Company Profile
Studio Retail
Studio Retail a value proposition Based in Accrington, Studio.co.uk is the UK’s largest multi-range digital value retailer. Previously known as the catalogue retailer Express Gifts, Studio provides a shopping service to more than 2m customers per year, offering a wide range of products predominantly through online and mobile. Toys is a strongly performing category for Studio, and the company’s own brand range has received numerous awards including for its Outdoor Mud Kitchen and wooden toy range. Toy World spoke to toy buyer Neil Mitchell about the retailer’s success during lockdown, and what sets it apart in the marketplace. How has Studio performed during 2020 as a whole, taking into account the weeks before lockdown and the lockdown itself? Studio has performed exceptionally well in 2020. Back in January and February, sales were in line with budget, although good weather in February 2019 made it difficult for Garden & Outdoor Toys to annualise strong numbers. However, since lockdown the business has seen both record online sales (+55% versus the same period last year) and a strong increase in new customers. Our multi-year transformation to become a digital value retailer means we have been well-placed to adapt to the current environment.
How big a role did the toy category play in this performance? Toys has played a massive role in this year’s sales growth and has been a standout category, alongside the likes of Garden and Electricals. Toys is up +20% YTD; we saw our biggest ever spring/summer trading week back in late March as we entered lockdown. This period was really dominated by Outdoor Toys. We were fully stocked ahead of the Easter period, plus we had the combination of warm weather and children off school for the foreseeable future. Despite the uncertainty that lockdown introduced, consumers didn’t hesitate to invest in outdoor fun for the kids, which was reflected
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in unprecedented sales of pools, trampolines and slides.
What toy trends were seen during lockdown? What brands or types of toy were most popular? And what price bracket were the majority of sales in? ‘Keep the kids entertained’ seemed to be a strapline used by most online retailers, and Outdoor Toys was at the forefront of this. Our most popular lines included trampolines, slides, paddling pools and playhouses, which were available across a range of price points. Another trend we observed was home learning, as the country adapted to a new way of life and teaching