Playing At Business - toy & game business podcast with Steve Reece

Another Spielwarenmesse Toyfair in Nuremberg has been and gone. This episode reviews this years show, and based on conversations at the show and market data released at this time gives an analytical outlook on the key drivers and trends of the European Toy market for 2024.

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2020 and 2021 were unexpectedly boom years for the Toy business overall as locked down families invested out of season in play activities for their homebound children. 2022 and 2023 were significantly worse years for the Toy trade. The question now is what happens in 2024? Host Steve Reece talks through the factors affecting Toy market performance in 2024 in this latest episode.

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In this episode we take a look at how choosing the right products to launch is the fundamental success factor for Toy & Games companies. Host Steve Reece uses an example of when he turned down a now famous & massively successful product as an example of how sometimes turning away good products is necessary in order to focus on what will work best for your company and the business model and market positioning of your company.

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Many companies in the Toy business grow via acquisition. Company owners often want to sell up and retire or move onto other pastures. In this episode we take a look at some of the biggest Toy acquisitions of all time, we look at why and how Toy Cos are bought and sold and we discuss the details of the process of buying or selling.

Maybe you have a Toy business you want to buy or sell, or maybe you just want to understand how company sales work in the world of Toys, either way this episode will have something for you.

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In this latest episode host Steve Reece talks to Kate Scott & Declan Fahy, the Founders of Holo Toyz. Their company aims to inspire creativity and imagination via augmented reality technology.

Kate stated "At our core, we believe that children should be able to experiment, play and learn through emerging technologies in a kid-safe environment away from the open web, whilst not losing touch with the physical world."

We discuss this proposition, and the path from starting the business, through raising funding to achieving distribution for HoloToyz products.

This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in or actively pursuing a start up in the Toy business, as well as international distributors looking for new products and new stories to latch onto.

Join Steve Reece in a deep dive into the toy industry's recruitment nuances. Drawing from over a decade as a consultant, Steve unveils key strategies for companies to recruit effectively and tips for candidates to land their ideal roles. Whether you're hiring or job-hunting, discover invaluable insights to navigate the toy business world.

Our business is a Consultancy to Toy & Games companies. We have worked with more than half of the biggest Toy companies in the world, as well as 100+ startups and small businesses. Our main areas of business are:

• Export Sales Consultancy - let us help you sell more of your products overseas.
• Growth Consultancy for start ups with funding.
• 'Traditional' distribution Consultancy for companies who launched with success on Amazon and want a fast track acceleration into other 'traditional' Toy & Games distribution channels around the world.
• Strategic Sourcing Consultancy - we advise companies on how to diversify their sourcing from being over reliant on China to other geographies including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico & Europe.
• Recruitment - many of our clients who we have helped with expanding their distribution come back to us to help them find key staff members to allow them to go direct to retail in key markets.
• Consultancy phone calls - this is the entry level service we offer, comparatively low cost, but normally rated 5/5 in terms of value & impact from our clients.

To find out more about our Consultancy services & how we can help your business, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com/toy-business-consultancy

Guess what – people have been buying Toys for adults for a very long time. Even though the 'Kidult' thing is the big thing nowadays, hobbyits sand people buying Toyetic gifts for adults have been around for a long while.

Listen in to Episode 99 as we look at these adjacent areas in more detail!

Our business is a Consultancy to Toy & Games companies. We have worked with more than half of the biggest Toy companies in the world, as well as 100+ startups and small businesses. Our main areas of business are:

• Export Sales Consultancy - let us help you sell more of your products overseas.
• Growth Consultancy for start ups with funding.
• 'Traditional' distribution Consultancy for companies who launched with success on Amazon and want a fast track acceleration into other 'traditional' Toy & Games distribution channels around the world.
• Strategic Sourcing Consultancy - we advise companies on how to diversify their sourcing from being over reliant on China to other geographies including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico & Europe.
• Recruitment - many of our clients who we have helped with expanding their distribution come back to us to help them find key staff members to allow them to go direct to retail in key markets.
• Consultancy phone calls - this is the entry level service we offer, comparatively low cost, but normally rated 5/5 in terms of value & impact from our clients.

