The LA Previews have been winding down this week. It appears that some showrooms have remained open for part of this week, although many of the retail visitors have already returned home, and numerous exhibitors have joined them.
The reason I feel this is worth mentioning is that the Preview event appears to have drawn to a close slightly earlier than I had been led to believe would be the case. When I spoke to people earlier this year, I was told that last week would be a predominantly US week and that this week was scheduled to be international week.
Now, there has always been an inherent flexibility around the LA Previews – first and foremost, unlike trade shows, there are no official dates per se. Exhibitors hire showrooms for a period of time, and they can open and close them whenever it suits them to do so. And regardless of where their head office is located, it is no secret that certain major accounts will aim to go several days before their competitors so they get an early look at what is on offer and can potentially try to snaffle exclusive deals before other retailers have seen them. As a result, certain key international retailers were always going to join the US contingent in the earlier week.
Perhaps – and this is just a guess – common sense has prevailed, and everyone has decided that a trip lasting 7 or 10 days makes far more sense than a two week plus marathon. Of course, this doesn’t include the individual weeks for Walmart and Target, so many exhibitors are actually in LA for far longer. But if the ‘main event’ has naturally been concentrated into a slightly shorter time frame, that can only be a good thing. It makes it a more hectic week, and perhaps it provides challenges for some of the smaller players to get onto buyers’ schedules, but ultimately, I think it makes the whole event more viable.
The mood amongst those returning from LA has been positive, as is to be expected. Toy retailers across the globe have enjoyed a strong trading year, so even though the most important trading weeks of the year are still ahead of us, there is a general feeling that most of the major markets will post strong increases from last year’s figures. That is always going to help when it comes to conversations about the following year – especially when those discussions are taking place before Christmas/Holiday Season has even started to kick in. As things stand, many retailers, suppliers and distributors are going into next year in a strong position, and that can only benefit early dialogue about 2027.
I gather that a few people flying out to LA were caught up in the chaotic scenes at UK airports which saw numerous flights delayed or cancelled as a result of an air traffic control meltdown, which must have been frustrating. But other than that, the whole event seems to have gone smoothly. Numerous social events have sprung up across the week, which have really cemented it as a ‘work hard, play hard’ week, very much in the way Hong Kong used to be. Licensors and media companies are joining the party, as they are inclined to do when there is a concentration of key toy suppliers and retailers. It all points to LA having firmly established itself as a permanent fixture in the toy trade calendar – certainly for September (although arguably April still has some way to go to be seen in the same light).
Which in turn begs the question as to what impact this will have on the established toy trade shows in January and February.
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