Magical opportunities
Animation and theatre is at the heart of Wizz’s offering in travel-retail. Chloe Gold speaks to Nigel Caddick about expanding his toy and gadget business in new and exciting ways
Toy and gadget specialist Wizz currently boasts a colourful range of products including 54 lines with over 200 products – most of which are designed in-house. Whether it is a solar-powered hat made with an inbuilt fan, a flip flop that doubles up as a fly squatter or flying, skipping or quacking animals that literally jump off the shelves, Wizz undoubtedly leads the way when it comes to offering innovative and unique products in travel-retail. The Wizz stores have even attracted celebrities who could not resist the charm and wackiness of its products such as Michael Jackson, Steven Tyler from Aerosmith and Bill Clinton, Nigel Caddick, CEO of Wizz proudly reveals.
"Everything has a humorous twist and a function to it – everything does something special,” says Caddick. “As we design most of our own products you’ll never see any of these anywhere else in the world.”
With a strong distribution in the Middle East and shops in
“We’re expanding fast and are working on about 30 different products at the moment. We have recently supplied
While its animated range of toys remains its most profitable sector of the business so far, the world of magic and illusion is an area that Nigel predicts will be hugely profitable. Its magic kits, which include a cup and ball, magic floating wands, card tricks, magic rings and disappearing coins, which comes complete with a DVD offering simple instructions translated in any language, which it launched a year and a half ago has been very successful.
“As a stand alone category it is great as no one else is doing it and it appeals to boys and girls – everybody knows magic – so that’s a big area for us. Magic is a rarity in travel-retail and introducing magicians to the airports is a real delight for travellers,” says Caddick.
“New technology is coming out all the time with cleverer designs and has become a lot cheaper. It’s very competitive so we are kept on our toes to produce cleverer designs at affordable prices,” Caddick concludes.
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