RETAIL INTERVIEW eBay UK
Keep on moving Nouman Qureshi, category manager of toys & games at eBay UK, tells Clare Turner why he believes the ecommerce pioneer could help boost beleaguered bricks-and-mortar retail
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ighteen months ago, ecommerce giant eBay UK promoted Nouman Qureshi to the newly created post of category manager, toys & games. He is responsible for the category growth and oversees both seller and brand performance. “Toys and games in its entirety sits underneath me,” he explains. “So I’m the point of contact for some of the larger brands and retailers on our platform - and I’m responsible for helping them grow. “Aside from that, my job is to make sure that we have the right inventory selection at the best prices for our customers, and that they have a varied selection to shop from. It’s also incredibly important to me to maximise our support of small businesses.” Since the government announced a national lockdown, Nouman has, unsurprisingly, been very busy. “With the UK being told to stay at home, we’ve obviously seen a real surge in sales of toys and games and the category is understandably performing extremely well,” he says.
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“That’s being driven by great small businesses as well as household name retailers that have joined the site, such as The Entertainer, Early Learning The UK Centre and Hamleys. toy market “People are looking for remains entertainment, so there’s been a sustained increase in demand incredibly for the ‘classics’ in the category.” advanced He cites the examples of card and I think game Top Trumps and board other games such as Scrabble and Monopoly. “I can see the appeal markets can for families wanting to get away look to it for from the screen after days of inspiration virtual homeschooling and homeworking,” he says. “But we’ve also seen jigsaws and colouring taking off among adults because of the trend towards mindfulness. “And chess sets have been flying off the virtual shelves, with sales up 216% since the release of [US drama miniseries] The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. Looking at the toy industry for the past five years, entertainment releases have always been a massive
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driver for the market. We obviously saw a lot of box office films being delayed [because of the pandemic], especially ones that would perhaps cause a surge in demand for toys. But the likes of Netflix - and the TV series and films they release - have been a driver for a lot of searches.” With schools closed and parents looking to keep their children occupied, eBay has noticed a massive uplift in shoppers searching for products such as kids’ activity books (up 352% year-on-year) and kids’ arts and craft sets (up 155% year-on-year). Nouman adds: “Interestingly, kids’ chalkboards are up 100% year-on-
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