Peacock Supplies reports bumper Ramadan and Eid trade

UK retail sales for the company were up by 40% in 2023, while export sales to Canada and North America have doubled.

Supplier of multi-faith celebratory products, Peacock Supplies, has seen its retail and wholesale trade for Ramadan and Eid soar. The West Midlands firm also expanded its presence in Europe and the Middle East this year.

Peacock Supplies has experienced strong growth in all areas of its business following increased demand from Muslims for fun, festive items during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. Among the best-sellers were its Ramadan Chocolate Advent Calendars, 3D Chocolate

Lantern, Crescent Moon Tree, Eid Letter Lights, and Eid party boxes with banner, wrapping paper, napkins, plates and cake stand.

The company's wholesale business has also grown in 2023, with a three-fold increase in stockists. TK Maxx, Homesense and Walmart are the latest multiples partnering with the company.

TK Maxx and Homesense stores introduced the Ramadan range for this first time this year and enjoyed strong sales, particularly in Germany, where no equivalent to Peacock

The new team will be headed up by community development director, Laura Rae, and will be focused on developing relationships with buyers to improve their buying experience.

With the launch of the new meetings programme Connect @ Autumn Fair, together with the new team, the show, which takes place from 3 to 6 September at NEC Birmingham, is offering an enhanced opportunity for buyers to find the right products and brands for their customers.

Laura commented: “We’re thrilled to be part of the vibrant and dynamic retail sector, and to have the opportunity to enhance the visitor experience at the upcoming Autumn and Spring Fairs. Our team is committed to innovation and development, with a goal of making it easier than ever for visitors to meet their buying needs and strengthen their relationship with the show.” exists. Buyers have placed top-up orders ahead of the second Eid celebration at the end of June.

Community development director, Laura Rae (pictured centre), is a project management professional with more than a decade of experience in the events industry. She has held responsibility within diverse organisations such as Clarion Events and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Magda Musial (pictured right) joins as community development manager, having worked in global events for the last 10 years in both marketing and operations roles, where she has held responsibility for managing the experiences of many different stakeholders and customers.

Amanda Kendall (pictured left) also joins as community development manager, with over a decade of experience in the events industry. She has worked in community management in several industries and has held several roles within the events industry.

Sarah Gulfraz, founder and md of Peacock Supplies, commented: "We've enjoyed bumper trading this Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, with both our retail and wholesale divisions doing extremely well at home and abroad.

"TK Maxx and Homesense have helped carry our goods into the heart of Europe and the results from the first season with them show the huge potential of the Muslim market. In Germany alone, shoppers snapped up half of our stock in the first week of sale, with buyers now topping up shelves ready for the Eid al-Adha festivities in June."

Sarah is in talks with several British supermarkets to supply them with Diwali products for 2023, as well as Ramadan and Eid products for next year. Similarly, buyers from a major UAE chain are keen to onboard with Peacock for 2024.

Net sales of Disguise costumes were down to $9.6 million from $9.8 million in Q1 last year, a decrease of 2% globally.

Jakks Pacific, which owns Disguise, reported its first quarter 2023 results, showing that overall the company had seen an 11% fall in sales to $107.5 million from $120.9 million last year. The gross profit was up to $31.4 million, or 29.2% of sales, compared to $29.9 million, or 24.7% of net sales in the prior year, driven by drastically reduced container and import-related costs, offset by higher royalty and product costs as a percentage of sales.

The company said that the fall in sales was driven primarily by lower sales in North America, which were down 17% to $6.6 million in costumes.

Stephen Berman, Jakks Pacific’s chairman and ceo, said: “We are pleased with our year-to-date performance as we close the first quarter and are excited about the possibilities for the remainder of the year. We shipped over $100 million worth of product in Q1 for the second consecutive year and it is the first time we’ve done that in back-to-back years since 2009.

“We have challenging revenue comparisons all year, but our significant gross margin improvement lessened the impact in the first quarter. Our Q1 gross profit dollars haven’t been this high since 2014. We managed inventory down further and eliminated most of our temporary warehouse capacity. And, as we previously disclosed, earlier in the quarter we paid down our long-term debt to less than $30 million.

“Our Q1 International business grew, with costumes increasing 64% to $3 million, with Latin American being particularly strong.

“There’s a lot more work to do in the short term to set us up for a strong holiday season, but the team is engaged and aggressively focused on continuing the positive momentum we’ve generated in recent years. It’s a great time to be at Jakks Pacific.”