We arrived back from a lovely holiday earlier this week, and it appears that we brought the weather back with us – you’re welcome. I don’t post photos or even mention the fact we’re away until we return to the UK, after a couple of my mates – who worked for many years at a senior level in the insurance game – told me that it could invalidate any claim if anything were to happen while we were away. They have also explained risk profiling from the insurer’s perspective to me over the years, so at least I see the other side of the coin when suppliers and retailers start complaining that credit insurance cover has been withdrawn at short notice. Unfortunately, there is some truth in the adage that insurers are happy to cover you when you don’t need it, and far less happy to do so when you do – and if they do err on the side of generosity and get it wrong, it’s their head on the chopping block.
I have had a couple of suppliers mention retailers who have had their credit insurance suspended in recent months: I try to avoid mentioning specific names, because I don’t want to escalate a fragile situation or worry people unduly. Sometimes it’s just an abundance of caution on the part of the insurance company – but there’s no doubting that we are in a period where ‘money’s too tight to mention’ in certain quarters. Indeed, the number of companies falling behind with our invoice payments has increased this year – as ever, we appreciate everyone who pays on time (the majority of our costs have to be paid within 30 days, so giving customers 90 / 120 days credit puts considerable strain on our cashflow). And if people are genuinely struggling, honesty and communication are important to us: being completely open, ghosting us when money is outstanding for long periods leaves a bad taste which doesn’t go away quickly.
Someone else leaving a bad taste around the specialist toy trade across the globe is our old friend ‘Smellycat’. I gather they’ve just closed a bunch of accounts both here and in the USA, with the axe falling heavily on independent retailers. Of course, it’s entirely their prerogative to decide who to supply, especially if stock is in high demand– but it’s such a shame that they choose to behave in this manner. When the craze for Jellycats dies down (and it will, that’s the nature of the toy market and, in particular, crazes), there will be a lot of retailers who won’t exactly be rushing to support them in their hour of need. What goes around…
No doubt about the big news of the week in the world of toys – the acquisition of Wow! Stuff by Troy Companies. Having known for over a week that the deal was about to be completed, we were ready to press the button at the agreed release time… only to arrive in the office to find that The Times had completely disregarded the official embargo and broken the story the evening before (whose version was then ‘borrowed’ by a licensing website). The thing is, apart from breaking the embargo, The Times had also chosen to run with a fairly lurid headline about how much money the Wow! Stuff owners would make from the deal, which led people to think Richard and the team would be moving on to concentrate on spending their new-found wealth.
Read the rest here.
