As we head towards the height of summer, the current bout of (exceedingly) warm weather is spreading plenty of good vibes across the UK (unless you are on a train coming out of London at rush hour when there is a Harry Styles gig at Wembley – that’s an experience I could happily forego). If the England football team manages to recapture its form at the weekend, that will be a nice bonus too. Whatever the time of year, as a largely discretionary purchase, the toy market is always buoyed by the feel good factor, so let’s hope that the summer good vibes carry on for a while yet.
As we all know, toy trade fortunes are neither made nor broken across the summer, but it always helps to head into the business end of the year in the black rather than in the red. Thankfully, Circana’s columns in Toy World and its ad hoc press releases about both the UK and global toy market have been relentlessly positive all year – and even better, we’re in one of those golden phases where a collection of categories, companies and ranges are all working well at the same time. I think we can all agree that this is preferable to one big thing dominating the sales charts; it means that a wider selection of suppliers and retailers are getting a slice of the pie.
That said, even though global toy sales are flying, clearly not every company is enjoying double digit growth. Whatever the state of the market, there will always be winners and losers. I say this when the toy trade is going through challenging times, but of course it is equally true in the good times. So yes, there are companies who are reading these reports of fantastic toy sales and thinking ‘well, that’s not being reflected in my dealings with toy buyers.’
Whatever you’re experiencing, it’s important to remember that, as the wonderfully sweary puppets in Avenue Q sing, it’s ‘only for now’. Crazes come, crazes go. Some of them endure and become toy market staples, but conversely, the ones that fly the highest sometimes burn out the quickest. Will some of the current hot shots last until the kids go back to school in the autumn? Maybe, maybe not – but if they don’t, something else will come along to take their place. The term ‘fast fashion’ doesn’t just apply to clothing any more – a corner of the toy market is going the same way, and those suppliers and retailers who can be flexible and reactive will potentially navigate the ups and downs of trends and fads better than the traditionally slower moving businesses.
However, let’s not forget all of those wonderful products that make up the backbone of the toy market, year in, year out: how many pools have been sold in the past week? How many balls and other football-related items? How many Hot Wheels cars or bottles of bubbles? It’s lovely to have lots of hot new trendy items to drive footfall and excitement, but also essential that we have a solid foundation of evergreen products and brands which will always underpin the toy market. The best of both worlds…
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