11 minute read
Company Profile - Clementoni
The Italian job
Publisher John Baulch visits the headquarters of Clementoni as it celebrates its 60th anniversary to see what makes the company such an enduring success story.
I have always found that the best way to truly understand a company and what makes it tick is to visit its headquarters and see how it operates first-hand. I had the opportunity to do just that this summer with Italian toy specialist Clementoni, which is celebrating its milestone 60th anniversary in 2023. The company was originally founded by Mario Clementoni back in 1963, and the third generation of the Clementoni family is already working in the business. Travelling to the company’s long-term base in the Recanati also gave me the chance to spend time with Clementoni’s leadership team, a healthy blend of experience and new blood which has steered the company to its current position as the fourth-largest company in the Italian market. Headed up by CEO Giovani Clementoni, the company’s experienced management of MD Guido Vingiani, who has been with the company for 26 years, and export sales director Flavia Verducci, who has spent 21 years in the export division, are ably supported by more recent additions in the form of product marketing director Alessandro Roberti and chief marketing and R&D officer Guido Sciascia. Their collective passion for the business is evident, as is the enthusiasm of all of its staff across the R&D, manufacturing and sales departments which are based at head office.
The company started out as a games supplier: its very first product was a board game produced to coincide with
the San Remo Music Festival, after which the company moved on to developing a range of games based on TV shows. One of the company’s earliest success stories was Sapientino, the game based on ‘two pins’ which was launched in 1967 and is still in the range today.
A move into licensed products was another early milestone; in 1971, Clementoni signed its first licence with Walt Disney for board games, followed two years later by a deal for puzzles. To this day, Clementoni maintains one of the longest partnerships with Disney in the European toy arena.
Since those early days, the company has branched out considerably and is now a leading player in a variety of categories. Throughout its distinguished history, there have been a series of fundamental elements to the company’s DNA, including the ‘learning through play’ philosophy which underpins everything it does. After initially focusing on the domestic market, Clementoni has also developed a strong international focus over the past two decades, with a particular emphasis on Europe. Back in 1996, international sales made up around 29% of the company’s turnover. Today, that figure is almost 70% - the highest it has ever been.
Clementoni has a strong manufacturing heritage; all of its products are conceived and designed in-house and, wherever possible, manufactured in Italy – at its base in Recanati, a beautiful but relatively unknown areaon the East coast of Italy. The company, which remains privately-owned, employs 700 people and sold 30m toys last year, 85% of which were made in Italy. Like many toy companies, Clementoni explored Far Eastern production for a while, before reshoring commenced in earnest in 2010. Purchases from China have been halved in the past decade, a move which really paid dividends during the pandemic. The ability to maintain a steady, consistent supply chain stood the company in great stead, while after Covid, the ‘Made in Italy’ concept became more important than ever for consumers in Italy and other key territories.
Last year’s strong performance secured Clementoni the number 11 slot in Circana’s EU8 chart, which is a significant achievement when you look at the major global companies which occupy the top 10 slots. While it has a little way to go to replicate that position in the UK Circana list (the company is currently nestled just outside the top 30 suppliers), the company certainly intends to grow its share here in the coming years and has a firm plan to speed up growth not just in the UK, but also other key territories such as Germany and Benelux. In particular, the Infant, Science and Puzzles categories have been identified as major opportunities for growth.
In tandem with taking a conscious decision to expand its export business in the late 1990s, the company also decided to extend its product range into new categories. Up to that point, it had primarily focused on the same
categories that the business was founded on – Puzzles, Educational Toys and Board Games. However, a new focus on innovation saw Clementoni branch out into new sectors, including Art & Craft, Science, Infant and Digital toys – and those categories now make up around 70% of the company’s turnover, with Infant Toys and Science its two largest segments.
According to MD Guido Vingiani, it was important to move into categories which were consistent with Clementoni’s core values – and that strategy clearly worked. Not only did the new portfolio strengthen the company’s position in its home market, but it also allowed it to grow across Europe, where Clementoni is now the number one supplier in the Science category and number two in kids’ Puzzles.
A crucial move in supporting the company’s European growth was the opening of dedicated subsidiaries in key territories. Initially, the company used distributors to enter the international market, but as the range grew, the need to localize products became paramount, especially in areas such as ELAs and Educational Toys. With different cultures and approaches to education, tailoring products to suit the local market became a pivotal strategy and while it made the business far more complex – with the need to make and stock thousands of additional SKUs – it was deemed essential to offer product that was appropriate for each individual market.
