Retail Profile - Morrisons

Retail Profile Raising the profile of Toys at Morrisons

Morrisons is under new management in the shape of former Carrefour executive Rami Baitiéh, whose leadership style and outlook on the retailer’s future are trickling down into all departments, including Toys & Games. Here, senior buyer David Catton tells Toy World how Morrisons is shaking up its toy aisles and taking a fresh look at the opportunities the category offers.

According to David, 2023 was a good year for Morrisons’ Toy category. The supermarket chain hit its internal metrics despite the challenges most retailers experienced - poor summer weather and consumer spending concerns chief among them. Looking at the retailer’s seasonal highs and lows, Morrisons was able to offset the dip it experienced during the summer months with promotions across other parts of the business, while its October toy sale was the biggest and best to date: by keeping stock tight, the retailer came out of the event very clean. And interestingly, the market share decrease it sees at Christmas, due to the ‘overperformance’ of its competitors, meant the business was shielded from the worst impacts of the poor festive trading felt across the entire industry.

2024 is a new year, however, and Morrisons is under new management. Rami Baitiéh, a French businessman of Lebanese ancestry and the former CEO of Carrefour, took up the reins at Morrisons in November 2023. Under Rami’s leadership, the retailer has benefitted from a reinvigorated overall offering. The impact of this is starting to be seen in the supermarket’s sales figures, with footfall also up versus the same period 2023.

“Rami has an unbelievable track record and has brought a real energy to the business,” enthuses David, who’s served under four different CEOs during his time at Morrisons. “Don’t get me wrong, our previous CEO David Potts did an amazing job: Rami just has a different management style. Things are moving at pace right now and it’s extremely hard work to keep up, but everyone is feeling very excited about the shifts we’re seeing. Someone like Rami is what Morrisons has needed.”

Having previously held buying roles at Tesco and Sainsburys, David has been Morrisons’ Toy buying manager for two and a half years out of the decade he’s worked for the retailer. When he moved to Toys just after the pandemic, the team was small: it was just him and one merchandiser. The category was facing turbulence in the logistics industry, which encouraged David’s team to focus its buying efforts on domestic lines instead those shipped from the Far East, but now things are returning to normal, the mix is being rebalanced. Last year the team expanded its headcount to five and pleasingly, senior management at Morrisons has recently identified Toys as a growth category - and therefore one worthy of more time and investment.

“I think management can see that there’s a tangible, untapped opportunity within Toys, and that we should be encouraging younger families with kids to come into Morrisons in search of them,” David notes. “It’s no secret that we arguably over-index on older consumers, and we can see that those shoppers visit the Toy aisle frequently to buy toys and games for their grandchildren, but we want to capture slightly younger purchasers too. Moving forward, we’re hopeful that Toys will have its profile raised much more within the business, and we’re committed to working with suppliers capable of growing with us.”

When David took over the Toy category, he says Morrisons was trying to be all things to all people, weighting the range far more in favour of boys than girls (neglecting plush, a strong category, in favour of classic ‘boys’ toys, for example), and dedicating a high percentage of shelf space to own-label. David felt a tighter selection of big-name brands and licensed toys available at attractive price points, with an equal split between boys, girls and gender-neutral products, was a far better way to go.

He also came to realise that the level of range-change throughout the year – around 20% in spring/summer and 25% in autumn/winter – simply wasn’t sufficient to keep consumers engaged. Focusing on bringing newness to its aisles, David’s team has upped the twice-yearly range changes to 50% of the department’s offering, explaining: “We know kids and parents want the latest thing and that the YouTube and TikTok generation is way more switched on and savvy to trends in the space than its predecessor. There needs to be a reason for customers to come down the toy aisle once a month, not once every three months. Keeping ranges fresh is the way to do that.”

Morrisons currently works with around 60 suppliers, 10 of which could be considered primary suppliers, the next five secondary, the following five after that tertiary and the remainder more transactional. The space dedicated to toys in most Morrisons stores is modest, anywhere between a quarter to a half of what you would see in larger competitors, making category delineation tricky. Despite this, the depth and breadth of toys on offer is impressive, with all the top brands represented, and David believes that metre for metre, Morrisons toy sales are very competitive.

“I find the toy industry fascinating as it’s so fast moving; you get the impression that it’s going through a period of change at the moment,” David says. “We’re in a good position to gain the advantage by getting new products in quicker and taking a few more risks on smaller, untested toy brands, such as things we see on TikTok. And if they don’t work, we’ll simply get out of them and move on. We don’t mind trying and failing as long as we learn from it. But I do want to be around when the next big craze emerges. We missed out on Fidget Spinners - a lot of supermarkets didbut that won’t happen again.”

Travelling to toy fairs is integral to David’s plan for finding up-and-coming companies and toy ranges to work with. Having already visited the essential London Toy Fair (“Great for catching up with a lot of suppliers in a small space of time”, he says), Spielwarenmesse (“Fascinating, but so big I felt like I’d only just scratched the surface after four full days”) and Spring Fair, he’s heading back to LA for a second year – though he feels the overall visitor experience could be improved with better organisation. He adds: “It’s very expensive to be out in LA for that long and as all my travel comes out of my own budget, I’m very cost-conscious. We need more communication regarding where suppliers will be located – and when - to help buyers map out their time efficiently.”

David also likes to spend time in other retailers, from single-store indies to competitor supermarkets, a practice that many a canny buyer engages in. This boots-on-theground approach means they can see which retailers have exclusives or first-to-market launches, how they’re ranging their product lines and what consumers are shopping for. He also spends plenty of time observing what shoppers are browsing for in Morrison’s own toy aisles. For example, he sees many consumers in their 30s and 40s rummaging around in the shelving looking for a very specific Hot Wheels car, or a certain anime or manga character-licensed toy. He’s also seeing increased interest in film and TV properties with darker, edgier, gothic themes, such as Wednesday and Stranger Things. As a result, Kidult is one of the categories David is focusing on this year, joining another he’s become passionate about due to his own personal experiences: toys and games for adults wanting mental stimulation or those living with Alzheimer's and dementia.

David’s father-in-law, Bob, has dementia. Every night, according to David, Bob and his wife Nancy play Bananagrams. This shared time together is precious for the couple and stimulating for Bob, and their love for the game has got David – himself a board and card game fan - thinking about creating a selection of titles either specifically designed for adults living with these conditions or products accessible enough that they can be used by them (such as Bananagrams, a simple yet strategic and competitive word game). As the retailer continues to carve out more space for toys and games, this is an area that David hopes will grow, even if assortments were seasonal.

David also hopes the modestly sized toy sections within Morrisons supermarkets will be afforded the room to expand at peak season. Although the decision doesn’t ultimately lie with him, the supermarket’s newfound appreciation of its young family shoppers, and the continued yearly growth of Morrisons’ market share in Toys, should see the toy aisles grow in line with sales. Over the next 18 months or so, David feels he’s got a huge opportunity to speak more directly to customers through in-store marketing. One of the challenges his team is embracing is improving the overall look and feel of Morrisons’ toy aisles, which should see even more parents and families filling them up as they shop for the biggest and best toy brands. He’s also keen that Morrisons’ store colleagues, which he calls some of the ‘best in the business’, develop the same passion he has for toys and can convey that to shoppers in-store.

Overall, David is optimistic about the years ahead – and is also grateful for the support and accommodation offered by the supermarket’s suppliers while he continues to get to grips with the category. “It’s a great category to buy in: really, what’s not to love about toys? The millions of pounds my team spends on toys helps bring joy to millions of kids across the country, and we’re really looking forward to what the future holds for Morrisons’ Toy business.”