Letter from America - Rick Derr

Rick’s picks for the holidays

After 20 years working at A.C. Nielsen/D&B Research Company, Rick opened the first Learning Express Toys franchise in the Chicago area in 1996 and then became a sub-franchiser. Although leaving the corporate environment behind, he has combined his expertise in data and numbers with a passion for the toy retail space. This month, Rick tells us what he’s betting big on for the festive season.

It’s the time of year that every manufacturer, retailer and news outlet is releasing their lists of Top Toys for the holidays. We at Learning Express, Lake Zurich are no different except we have no equity stake in the products. I sell what kids want, not what a vendor tells kids they want.

These are in no particular order, but these are the key products which we have invested inventory dollars in this year in anticipation of high demand. Some are literally just categories or brands, as it is too difficult to pick only one or two items out of the brand portfolio:

• Pokémon (no surprise)

• Asian Blind Boxes (various)

• Lego (One Piece and F1)

• Calico Critters – known in the UK as Sylvanian Families - (Epoch)

• Dr. Squish (Boti)

• Hello Blink Sticker Maker (Buffalo Games)

• Air Toobz (Tomy)

• DoTeki (Tomy)

• Gui Gui slimes (Moose Toys)

• Silent Balls assorted (Incredible Group)

So far this year we have been much quicker to jump on new trends and products than anyone else in the toy and gift markets. This is just one of the ways we compete with Amazon and big box stores. Speed to shelf has allowed us to avoid pricing pressures, as well as understand winning products earlier than most - then we are able to reorder and stay in stock longer than our competitors. The risk we take is not loading up on everyday inventory, but rather ordering as we go. The tariffs will not be decided by our highest court until November - or later – which will be too late to change any strategies for the short term. So far, we have controlled price increases selectively and there has been little pushback from consumers. Once we get to the holidays and customers are looking to purchase higher ticket items, we shall see if there is any resistance.

We will start the selling season in October this year. Usually, we wait till post Halloween but feel “planting the seed” on some new items with demos, prelaunch and live streams will help these lines gather momentum and spark a few presales before the traditionally busier months of November and December.

We plan to invest heavily in digital media this year. Tariff confusion and availability of products has made me a little nervous about promoting items in a printed catalogue and not having them on shelf.

Our final strategy this year is to use more ‘live media’ on TikTok and Facebook to target our two demographic markets.

• Facebook for moms and grandparents

• TikTok for younger adults, kids and tracking trends

2025 is the year of trial and testing to build out a platform of hubs and spokes with all data, products, events and selling done on a single platform. Transitioning from legacy systems is never easy, but we will get there in a year that is showing positive trends; our latest annual forecast has been raised to +12% year on year (up from +5% at the beginning of 2025).

I have seen several UK lists already (the US is a little slower to show its cards) and will be following what you are selling, as any new items that surface late that can lead us into 2026. Stay positive!