And how those markets can differ. There are the inevitable cultural differences - Eastern Europe and parts of Southern Europe are apparently still rather conservative, while the UK, France and the Nordics are considered more progressive. Even box sizes can be a bone of contention, with buyers in some countries reluctant for sizes to shrink, lest parents think they are buying a “less important” gift, despite the SKU efficiency on shelf and the cost savings for both the retailer and the consumer. The company believes the best approach is to deliver appropriate product for each individual market, rather than adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach – and Clementoni’s in-house design and manufacturing capabilities allow it to do just that.
The UK office opened in 2010, and the business has grown consistently here over the past decade and a bit. Science and Puzzles have been consistent performers, and leading retailers such as Smyths, Argos and B&M have all been valuable customers from the beginning. The UK arm has also bolstered its sales team over the past six months, with Kingsley Li and Nick Karmy bringing extensive experience in their channels to the operation. In addition, Clementoni UK opened a new logistics hub in July, with the principal aim of supporting and driving independent retail business.
So how does the company plan to grow its presence in the UK market? According to Paul Fogarty, who was appointed as country manager for the UK & Ireland back in June 2022, the key is to encourage the widest possible cross-section of retailers to support each category Clementoni specializes in. “Becoming a major player in the market with broader distribution across our core ranges is our ultimate aspiration,” Paul explains. “If we can help retailers to appreciate the depth of our ranges and support them accordingly, then there is considerable scope to grow Clementoni in the UK market. We have a huge range, and product and category management will be essential; we want to develop a core offering which focuses on the areas where we have a competitive advantage. And with the opening of our new warehouse this year, we have the ability to be both reactive and proactive in supporting our entire account base.”
In terms of product, there is certainly no shortage of opportunities for UK retailers to go at. The range is extensive and constantly refreshed to stay on top of the latest trends. Overall, around 600-700 brand new SKUs are developed every year, to bolster the core range of carry forward lines that have proved enduringly successful. Among the standouts are the Clemmy Infant range, which Paul describes as “a real point of difference in the category. The soft block system enables children from a very young age to develop their dexterity and cognitive skills in a completely safe way. The proprietary material used in Clemmy is ideal to explore new toys that encourage multi-sensory development.”
Other highlights are in the Science & Play STEM line which covers traditional Science, Construction and Robotic themes, with Paul adding: “Clementoni is the category leader across Europe and our ambition is to develop and lead this category in the UK. We work very closely with the Science Museum on many of the toys in this line, another example where the company adapts locally to improve its offering.”
Puzzles will always be a focus and Clementoni has transformed its line to meet increased consumer demand for
a more sustainable range in the new space friendly “compact” range. The company will also be eliminating single use plastic from the start of next year.
A new entry for the UK in 2023 is The Idea arts & crafts line, featuring the Pen Creator Studio, which is already showing early signs of success and will receive strong marketing support in Q4. Paul is confident this is just the start: “We are very much planning for the Idea range to expand and create a real presence in the arts and crafts category. “
Educational products also remain part of Clementoni’s heartland, and the bridge which connects the Infant range with other categories such as Science and Art & Craft. The company has huge experience in this area: Pierpaolo Clementoni, who leads the company’s educational efforts, explained that “educational products are now much more about helping parents to understand the different talents and attitudes of individual children. It is just as much about emotional intelligence as a rigid definition of ‘education’ – the new generation of parents wants to interact with their children, and we want to give them products that are enjoyable, fun and engaging for both kids and parents. The product development team works closely with educational professionals to help them understand what children need from the ages 0-10.”
Licensed products make up around 30% of the company’s sales and Clementoni has strong long-term partnerships with leading global and local licensors including Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal, Hasbro, Netflix and Disney. As well as licensors, Clementoni also prides itself on its strong relationships with its retail partners, and on its values, taking a clear stance on important issues. The company is addressing sustainability issues by increasing its use of recycled plastics in its product line and recycled cardboard in its packaging. It has also partnered with UNICEF for the past three years, donating products to children who are either hospitalized or in foster homes. It has even worked with Pampers on an experimental partnership to collect used nappies to convert into raw material for toys and is also developing a range of inclusive products which children of all abilities can play with. As Pierpaolo explains: “We don’t want to make a range of products just for children with different abilities – toys and games should be the same for all children, whatever their abilities.”
I will leave the last word to CEO Giovani Clementoni: “I am feeling optimistic about what lies ahead. Christmas will come – it always does – and I feel confident about 2024; there is plenty to go after and we are targeting growth in key markets, including the UK. Our goal is to make Clementoni bigger and stronger than ever: we have set ambitious targets, but we will be working together as a team to respond to the demands of the market and deliver great ranges to our retail partners and consumers across Europe and the world.”
