that, thanks to the very wet summer in 2023, it was inevitable that some retailers were going to carry stock from a wide variety of suppliers, not just MV Sports, into autumn/winter. “We can’t mitigate against the weather. We are witnessing a renewed sense of optimism from our retail customers, however, as the stock now seems to have sold through well.” MV Sports’ core wheeled toy business is not entirely summer dependent, which has helped with sales; to a large extent, it is muti-seasonal, with year-round sales, especially at Back-to-School and Christmas.

Sambro had a successful year. “2024 is 34% up against sales in 2023, which had already seen growth from previous years,” said Clare Rix, Brand & Licensing director. “Stock has sold through in 2023 and our new ranges have seen unprecedented demand. Our strongest sales are across northern Europe. That said, the UK is also in growth for 2024, due to the strong value offering.”

According to Clare, facilitating top up orders can be challenging, due to retailer buying patterns for outdoor toys starting well ahead of other categories, with order-ins from Q3 onwards the prior year – carrying a degree of risk linked to weather-sensitive purchases.

“Whilst our order book doesn’t reflect the wider market challenges, as we are seeing category growth, we’re already working on further development,” said Clare. “Our portfolio for outdoor, inflatables and bubbles is extensive and can be used both indoors and out; items such as tepees, hoppers, bowling sets and bubble blowers are popular all year round. 2025 will also see further new lines that will tap into our core licensor franchise playpatterns.”

Across the feature, readers will be able to see the latest outdoor toys coming to shelves in 2024, gearing up for another summer of fun.