After all of the potential horror stories leaked in advance, the budget turned out to be something of a damp squib… in the short term at least. Of direct relevance to the toy community, the increase in the minimum wage won’t be popular with independent retailers, while I suspect most businesses will be relieved that the proposal to give workers protection from unfair dismissal from day one has been dropped. A postponement of an increase in fuel duty to next September, the freeze in rail fares and a promised cut to energy bills in the spring all offer consumers some respite over the coming months, with most of the more dramatic tax increases not being introduced for several years. All in all, while there were precious few measures to promote growth, you get the feeling that the can has been kicked down the road in terms of any major impact on household budgets. That’s good for the forthcoming festive season – there was nothing in the budget to frighten consumers into stopping spending straight away – but the overall message does seem to be that most of us will end up with a higher tax burden in a few years’ time. So, in many respects, it’s a case of ‘as you were’ and we can all get on with the task of extracting maximum sales from the next four weeks.
Meanwhile, as we wish our US readers a belated Happy Thanksgiving, how was Black Friday for the UK toy community? I suspect there will be many different answers to that question. I read a piece calling the whole shebang “an act of self-sabotage”, which I suspect many retailers would sympathize with. However, the genie is out of the bottle, and it does seem that retailers of all shapes and sizes feel obliged to join in, even if they know they’re giving away money and margin in the process. Over recent years, consumers have been conditioned to wait for Black Friday deals, and it takes considerable bravery for a retailer to sit back and refuse to take part. I just hope the uplift in sales volumes justifies the financial sacrifice.
As we all focus on the run-up to Christmas, we also have one eye on Toy Fair Season, which is only round the corner when you factor in the Christmas break. …
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