12 minute read
Talking Shop
Talking Shop Santa Claus is coming to town
This month's Indies are getting in the festive mood as the busy Christmas selling period kicks in with a vengeance. They also recap how recent trading has been and tell us which lines are catching customers’ eyes.
Mike O’Shea - Wicked Uncle – online
At Wicked Uncle, we offer a carefully curated selection of children’s presents via our fun and user-friendly website and are pleased that orders have held up well in 2023. At the start of the year, the whole cost of energy and then cost of living crisis seemed to be all over the news and suddenly everything seemed to be terribly expensive. This hit everybody, and we have been very conscious of inflation. We have aimed to be as conservative on prices as we can, so as not to add to the problem.
During the summer, the situation seemed to ease a little, and it’s a time of year when people always feel more optimistic anyway. Of course, in a really hot summer, everyone is enjoying the weather rather than sitting on their computer, but the good news is that we sold lots of outdoor toys. Popular lines include a whistling boomerang that really does come back and The Wingman foldable disc from Waboba. We stock a Jumbo Octopus Kite that has been in demand and Golden Bear’s Smart Ball was one of our strongest sellers during summer. Sales continued into autumn as the weather stayed warm, and it’s still going as a great present purchase. The Smart Ball counts your keepyuppies and you can also use it as an ordinary football. As soon as we saw it, we knew it was going to be a big success, We gave our sample to the warehouse team to test; they played with it in their lunch break and refused to give it back. We like to test everything to make sure it works properly and see if we think children can use it easily and have fun. Then we are able to give each product a genuinely positive review.
We are always looking for new, interesting, fun products. As we are online only, a lot of our customers come to us to buy for a nephew, a niece, a godchild or a grandchild – or even cousins who live on the other side of the country. Often, they don’t know what the child wants and maybe don’t see the child regularly, so our aim is to help by providing a fun selection of presents that the child most likely does not already have. At toy fairs, this means we are always on the lookout
for fun, unusual products and great new ideas that aren’t mainstream. Our range is sourced across a wide breadth of suppliers, and some of them we use for just one or two products.
We offer a great selection of lines from Marvin’s Magic and we also stock some fantastic lines from Wow! Stuff, Smart Toys and Professor Puzzle. We love University Games, which has some really interesting games such as Stinky Pig and Who’s in the Bag, which sit nicely alongside fun games from companies like Cheatwell and PlayMonster. We’re also very keen on the Upside Down Challenge game from Ravensburger which is great for families – players have to wear goggles which turn everything upside down, which means adults don’t have an advantage and everyone can join in the fun.
October started as a lovely month with the sun shining, not quite so good for sales, but the weather helped to make everyone feel more optimistic. Customers seem to be a bit more settled now as prices have stopped rising so fast and energy prices have fallen. We have brought in some great new products for Q4 which has helped keep the website interesting – anything that will make people smile is always a winner.
Meanwhile we have been updating our website to make it smarter; there are various design tweaks and we’ve improved the speed and the user experience. The site directs customers to recommended products for specific age groups and types of recipient. We don’t sell on Amazon or anywhere else and we have never believed in slashing prices dramatically or trying to undercut everybody. There is a fair price for every toy and cutting prices can indicate to the customer that you don’t value the product. Most of our lines are going to be a present for someone, and we think they are worth it, or we wouldn’t sell them.
Last year, we were heavily affected by the Royal Mail strikes which made everyone very nervous about getting their deliveries in time for Christmas, but this year, deliveries are going very well. We are using Royal Mail
Tracked 24 and almost everything gets there the next day, so we get lots of positive comments about speedy delivery. We like to get everything to the customer as quickly as we possibly can.
For those who want the complete service, stock will be available on our website right up to the last minute - and we offer lots of choices for gift wrapping. We can put in a handwritten birthday or Christmas card too, meaning the parcel can be sent directly to the child - almost half of our parcels are sent out like this. We also include a pre-printed Thank You card so there’s no excuse for children not to send out Thank You letters in January – we know how they hate that!
This year, Christmas is on a Monday which gives us extra selling time in December, which should make a huge difference and be positive for business. We are expecting to have a great final quarter.
Lisa Clay - Armadillo Toys – Leeds
Armadillo Toys is celebrating its 20th birthday on November 1st and this month will be filled with customer rewards to thank them for getting us to this milestone. I’m really proud to have been in business for all this time and to have come through two recessions and a pandemic. We have been faced with many hurdles, but I’m overjoyed to have overcome all of them.
To celebrate the occasion, we will be rewarding customers with three prize draws which are worth between £1,500 and £2,000. Without our customers, we wouldn’t be here – they’re the most important part of the shop. We’ve got 100 goodie bags which are filled with supplier-donated gifts and some of our own stock, and each one includes a Ty plush. They can be won through a treasure hunt around Chapell Allerton during our birthday week. There will be another draw to win four cash prizes to spend instore, from £10-£50, and we are holding a colouring competition in partnership with Orchard Toys.
