Feature
Q1 Ranges
Q1 dawn
a new
There can be no beating around the bush – the first few months of 2023 are likely to be far more challenging than any of us would like. But there are nonetheless opportunities out there for the taking, as Toy World discovers.
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t’s usually very easy to write an upbeat, forwardlooking, optimistic piece about the first quarter of a new year – but this one has unsurprisingly been a little trickier. We’re all aware that recent events have placed financial strain on a huge number of British consumers: the October mini-budget shock has sent mortgage rates through the roof, new chancellor (at the time of writing) Jeremy Hunt has announced a U-turn on the government’s energy bills support package, inflation continues to rise (pushing up the price of everything from fuel to food), and a recession appears to be on the horizon. For many, these issues have translated into a real-world impact on disposable income and spending power that won’t go away any time soon. “I think Q1 2023 is going to be far harder to navigate than Q4 2022 for the general public, and for the industry – it will possibly be one of the toughest first quarters we will have ever seen,” notes Sara Taylor, MGA UK & Ireland’s managing director. “January and February tend to be the coldest months of winter and the cost of energy consumption is going to be at its highest in decades. More fixed mortgage deals will be coming to an end, and while people may not buy as many presents this Christmas, key value purchases will put a squeeze on spending through the early part of 2023.” Bear with me – I promise this article isn’t going to be wall-to-wall bad news: we all work in the toy industry,
after all. For a start, kids get money at Christmas - some of them a lot of it – and younger kids are very likely to spend that money on toys. In previous years we’ve heard from numerous retailers who can attest to this, and there’s no reason to think the same wouldn’t be true of 2023. Spending might be reduced, but it will be there, and retailers with fresh, new and exciting ranges lining their shelves will almost certainly be visited by kids wielding gifted Christmas money (or vouchers). Based on the current climate, it’s reasonable to assume pocket-money toys and collectibles will be even more popular during the Q1 period than they usually are. Sara agrees, telling Toy World she thinks the biggest first quarter opportunities will lie with price points of £10 and under, particularly if a product range has a strong collectible element to it and is well supported with robust marketing. “Consumers will always look for good value for money, and these price points tend to deliver on that,” she adds. As you’ll see within this feature, there’s plenty of toys that fit this particular bill, either in terms of their RRP or collectability. Magicbox, for example, is launching new additions to its SuperThings, KookyLoos and T-Racers ranges, all of which combine strong play value with collectible elements and exciting features. Schleich is pulling out all the stops in the new year too, introducing new figurines to its Wild Life, Horse World, bayala, Eldrador, Dinosaurs and Farm World ranges, including a Chameleon – the brand’s first
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colour-changing figurine. HGL (from One for Fun), meanwhile, is adding to its pocket-money line-up with a raft of squishy, squeezy stretchy items including sausage dogs, caterpillars, springs, hand puppets, reptiles, sharks, stretchy strings in the shapes of unicorns and mermaids, animal eggs and flying discs. Brainstorm is introducing new Eugy and StikBot additions as well as a new spinning top encased in a special enclosure that transforms the top into a multi-coloured light show. We’ve also heard tell of a very exciting new addition to the YuMe Toys Mystery Capsule portfolio, distributed by KAP Toys. As for MGA, the company behind L.O.L. Surprise!, Rainbow High and much more, consumers can expect a ‘good dollop of newness throughout 2023’ from the word go, with Sara noting that if companies are going to encourage consumers to part with their hardearned cash, it will have to be for very good reasons. Newness, she adds, is always top of her list. For some companies, however, newness is proving slightly harder to offer. Paul Reader, marketing director at the independent buying group Toymaster, says that in previous years several suppliers would have started shipping products by now for major Boxing Day launches - but many have been pushed back to later in 2023. Paul cites concerns about overstocking among the reasons for this, saying suppliers are seeing orders cancelled by majors and are reacting accordingly. As a result, Toymaster has pushed back its traditional
