Shall we start with some of the good news from the past week? Word on the street suggests that half-term week saw toy sales picking up in the UK. Obviously we would have all been worried if that hadn’t proved to be the case, but you can’t take anything for granted at the moment, so the fact it did happen is encouraging. A combination of payday, kids off school, some better weather, new Lego launches hitting shelves and perhaps even a sense of relief that the election is in sight all helped to bring shoppers out. Hopefully from little acorns…
B&M’s latest set of annual results shows that value retail continues to attract consumers – no real surprise there either. More importantly, with a minimum of 45 new stores set to open in the UK this year, and a long-term goal of a UK store estate of 1,200 outlets, B&M is positioning itself to be a strong player in the toy market for years to come.
I mentioned last week that people should read our article about the progress of The Entertainer’s rollout in Tesco stores, and thousands of you have done just that. But that isn’t the only interesting development at Tesco: this week saw the launch – or should that be relaunch – of the Tesco online marketplace, giving customers the opportunity to purchase third-party brands which won’t be found in-store. For ease of reference, let’s call it ‘Tamazon’ (although that does rather imply it’s going head-to-head with Amazon, and I don’t think that’s quite the case).
To be honest, I am still trying to get my head around whether this is a good opportunity for toy suppliers or not. The initial toy selection at launch has a bit of a rag-tag feel about it – some tertiary brands, a few specialist retailers, plus a number of companies I have never heard of. Tesco is promising a “one-stop shop for everything customers need” once it reaches full scale – but at first glance, that seems a very, very long way away.
The last time Tesco tried something similar – a marketplace launched on Tesco Direct – it didn’t end well: opened in 2012, it closed six years later after making heavy losses, with the retailer admitting it had “no route to profitability”. Ever since then, Tesco has been searching for an online trading model that works – so could this be it?
Read the rest here.
