Last week was a whirlwind. After we announced the sale of Toy World to Lewis Business Media, my phone didn’t stop pinging for days with lovely messages from industry friends and colleagues. I have kept them all: one day, when I am old(er) and (even) grey(er), I will look back on them with a sense of immense pride. Many people don’t ever get to hear what people really think about their business – but over the past seven days, we had that privilege. Thank you all.
I must confess, we were genuinely blown away with the feedback – it seems that the UK toy community really does feel that we have created something of value over the past 14 years, which was always our primary motivation for setting up the business. When we launched in 2011, we knew that the industry didn’t necessarily need three toy magazines… but equally, we were convinced that it did need something an awful lot better than what was on offer at the time. Judging by all the messages, it seems that we delivered on our promise.
I am immensely grateful for everyone who has supported us on our journey – and for everyone who will continue to support us moving forward. We’ll still be around for a long time to come, so the journey continues. And the fact that so many people have said how happy they were that we’ll still be involved convinces us that we’ve done the right thing.
After all of that excitement, it’s been a case of ‘back to the day job’ this week. The November issue of Toy World has been landing on desks, accompanied by a special Kidult supplement – so if you want to get a glimpse into some of the best new ranges launching for spring summer as well as the chance to see a selection of the latest Kidult products about to hit shelves, grab a coffee and dive in.
It was obvious that it was half-term when I walked into Sainsbury’s last Saturday and the front section of the store was piled high with tempting half-price offers on big box toys – over the next couple of weeks, we will begin to find out how consumers are feeling about their Christmas spending choices. It would be nice if food inflation was under control, but that doesn’t look as if it will happen any time soon. Indeed, grocers have explicitly warned the government this week that any tax hikes on retailers in the budget will be passed straight on to consumers in the form of (even) higher prices. That’s despite the fact that – for example – Tesco is expected to make around £3b profit this year, while Sainsbury’s is anticipating matching last year’s £1b profit. When I see some of the prices in the food aisles, I can’t help thinking this wouldn’t have happened if someone of the ilk of Gary Grant or Phil Shayer (or one of their contemporaries) were negotiating with food suppliers. Maybe it’s not the done thing these days, but the desk-thumping, no-holds-barred rollickings that toy suppliers used to face are still the stuff of legend from those who were on the receiving end of them – and suppliers needed to have a very compelling reason to raise prices, even when they were facing genuine cost increases.
And it’s not just a thing of the past either: I gather that a couple of retailers were negotiating pretty hard out in LA in September – and by ‘hard’ I mean making frankly ridiculous offers, such as saying suppliers should accept $2 for lines they were quoting at $10. I am sure the rejections were polite, but firm – at least, a lot more polite than what the suppliers said when they were recounting the tales to me.
Read the rest here.
