is there the european market for toys?
DESCRIPTION
Overview of the European Toy market looking at diversity and market by market characteristics. Visit: www.stevenreece.comTRANSCRIPT
Background in Toy & Game Brand & Commercial management, with Hasbro, Activision & Imagination.
Run Toy industry Consultancy.
Career Toy industry Sales of $255m. Last 2 Toy Industry ventures went from $0-50m & $0-3m .
Last 2 Brand Portfolios worked on sold for in excess of $130m.
Managed Hasbro Brands across 43 European markets. Set up new Distribution company into 22 European markets. Today work across all European countries.
Toy Industry Blog: www.stevenreece.com
Virtual World Licensing Blog: www.VirtualWorldLicensing.com
N.B. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The European Market is split into 43 distinctly different territories!
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland (Eire), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City.
40 Major European Languages (!) Albanian, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan,
Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Maltese, Moldovan, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Welsh.
Practically - work with 99% of distributors in English, and many Northern European countries in English, but Southern Europe = likely to need French, Spanish, Italian etc.
Product wise, this makes things tricky – if you have text heavy products i.e. board games, expect multiple language versions.
Some Toys can have 17+ languages on (where only legal lines needed).
Europe is a large, but highly
fragmented region!
1. Germany– very decentralised, thousands of independent stores, department stores etc.
2. France – dominated by Hypermarché, followed by Toy specialist chains/groups.
3. UK – Argos No. 1, followed by Grocery, Toy Specialists, online.
4. Spain – Hypermarché, plus El Corte Ingles a major department store
5. Italy – Hypermarché & Toy Specialists, with a Toy company owning a significant %age of the Toy retail market (GP).
6. Scandinavia – very decentralised, and varies between countries, but Toy specialists key.
1. Germany –traditional i.e. Construction play (Playmobil/Lego), higher quality, less Licensed.
2. UK – very license driven, price more important than quality!
3. France – global products plus local media driven products.
4. Spain – license driven. Everything TV advertised.
5. Italy – license driven, vehicles.
1. Fortunately most of Europe (in commercial terms) uses the €uro.
2. Most notable exception is the British who retain the £.
3. Other markets who have local currency include: Denmark, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland.
4. Most Toy companies will be working in $USD, €Euro and £GBP.
1. In practical, commercial terms, The European Union regulates and harmonises so that good can move ‘freely’ across the European Union countries.
2. (Theoretically at least!) no import tariffs with the European Union.
3. Still quotas & tariffs for goods entering the EU from outside.
4. Practical commercial law = combination of local country and EU wide.
1. Virtually impossible to give a good understanding of a complex market such as EU Toy market via short presentation.
2. For more depth, insights and hints on how to get things done, our published report is available here: http://www.toymarketingacademy.com/practical-guide-to-doing-toy-business-in-europe/