Customers have been shopping for Christmas since September; once the kids go back to school, many parents are very organised and start to pace themselves with gift shopping – or want to get in before the Christmas rush. We offer free gift wrapping and this is something we’ve already begun.
There hasn’t really been a standout product this year – sales have been right across the board, from plush to games to jigsaws and construction. We recently brought in Plus-Plus which is selling really well and the lovely display unit they supply is a huge help in driving sales. Our most popular sellers come from Ty, Orchard Toys, Craft Buddy’s Crystal Art, Orange Tree’s Woodlands Range, IMC’s Cry Babies Magic Tears - and we sell a lot of Slime Putty.
For birthday gift shopping, we put together our own gift bags with readywrapped gifts. A card shows customers what’s in the bag, and there are different bags for different ages. These are very popular, and we sell a lot of them, so we are offering Christmas ones too. It helps customers and it also helps us too; we can speed through the queue as each bag has a product code rather than scanning each item individually.
In recent years we’ve seen a shift in when we are most busy with Christmas shoppers. It used to be November but now isn’t really until after Black Friday. People are much more sceptical about Black Friday deals nowadays, but they still want to see if they can find anything discounted. The rush really kicks in from December.
Another change has been that people are less likely to invest in big ticket items and seem to prefer lower price points. We used to sell a lot of expensive doll houses around Christmas – we’d sell one daily and customers were willing to spend £200-£300 on them. However, in recent years, independent retailers have been hit with the Amazon effect and now people are looking for cheaper versions. In our store, there aren’t currently many products which cost more than £50.
The majority of the lines we stock have an emphasis on educational toys with good play value. We like toys that will last a lifetime and can be played with in different ways as kids go through different stages. However, in preparation for Christmas, we have increased our selection of licensed products, and I have brought in a few lines featuring popular characters such as Spide-Man, My Little Pony and Peppa Pig.
Following our birthday celebrations, we’ll be saying “bring it on” to Christmas. Over twenty years’ trading, I can honestly say I’ve had a wonderful time, and here’s to many more.
Indie viewpoint
And the roast is history…
AAs we write this, we are travelling back from the Toymaster Regional show in Swindon, and still cannot believe we are into the final quarter of the year now. This is the last stop for us to catch up with some of our suppliers before the rush really happens. There were some worthwhile deals to be had, with a good mix of special offers and clearance; let’s just say it was enough to tempt us, even though we thought we had done most of our buying for the year. It was good to catch up with other members we had not seen since Harrogate. May we also say, the lunch was exquisite, a delicious three-meat roast that even came with pigs in blankets!
Trade through September did feel tough early on, especially with the 30 degree heatwave we had the week the kids went back to school. However, sales came back strongly towards the end of the month and overall, we were pleased with September’s takings. The launch of Pokemon 151 was a big success and exceeded our bullish expectations. This followed the huge success of Lorcana; we are completely sold out of that now and looking forward to Chapter 2 later this year. Some of the new Lego releases have been popular, with the Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle & Grounds being the standout. The new themed releases from Squishmallows have been in very high demand, including Halloween and Harry Potter house animals.
The Little Live Pets Mini Mama Surprise from Moose has shown very strong sales already. The Miniverse range from MGA is still growing, with new launches adding to the range. With the football season now in full swing, the Premier League Adrenalyn XL cards have also been popular. We have seen big growth in Hot Wheels over the past year. By ensuring we have a good supply of the diecast single cars in stock, we sell over 200 a week. The collector lines have been popular too, and by focusing on these when they are released, we are becoming well known locally as destination stores for them.
Over the last couple of months, we have noticed that our average transaction value has dropped by about 5%, which we think is reflective of the general cost of living challenges that our customers are facing. In light of this, we have looked hard at our pricing, and have decided to home in on key price points: £9.99, £19.99, £29.99. We are not looking at having products at £10.99, £21.99 etc. In some cases, we will reduce the margin to keep to the price - customers really are looking at prices carefully, and we need to be seen to offer good value for money.
We are just putting the finishing touches to our Black Friday plans, which will launch later this month. This is our biggest promotional push of the year and is spread over a whole week. We have been sourcing products to include in our promotion over the last few months and will add a few lines that we have excess stock of nearer the time. Although it is often said there is a degree of fatigue over the event each year, we still notice a massive uplift in sales. Timed to coincide with one of the final paydays before Christmas, and always getting a lot of coverage in the news, it does encourage people to come in store. Sticking to selected lines in our promotion, rather than discounting across the whole store, works wonders. When you are located in malls like we are, with promos from other retailers all around you, if you do not have a Black Friday presence in store, you will be missing out.
