THE MD INTERVIEW ALEX GREEN
Alex Green
Evolving through
uncertain times Every month TnP will be talking to the managing director of a major toy company. In this issue, we interview Alex Green, MD of Asmodee UK What’s your background? I’m the longest-serving UK employee of Asmodee UK, having worked my way up the business over 25 years. With a heavy background in purchasing, I have worked across all the commercial departments as well on the logistics side.
Tell us a bit about your company. We are the UK’s leading distributor of board games, card games, roleplaying games and other tabletop products (source: The NPD Group data), supplying primarily to the UK and Eire
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The last year has certainly been challenging in ways that I would have never previously considered, but I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved throughout the pandemic
Asmodee is diversifying its catalogue this spring with the introduction of Loopy Loopers, an addictive new fidget toy 22
but to some European customers as well. We’re part of the larger Asmodee Group, headquartered in France, which is dedicated to offering great games and amazing stories across every aspect of the tabletop gaming world – and beyond!
What supply chain issues have you experienced during the pandemic - and do you see more supply chain issues over the next 12 months?
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We have seen quite a lot of pressure around inbound logistics, particularly with lengthening lead times and increasing costs from the Far East. In the past three to four months, we have seen continuing congestion at UK ports, which has led to extra delays on product coming in. We also
experienced great sales at the back end of 2020 which pulled through stock that we would have expected to sell in 2021. As a result, we are having to wait for restocks on certain lines. We see the supply chain beginning to improve in Q2, but we expect there to be an element of tension within the system for the whole year, and that the costs for inbound freight from the Far East will remain at higher levels than we had seen in the years before the pandemic hit.
When marketing to consumers, what do you see as the best channels for this and why? We are continuing to evolve our marketing strategy and have learnt a lot over the past year. Marketing to consumers is something relatively new to Asmodee UK, but we are incredibly excited by the opportunities that it brings and are looking forward to exploring all the possibilities. During 2020, we started advertising through TikTok and we have high hopes for continuing to use that platform - particularly to launch new products a little further outside of our typical offering, such as the upcoming Loopy Loopers range of fidget toys, which we are delighted to be bringing to the UK on behalf of Blue Orange.
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