Plush Toys

Despite increasing pressure on space for toys, plush toys remain a popular choice for travellers. Chloe Gold speaks to two major players in the toy market about the performance of plush toys in travel-retail

THE current competitive climate within the children’s toy sector in travel-retail means that the big brands are battling it out to grip the attention of travellers passing through its gates. Increasingly, key suppliers within the toy sector – in particular the plush soft toy segment – are confronting limited space opportunities in airports as retailers reduce coverage of toys to make way for other rapidly expanding areas that bring in higher revenue. While creative use of displays, stands and packaging are common marketing tools employed by different soft toy brands, these days suppliers have to go that extra mile to distinguish themselves within the travel-retail industry.

“Within the electronics sector, only three pieces of electronics need to be sold to have good revenue, but for the same revenue we’d have to sell about 100 toys,” says Juerg Mumenthaler, duty-free and travel retail manager of Nici. “At the present moment, the cost of space is rising. I see the children’s toy market evolving in two different directions. On the one hand, concessionaires plan on creating special toy shops to cater for the demand of gift toy shops, and on the other hand the big players have announced that space for toys is being reduced.”

Kevin Walsh, director and co-founder of UK company Premier Portfolio, agrees that the shrinking space available to the plush toy sector has made its impact felt as retailers replace toy space with expanded coverage of products such as whisky. There is no doubt that with space becoming increasingly tighter, suppliers are pressured to come up with innovative concepts in order to stay ahead of the game.

“It’s not easy, but the Premier team constantly look for new ideas and concepts at all the various Toy trade fairs in the Far East and in most cases re-tool concepts to make them exclusive and marketspecific,” says Walsh. “The Premier team get really excited by working on new, innovative developments to create original, exclusive items.” Walsh adds that Premier has invested significant sums in product development, to date in the region of US$800,000.

Innovation remains at the heart of Premier’s philosophy, and the company recently extended its plush range with the launch of the new Xtinct brand – comprising soft toys of animals that face extinction around the world – which is supported by the Born Free Foundation, an animal welfare and conservation charity that operates from several offices in the countries affected. Each toy comes with a tag explaining the animal’s plight in the wild and the factors which have an adverse effect on its future – a unique concept in the plush toy sector that is proving to be a very effective promotional tool and a highly profitable concept.

“This idea came from the TV series called Extinct which was on ITV last year where TV personalities were highlighting the plight of these animals,” reveals Walsh. “We really liked the idea of creating an educational range of cute but life-like animals and wanted to do our bit to help save these animals by linking the Xtinct brand to a charity.” 5% of Premier Portfolio’s wholesale sales go directly towards protecting the particular species represented and maintaining the habitat of the endangered animals.

“It’s taken a while to put together but now we’re ready to roll,” says Walsh. “The Xtinct brand will get fantastic exposure this year as listings on MyTravel, easyJet and Alpha Retail stores will expose the brand to over 50 million passengers. Our aim is to build the range with multi-packs, key chains and other items are also under development. Retailers like to see something that is exclusive from the high street and we have no plans to sell it in the retail market. We are wholeheartedly a travel-retail company, exclusive to travel-retail.”

While the space for the toy category is limited, the children’s market in travel-retail is far from flagging and Walsh states that Premier is reaping the benefits.

“Premier’s plush sales have been excellent,” says Walsh, who forecasts a steady growth. “Premier Plush was launched in 2007 as a new product category and in the first year our sales went from zero to the equivalent of US $1,000,000 in retail value sales. Our ground shop business is growing fast following the opening of many new accounts and the signing of new airline-licensed deals with British Airways, KLM, Aer Lingus, Virgin and SAS. Most airlines like to offer a plush toy for the younger traveller or for gifts for young children at home. Airlines still represent the major proportion of our business but the ground shop sales are growing fast. Our major successes on the ground have been in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and the Middle East, and more recently in central Europe and Scandinavia.”

German plush toy supplier Nici has also seen a steady growth of its plush line, exceeding its yearly sales forecast until this June. The official launch of Nici’s plush toys took place in Cannes in October 2000, and by 2002 Nici had the best distribution worldwide in duty-free. It remains number one in distribution, ensuring that Nici remains the dominant player with a strong hold over the whole toy sector.

“What make a huge difference are our strong distribution channels and the fact that we can cross-market between the toy and gift sectors,” says Mumenthaler. “Our plush toy range expands into gift shops as the Nici plush toys are very cute, full of character – unlike some traditional brands – and appeal to a wider consumer mix than most. The Nici range appeals not only to kids but also has a huge adult following. You cannot compare it with the traditional brands in the toy business.”

Mumenthaler adds: “The Japanese and Chinese are crazy about Nici’s plush toys. [They] are doing particularly well in Taipei airport in Taiwan as well as in European airports.”

When it comes to design, Mumenthaler tells Frontier that quality is key and that it is the distinguishing factor in the success of the brand, with Nici responding to the strong demand for quality in the plush toy market. He does admit, however, that the general lack of specialised gift shops – a niche area which Nici capitalises on – is not helpful.

“For me the children’s toy sector is still growing but with limitations,” says Mumenthaler. “On the whole, all markets are good. Every year we plan new launches so our potential is great. Our collection is split in two: a basic collection and a seasonal collection.”

Unveiling Nici’s new seasonal winter range of products, Mumenthaler says that there is huge potential for the growth of its plush travel-retail sales.

“Our winter collection which we will be introducing very shortly will include two huskies, which we predict will be very popular. Our collections include accessories too, which makes the brand very interesting, [and feature] our collectibles, which consist of key rings, magnets and many other small items. In Cannes we will show something new – two new characters – but I will say no more until then.”