Toy imports down significantly

Figures from HM Revenue and Customs show that toy imports have almost halved in the first 9 months of this year from £11.2bn to £5bn 

If you take out the Woolworths effect (in total their sales were just under £700m) thats still a big dip. Already there are predictions of shortages (although when was there a Xmas when the must have toy wasn't in short supply?!)

As a soft toy wholesaler we have dramatically reduced the amount of toys we import from China and it is largely due to the exchange rate. For us when the £ slippped from $2 to $1.4 it cost us a lot more money to buy in toys and other toys were just not viable to buy anymore. Multiple retailers buy their Xmas stock Feb/March which was a time of maximum uncertainty and lowest exchange rate so it is feasible they decided just not to buy so much stock especially if they knew they would need to increase retail prices

We were faced with the decision of either "cost engineering" our goods to take cost out or find a way to add value. We took the latter option and have partnered with some fair trade co-operatives to produce fair trade knitted and cotton crochet toys and rag dolls.

It would be nice to think that other companies were forced to make the same sort of decisions so that when everything normalises again we do not go back to importing all of our toys based on price and no other considerations

We are looking forward to launching our new range of Fair Trade soft toys and rattles in January so come along and see us at Top Drawer in January!