touchingbase
Looking ahead
Forward thinking Rachael Simpson Jones caught up with leading suppliers to find out what they are most excited about for 2022, what challenges lie ahead and how they feel the next 12 months will pan out, both for their business and the wider toy community.
Mary Wood
John Briggs
General manager UK & Ireland, Tomy
Commercial Director, Epoch Making Toys
Coming into 2022, the two things I am most excited about are: People and Product. Hopefully we will be able to get out and about more and see customers and partners. Zoom/Teams meetings can be really efficient and effective, and will have their place in the foreseeable future, but physically seeing people face to face will be very welcome after so long. From a product perspective, we are continuing to focus development within the core categories where Tomy has real strength: Infant & Preschool, Arts & Crafts, Farm (via Britains) and Games. We added Fatbrain to the Tomy portfolio in 2021, but due to stock shortages will really only see that brand coming into its own in 2022. Within Arts & Crafts, we are launching the beautiful, design driven Hey Clay brand in spring, and a really engaging Fatbrain developed brand, Jixelz, in autumn. Autumn will also see the launch of a freshly designed Lamaze range which has had amazing feedback from previews. Toomies is going from strength to strength with an extended Jurassic World range and a Peppa Bath line next year, plus we have an amazing ET Feature Plush for toddlers under the Toomies brand that will appeal to grandparents and parents who remember the film as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. We hope to maintain our strength in kids’ games with more new games, including my personal favourite: Rumble in the Jungle. From Drumond Park, we look forward to another new title under the Logo Family, called Link Logo. There’s a lot going on and plenty to get excited about. I think the rising costs of raw materials, availability of ICs and freight costs are going to be three key challenges going forward, not just for Tomy, but the wider toy community. ICs we can and will buy ahead but the other issues are harder to handle. We have already allowed for freight costs within our 2022 pricing but if raw material costs continue to increase, we may be forced to review pricing again later in the year. Over the next 12 months, a concern for us all will be the amount of disposable income everyone has, given the rising costs of fuel, consumables and utilities. We are fortunate that our industry is generally recession resistant but with other household costs rising, consumers are going to be even more sensitive and responsive to promotions, which means a squeeze on margins all round if we are to meet these needs. Tomy has growth plans but equally important is profitability, which means some tough decisions about where best to invest and where to hold back. One thing of which I can be sure is that we will continue to innovate; bring amazing, well priced products to market via brands that consumers trust like Lamaze, Toomies, Aquadoodle, Britains and Tomy & Drumond Park Games – and we will support those brands with the right levels of investment and the right types of marketing activity.
This year sees Sylvanian Families move into a more hands-on role play environment for the first time with the launch of an exciting new Style & Play theme, featuring a selection of ponythemed sets – the first ponies to appear in the range – and a new play pattern with the brushing and styling of hair and adding accessories. Additionally, 2022 will see the expansion of our highly popular Sylvanian Amusement Park theme, with four new lines released during the year. 2022 will be a big year for Epoch Games, thanks to the new Mario Bros movie which will be released in December. Our Games division increased +300% in 2021 and with new games to add to the portfolio, we’re excited for our best year yet. Our new Aquabeads portability range has been developed as a result of extensive consumer surveys which revealed kids want to be able to take their Aquabeads sets with them when visiting friends or family. Making and playing with Aquabeads together is a key attraction of the toy, and something our fans really missed during the Coronavirus lockdowns. Increased costs and the fallout from a very varied 2021 still account for sizeable challenges going into 2022. We held our costs in AW21 to help and support our retail partners in a very difficult selling environment but, like most other toy companies, we have had to review some costs going into 2022 as things are no longer sustainable at 2021 levels. A key Q1 priority for us is to build stock, as we know historically this is always a busy period for collectible brands like ours as children spend their Christmas money. We’ll continue to work hard to ensure the full range of what they want will be available at retail. In 2021, Brexit meant exporting to Ireland seamlessly was a challenge (I suspect this was hard to achieve by all) but 2022 will allow for stock to be shipped more efficiently and enable consumers to receive their items sooner. 2022 is planned as another growth year for Epoch; investment in all our brands will inevitably continue to drive sales in each category, while recent consumer surveys have revealed there is continued demand for perceived premium brands such as ours. Changes in our marketing plans have driven our brands into more homes via even more channels than ever before and we’ll maintain and increase our focus on these in 2022. We’re hopeful that retail will have a ‘normal’ year with a whole 12 months of being fully open. The high-street and its independent retailers has proved it can endure challenges and overcome them; for us, this sector remains a vital part of our business. We’ve grown year-over-year in this sector and will continue our support in 2022.
Toy World 168
