I have mentioned in several pieces recently that the fact it’s an election year in both the UK and US could have far-reaching implications for the toy community. The most obvious area where this could manifest itself is in the economic arena. Typically, an incumbent government holds back tax giveaways in the years heading up to an election, so it can unleash the maximum benefit just as people are about to cast their votes. You could call this deeply cynical and manipulative, but it’s a tactic that isn’t going away – especially when a government is as unpopular as the current UK one, it’s one of the few weapons in its armoury.
One thing is for certain: alleviating the pressure on consumer budgets will be welcomed by all suppliers and retailers right now, even if it’s only by small margins. It’s not been a bad start to the year by any means, but there are a lot of special offers and discounts flying around to tempt consumers. Whether these are driven by retailers or suppliers is unclear, but pricing remains a thorny subject with many of the people I have been speaking to. It’s not just mainstream toy ranges that are affected either: many toy stores have benefitted from the growth of World Book Day in recent years, and I saw some very aggressive promotions from the likes of Tesco and Matalan on their dress-up ranges this week, so the ‘disease’ of discounting ahead of a peak sales period is obviously catching.
Anyway, I digress – it’s not just fiscal policy that comes into play in an election year. Candidates will put forward proposals that they see as vote winners, which may have a profound effect on businesses. We saw it with the UK and Brexit: it has been nearly eight years and it’s still an unholy mess that businesses are having to deal with on an ongoing basis (as we found ourselves when we sent a bulk delivery of magazines to Nuremberg this year…). But the sad truth is that neither UK political party dares to speak the unspeakable for fear of prompting a backlash and losing votes.
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