The UK Toy & Gaming Industry must embrace Children’s Day more fully. Here's why.

In our industry how many of us actually know what and when Children’s Day is? Did you notice anything different in May? Probably not, as our industry has never, in my opinion, totally embraced it or the opportunity around it. I’d like to see that change.

One of the great privileges I had as a Managing Director for Hasbro in Latin America was to witness a strong Children’s Day first-hand. In Latin America, particularly Chile and Mexico, the Day is an opportunity to celebrate children and family time, often revolving around toys and gaming.  

What is Children’s Day?

First established by the UN General Assembly in 1954, Children’s Day promotes a greater understanding of the needs of children around the World – their health, happiness, rights to education and expression. The official UN Children’s Day falls on 20th November but like most countries the UK has moved this to a date that makes sense locally. Children’s Day in 2020 will be on the 17th May.

Like an early Xmas

I’ll never forget the week leading up to Children’s Day in Latin America. With major retailers totally committed to toys and games, aisles packed with cool gifts and marketing campaigns in overdrive. I kid you not, this was a mammoth week at retail, selling about 80% in value of Xmas peak week. Imagine that. For the UK, a Children’s Day fully supported at retail in May would be an opportunity to kick start the season before Xmas. Also, if you have new ranges this gives you an opportunity to showcase Xmas products. Challenging, timewise but worthwhile if you can get the new product development on time.

Embrace the positive message

As an industry we could further embrace the positive messages around toys - gaming with family, outdoor fun and simply getting off the couch. Many parents would happily buy gifts in readiness for the holiday season, or as a reward-in-waiting for the end of the school term.

Partnerships abound

One of the things that really struck me about Children’s Day in Latin America was the broad reach in partnerships across industries. Think toy brands with mobile phone brands, with petrol forecourts, with movies, with educational establishments and so on. The possibilities are endless.

Corporate Social Responsibility

We would be hard pressed to find an industry more charitable than ours. Thousands of us take part in annual charity runs, swims and fundraisers. Children’s Day would offer another opportunity (hopefully in good weather) for teams to get out in the country and bring children’s issues to the fore. Our great industry could drive all that goodwill and would do so brilliantly.

What is stopping us?

It is certainly not a lack of love for our children or appreciation of the issues they may face. It is also not a lack of brands, know-how in marketing or retail scale. Perhaps we have just not tried hard enough. Do we let retail partners tell us there are better events in May and if so why? Maybe we have just not grasped the scale of the opportunity – and let’s face it, our industry and our country need something positive to unite behind.

I reached out to an old industry associate and friend, Frédérique Tutt, from NPD for her opinion. With her permission, I’d like to share her insight with you:

I could not agree more with you, Simon. There is a case for a stronger Children’s Day implementation.  New and exciting ideas are essential for our industry to grow the market and increase spend on toys. In fact, I first addressed the potential of creating new ‘occasions’ during a BTHA AGM about 15 years ago. Looking outside of the U.K. we find other countries have other buying occasions we could get inspiration from. Think Epiphany in Spain, Advent in France and Germany, toy Easter eggs in Italy, the June/July catalogue event in Australia and of course Children’s Day in Russia and South America. Whilst the former are all religious-based, the latter are not and therefore potentially ring a bell with a much larger number of consumers in the U.K.

The benefit for retail is immense and would be most welcome in our industry. But what is the potential for the toy category? Let’s look at 2 business cases: Chile, and Mexico. 

For us in toys, right now, sales for an average spring week are around ￡38M per week in the U.K. (source The NPD Group retail tracking service projected to represent 100% of UK sales). If we did manage to replicate the same uplift as what is happening in Chile, it’s possible that we would reach about 80% of the largest week of the year, which would be equivalent to multiplying sales by 4 during Children’s Day week or +￡124M in cash at the tills – in other words, potentially adding just under 4% of annual sales in one week... Something that would obviously have a tremendous impact on all of us.

Looking at another successful example of what is being achieved by Mexico, this would add over ￡80M at retail or 2.4% to annual sales. Over there, sales are multiplied by 2.3 during Children’s week in 2019 and had a 1.3X uplift in the two weeks prior to that, too. This uplift is being driven by higher than average retail prices; and Children’s Day is supported by all major brands meaning that parents buy more toys at a premium price. Children’s day is the opportunity to create value in the category.

Should the industry get behind this initiative though, we need to: 1) think about the pitfalls; 2) avoid cannibalising half-term sales; 3) make sure this is incremental. 

We should also make sure all forms of play are being marketed. Otherwise, the benefit might be concentrated on Outdoor manufacturers. At that time of year, Outdoor represents a quarter of all sales.

 #toys #community #growth #childrensday #gifting #npd

About the author

Simon Leslie is a Managing Director for consumer goods companies in the toy and entertainment sector, where he sets business strategies that deliver continuous financial and personal growth. Prior to becoming Managing Director, he worked in sales for iconic brands like Crayola, Radica and Monopoly, developing joint business and marketing plans for global retailers. In his time with Hasbro Simon took on executive assignments in Portugal, Chile and Italy, taking his wife and three children on adventures of a lifetime. He enjoys rugby, playing the guitar and would enjoy sailing if he had a boat. Now permanently back in the UK, Simon is available for Interim and Consultancy roles whilst looking for his next permanent career move.

Get in touch via Linkedin or [email protected]

About Frédérique Tutt

Frédérique is NPD’s Global Toys Industry Analyst. Her expertise is based on more than 20 years spent in the toy sector working with major industry players for whom the company provides strategic insights and fact-based recommendations that drive business growth. After running NPD U.K. Toys’ team for nearly a decade, she is now responsible for strategic analyses and global research for industry leaders as well as managing relationships with the media in the U.K. and France.