Opinion - Letter from America

Is an indie toy store a partner or just a customer?

After 20 years working at A.C. Nielsen/D&B Research Company, Rick opened the first Learning Express Toys franchise in the Chicago area in 1996, and then became a sub-franchiser, opening nine more stores. Although leaving the corporate environment behind, he has combined his expertise in data and numbers with a passion for the toy retail space. This month, Rick looks at the relationship between suppliers and indie retailers and suggests how it can be improved to both parties’ benefit.

There’s something I have always wondered: why don’t toy companies treat indie retailers as an extension of their sales force?

Richard can be reached on LinkedIn or by email at LE45@sbcglobal.net.

Although partnerships have come a long way since I started in the business 26 years ago, there is still room for improvement and opportunity. Come on suppliers! Why not treat us as your in-person sales force that can test new products, give you first-hand sales data down to the consumer level, test merchandising and planogram decisions and the effects of adjacency in store? How about using us to learn more about colour schemes on shelf, hang tags vs boxed product or video screens versus print signage? Oh, and sampling - think Costco and how successful it has been with food products and snacks by using in-person sampling; we would call it demoing. To me, all this should be part of the conversation, rather than us just negotiating over terms of payment, freight charges and rebates. Yes, these things are important, but there is so much more information and insight which could be exchanged.

To be fair, some multinationals and smaller toy companies have caught on, soliciting indie input and allowing us to test products early. Over the last year, Learning Express has probably had the opportunity to test 15-20 new items. Some work, some don’t—but for the most part, the manufacturer ends up altering displays to make them more shopper friendly and often adjusting pricing to the optimum bite point. They receive quality input, such as feedback on battery life and ease of installation, packaging, transit costs, seams tearing or whether the instructions to the consumer are confusing. All these issues are presumably traditionally resolved in house with testing firms and focus groups. But is this feedback better than what could be achieved by working with a good independent store?

We can provide live feedback with sales data, and sampling programmes with real people. These real shoppers are pressed for time, have only a certain budget and are seeing thousands of other items in store at the same time. In a focus group, you have 100% attention from the participants, whereas the real world presents so many other factors. Why not take advantage of a builtin sales force of retail stores that have knowledgeable people, vast experience and direct contact with customers? Are toy companies too proud? Are toy vendors really so smart that they know it all? I would question whether toy companies really are way more in tune than us on trends. Taking social media and TikTok into account, we all have our channels and platforms, but those of indie retailers are at the micro level where the transactions take place quicker and feedback is in almost real time, not four weeks later in an NPD report or the company’s own sell in figures. After all, what is really important is sell through.

Let me end with the Indie Toy Challenge. I’m not just talking about me or Learning Express, but the thousands of indie toy stores or alt channels out there. I believe toy companies should treat them like an extension of their company, and their sales force, and I guarantee you that the relationship will be better, ultimately bringing more sales and profits for both. Let’s play together.