LEADER A At the heart of retail Also by Lema Publishing
TableWare INTERNATIONAL
s the nation works through the that played a part in keeping the Clare third national lockdown, toy UK’s children smiling, entertained and Turner suppliers and toy retailers are educated through the Covid-19 crisis. successfully finding ways to pivot their Turn to our Awards Special on pages businesses through 32-33 to find out who made the pandemic. the cut. Several of the retailer winners I continue to be - including the recipient of the Ultimate impressed by how Superhero award Lisa Clay of Armadillo independent toy Toys in Leeds (pictured, left) - have retailers across the kindly shared their stories with us on country are picking pages 34-39. up the gauntlet Although quite different in terms of to keep their size, product offer and geographical businesses running spread, each has one key challenge in many of them taking common: as we face another period of their wares online restrictions, they have acknowledged for the first time. that it’s time to double-down on digital. p38 It’s a trend that One winner admits she would Nuremberg’s never have gone online without this I continue situation, while another is in the process Spielwarenmesse is following. As I write this, of creating a new ecommerce platform, to be the show’s organiser has impressed by and a third is improving her existing announced that the digital website. But all were keen to point out how service Spielwarenmesse that, in the words of Julia Wingate of BrandNew, which provides independent The Trading Post in Kingsbridge, Devon: information about this year’s “Even though our doors are closed, we’re toy retailers innovations and trends in the still open for business. Behind every door across the global toy sector, has been there is a website or phone - and we’re well received by the industry. country are still able to trade our wares.” In the first days of going Covid-19 has undoubtedly been a picking up live, from 25 to 29 January, catalyst for change and retailers willing the gauntlet 55,442 visitors viewed more to adopt a flexible approach can not than 400,000 actions on to keep their only survive the impact but can thrive. its website. Companies also It’s not that people aren’t making toy businesses used Spielwarenmesse’s purchases; they are just making them in running social media channels to different ways. present their products to If you would like to share your story the international audience, with our readers too, I’d love for you unveiling their innovations in live to get in touch. You can link up with me via video sessions. LinkedIn or email me at clare@lemapublishing. Spielwarenmesse BrandNew at co.uk. I look forward to hearing from you! www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/brandnew can be accessed free of charge until the end of April. The summer edition of the show is now scheduled to open its doors at the Exhibition Centre in Nuremberg from 20 to 24 July. Let’s hope that we may all be able to meet there at last! Meanwhile, closer to home, the British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA) and the Toy Retailers Association (TRA) have demonstrated their resilience during lockdown by locking into our new online habits. Last month they announced the winners of their annual awards virtually. Both organisations adopted a different approach to the selection process for their awards this year, giving recognition Ernst Kick, CEO of to retailers who showed great altruism Spielwarenmesse eG and innovation in 2020, and products
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