Feature - Q1 Ranges

A fresh start

With all the problems that 2021 brought for suppliers and retailers such as lockdowns, increased container rates and shortages in both stock and drivers, there is huge anticipation that the new year will herald a fresh start and more stability. Sam Giltrow finds out more.

The toy community spends much of its time, energy, focus and budgets to ensure that Christmas purchases are maximised. This is not surprising, given the percentage of annual sales that come in the final couple of months of the year. However, far from resting on its laurels after the festive season finishes, the toy market is a veritable hive of activity in the early weeks of the New Year.

Toy Fair Season inevitably grabs the headlines, as suppliers exhibit their new lines in a variety of locations, aiming to encourage retail buyers to select their ranges for next year’s all-important autumn winter period. However, Q1 also sees a host of new ranges and line extensions launched into the retail market, starting on Boxing Day and carrying on all the way through February Half Term and on to Easter, which falls over the weekend of 15th-18th April next year. This makes Q1 an important retail period on a number of levels: it allows suppliers to seed new ranges, traditionally starting with lower priced items to familiarise consumers with concepts, before an extended range featuring higher priced items comes to market in the second half of the year. It also helps retailers to maintain post-Christmas momentum, while crucially giving consumers fresh items on which to spend Christmas money and vouchers. So, while it is important to get Q4 right, it is also crucial to get the year off to a good start with strong footfall and sales in Q1. 2022 will see the toy community attempting to start the New Year with a bang, while simultaneously getting to grips with the fallout from this year’s ongoing supply chain issues. The challenges with logistics have blighted every retail sector – not just toys. However, it is the very fact that the problems are being felt across the whole supply chain that makes it difficult to predict what lies ahead next year in this thorny area. This is a challenge for every consumer market which imports product into the UK. In the run-up to Christmas, toy suppliers were fighting with companies with far deeper pockets – such as Apple – for container space, places on ships and for raw materials such as computer chips. Thankfully, much of the new product launched in the early part of the year involves lower cost, lower tech items. It is a time of the year when pocket money lines, collectibles and other affordable items come into their own. Schleich UK believes that the whole toy industry could receive a welcome lift in Q1, as Paul Dearlove, trade marketing manager, explains. “After the many challenges of 2021, we’re hoping for a bit more stability in the market. With widespread product shortages across many categories this Christmas, there is likely to be a level of unfulfilled demand. Hopefully, we will see consumers looking to satisfy that, giving the whole toy industry a lift at the start of the year.” You only have to look at all the new Q1 ranges in this issue to see that, compared to the start of 2021, many suppliers plan to begin the new year by launching fresh lines into the market. The collectibles category in particular looks set for a bumper start, as it continues its recent post-lockdown resurgence. Paul tells us that, as always, January is an exciting month for Schleich, as it is the time of year when most of its new figurines are released. “Suppliers and retailers are always keen to get off to a strong start at the beginning of any new year, and much of that is driven by new product releases and items that weren’t available at Christmas,” he says. “Schleich collectors eagerly await the new releases at the turn of the year, and with almost 50 new figurines releasing in January alone, across all Schleich collections, we hope to get off to a great start with all our retail partners.” Sue Barratt, UK country manager at IMC Toys, agrees that although Q4 remains the most important period for toy sales, it is essential that fresh and innovative product hits shelves post-Christmas in order to drive interest and footfall. “Creating innovative products is crucial to the steady growth of the business and the continued success of our brands,” she says. “This is especially notable in the collectibles category, which is enjoying something of a comeback following lockdown. We are reinforcing this upward trend by introducing fresh product, line extensions and new characters.” For Q1 and across the rest of the year, IMC Toys is looking to its first boys’ collectibles range, Lucky Bob, to be a huge success. “Lucky Bob is hugely significant for the business,” Sue continues. “As with our other best-selling IPs, including Cry Babies, Cry Babies Magic Tears and Bloopies, Lucky Bob has a strong backstory and ethos, and in addition to being supported with its own YouTube series and app, we'll be implementing a robust full marketing campaign including strong content, TV and schools sampling to kickstart the big reveal.” However, Sue believes there will still be many challenges facing the industry in 2022. “Invariably we will still see issues surrounding container prices, shipping delays and the knock-on effect leading to price increases and challenges to margins. We will continue to work with our partners and supply chain to support our retail partners and consumers.” Of course, one of the advantages of introducing brand new lines is that consumers don’t have a price perception on new items, unlike carry forward lines, many of which may need to increase significantly in price next year. Suppliers and retailers are understandably nervous about the impact of raising prices on established lines in case it impacts sales velocity, while new items are not judged against previous price points, but solely on whether they offer intrinsic value. Alison Downie, Global Licensing & Brand director, HTI Group, says that after the buzz of Christmas, it is important to entice customers back into stores with new products, especially as many will have Christmas cash and gift cards to spend. Plus, with new trends emerging all the time thanks to the increased popularity of platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, there is ongoing demand for new lines. “Skilful reaction to these key trends, combined with a considerable investment in tooling, means that HTI can continue to evolve ranges with new and exciting products.” Speaking about the year ahead, she adds: “We are hugely excited for 2022 and hoping for a more ‘normal’ year in terms of restrictions. UK manufacturing awareness is increasing at retail with significant support from partners and here at HTI, we are excited for the 2022 expansion of our UK Bubble factory, the opening of which marked a significant point in our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. New for SS22, we will be introducing a range of licensed Bubblz machines featuring three of the top’s children’s TV characters: Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol and Hey Duggee.” 2021’s trend for fidget toys shows no signs of slowing, adds Alison, enhanced by children watching unboxing videos on YouTube and TikTok, while another growing trend for 2022 will be green toys. “Toys made of wood and recyclable materials will be of huge importance to consumers, as will be the manufacturing and delivery process. Traditional wooden toys are set to enjoy a surge in popularity, not only for their green credentials, but also to balance out the over-sophistication of the digital age.” Of course, not every toy company will be rolling the dice on new items in the first quarter. Suzie Howes, marketing manager at Epoch Making Toys, believes there will be more investment in existing brands for ’22, as suppliers look to consolidate and get behind proven, successful concepts. At Epoch, the hugely popular Sylvanian Families brand will be introducing a whole new play pattern. While it’s top secret at the moment, Suzie says the team is very excited for the launch, describing the developments as “major plans”. “Freshness is the lifeline of any evergreen brand. To keep your customers interested and loyal to the brand is one of the hardest things to achieve,” she explains. “I think people expect new products even more these days. The life span of a toy is a lot less as children grow up faster and faster. But the new year always represents a fresh start for retailers.” However, she admits that much of the early part of 2022 could be spent dealing with the fallout from the problems of 2021. “It looks more and more likely that we will have to deal with the aftermath of the current shipping issues that we face. There may be a lot of products arriving so late that suppliers will have to deal with that stock before they can deal with spring summer new ranges.” Playmobil’s Adam Moore is feeling positive about the start of 2022: “With a full trading quarter in Q4, it is looking good for a fantastic end to the year.” Playmobil has seen strong sales over the last year for its zoo and animal sets, and Adam says this success should continue into 2022, with new product being released to complement the trend. Q1 is always an exciting time at Playmobil, he adds, and the company has new, but traditional, play themes such as ponies and horses. Meanwhile, a brand-new owned property, Duck on Call, will focus on popular Playmobil themes from its emergency services range and introduce a new duck character, supported by a animation series. “Releasing new products gives consumers a real buzz,” Adam adds. “Sometimes it can be a new version of an existing idea, or something completely new. Each time though, children and parents get to feel like they are experiencing something for the first time.”