To find out more about our Consultancy services & how we can help your business, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com/toy-business-consultancy

A few episodes back we looked at why excess inventory is so dangerous - in this episode we move on to look at the practicalities of how our industry manages excess inventory, where they sell it, how it works and some major banana skins to watch out for when selling clearance stock!

Our business is a Consultancy to Toy & Games companies. We have worked with more than half of the biggest Toy companies in the world, as well as 100+ startups and small businesses. Our main areas of business are:

• Export Sales Consultancy - let us help you sell more of your products overseas.
• Growth Consultancy for start ups with funding
• 'Traditional' distribution Consultancy for companies who launched with success on Amazon and want a fast track acceleration into other 'traditional' Toy & Games distribution channels around the world.
• Strategic Sourcing Consultancy - we advise companies on how to diversify their sourcing from being over reliant on China to other geographies including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico & Europe.
• Recruitment - many of our clients who we have helped with expanding their distribution come back to us to help them find key staff members to allow them to go direct to retail in key markets.
• Consultancy phone calls - this is the entry level service we offer, comparatively low cost, but normally rated 5/5 in terms of value & impact from our clients.

To find out more about our Consultancy services & how we can help your business, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com/toy-business-consultancy

We are living through times of massive change and disruption. Technology is advancing at a frighteningly quick rate, and the very fabric of society has been changed by our adoption and development of new technologies.

However, despite that there are 5 unchanging fundamentals of the Toy & Games business. In this podcast your host Steve Reece takes a look at what has not changed in his nearly 25 years in the Toy business, and what is unlikely to change looking forward another 25 years into the future.

Our business is a Consultancy to Toy & Games companies. We have worked with more than half of the biggest Toy companies in the world, as well as 100+ startups and small businesses. Our main areas of business are:

• Export Sales Consultancy - let us help you sell more of your products overseas.
• Growth Consultancy for start ups with funding
• 'Traditional' distribution Consultancy for companies who launched with success on Amazon and want a fast track acceleration into other 'traditional' Toy & Games distribution channels around the world.
• Strategic Sourcing Consultancy - we advise companies on how to diversify their sourcing from being over reliant on China to other geographies including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico & Europe.
• Recruitment - many of our clients who we have helped with expanding their distribution come back to us to help them find key staff members to allow them to go direct to retail in key markets.
• Consultancy phone calls - this is the entry level service we offer, comparatively low cost, but normally rated 5/5 in terms of value & impact from our clients.

To find out more about our Consultancy services & how we can help your business, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com/toy-business-consultancy

There are some recurring characteristics of best selling Toys & Games. In this episode we run through the 5 most important features. This is not so much creative inspiration as it is a ticklist for new Toy & Games products in development.

Our business is a Consultancy to Toy & Games companies. We have worked with more than half of the biggest Toy companies in the world, as well as 100+ startups and small businesses. Our main areas of business are:

• Export Sales Consultancy - let us help you sell more of your products overseas.
• Growth Consultancy for start ups with funding
• 'Traditional' distribution Consultancy for companies who launched with success on Amazon and want a fast track acceleration into other 'traditional' Toy & Games distribution channels around the world.
• Strategic Sourcing Consultancy - we advise companies on how to diversify their sourcing from being over reliant on China to other geographies including India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico & Europe.
• Recruitment - many of our clients who we have helped with expanding their distribution come back to us to help them find key staff members to allow them to go direct to retail in key markets.
• Consultancy phone calls - this is the entry level service we offer, comparatively low cost, but normally rated 5/5 in terms of value & impact from our clients.

To find out more about our Consultancy services & how we can help your business, just click here: www.ToyIndustryJournal.com/toy-business-consultancy