WHY ARE PLUSH TOYS NORMALLY IN THE SHAPE OF ANIMALS OR CHARACTERS?

A Plush toy without a persona or character is in essence a cushion - we could stop there, but that wouldn’t be very insightful!

Soft toys normally depict an animal or a character. It could be a derivative of a popular content franchise like a preschool TV show, a YouTube channel or a movie’s leading character. The driver behind this type of character toy is fairly straightforward – children want to have & play with a physical manifestation of their favourite characters. And whereas action figures or dolls are typically hard plastic & therefore not very cuddly, Plush iterations of favourite characters can be taken to bed & cuddled.

When it comes to looking at why Animals are such an engrained theme for soft toys, we can see the answer made clear by millions of Tik Tok & Tube videos showing animals looking cute, doing funny things or being crazy. Kids absolutely love animals! They find them funny, cute, entertaining and much more. But animals don’t necessarily want to be smothered by over affectionate children. An inanimate Plush animal can be manhandled as much as the child wants without any fear of escape or backlash!

Implicit within both these major areas of Plush is one prevailing theme – the sense of touch. The tactile interaction with Plush toys is so rewarding for children. Children’s balance of importance with regard to the sense is normally quite different to adults – for example, the younger a child is the more their sense of touch prevails, even over what something looks like. Therefore, the Plush toy core market often goes younger than for some other types of toys, but regardless of that, children of all ages love the positive tactile experience of cuddling a soft toy.

We run a Consultancy business for toy companies. We work with major toy companies through to start ups and one person bands. For more information on how we help toy companies grow their distribution around the world: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/blog/toy-co-growth-booster-program/

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THE ANNOYINGLY OBVIOUS NON-SECRET TO SECURING INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR TOYS & GAMES!

THE ANNOYINGLY OBVIOUS NON-SECRET TO SECURING INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR TOYS & GAMES!

After nearly 25 years of selling products into international markets, I have learnt one primary factor which dictates the success or otherwise of the sales product. And this factor has very little to do with the selling skills of the person or organisation selling the product.

I have sold some products which were a really easy sell and sold millions of units, and in a couple of instances, sold tens of millions of units. I have also sold numerous products which flopped – having gained distribution they just didn’t sell through, and I have worked on even more products which did not obtain significant distribution outside of their home market.

The observant reader should recognise here that the selling resource (i.e. myself!) did not change, and neither did the sales process. So how can the same sales process deliver massive success and complete failure?

The answer (of course) is that the variable is the product or product range. Products with a really strong commercial potential, with clear consumer appeal and an in built advantage in terms of positioning and attractiveness versus other competitive products will be far more likely to find international distribution than a me-too product or a niche product which has no clear path forward in new markets.

While this an annoyingly obvious ‘non-secret’ to securing international distribution for toys & games. But the reality is that if you have products which are a fairly hard sell in your home market, you can expect them to be a hard sell into other markets. Sometimes the solution is not to sack your Export Sales manager (!), but to relook at your product development briefs, strategies and inputs.

Those companies who have significant export sales tend to develop products with the needs of international markets in mind…

We run a Consultancy business for toy companies. We work with major toy companies through to start ups and one person bands. For more information on how we help toy companies grow their distribution around the world: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/blog/toy-co-growth-booster-program/

For more articles & insights on the toy and games business, sign up here for our free e-newsletter sent straight to your inbox: https://forms.aweber.com/form/54/1325077854.htm

EL CORTE INGLES: THE WORLD’S BEST TOY DEPARTMENT…?

EL CORTE INGLES: THE WORLD’S BEST TOY DEPARTMENT…?

During a recent visit to see clients in Spain, I greatly enjoyed visiting an El Corte Ingles store. Anyone who has done business in Spain or with Spanish distributors will have heard plenty about the importance of this classic department store. With a group turnover of more than €15billion p.a. (across all departments), El Corte Ingles is a major force in Spanish non-food retailing, with just under 100 stores spread across Spain & Portugal primarily.

One of the things which is most satisfying with El Corte Ingles is the sheer breadth & scope of the Toy department. In the store I visited recently, the entire top floor of a very large footprint was dedicated to toys of all categories. This is much more of a rarity now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. There is no doubt that from a global perspective, the growth in e-commerce has hit department stores as hard as any retail channels, yet in Spain & Portugal El Corte Ingles is still successful and massively committed to their toy departments at the same time.

No doubt someone somewhere will read this article and argue that another store has the best toy department, but all I can say is that El Corte Ingles appears to be offering as good a toy department as any, and long may that continue!