Take a toy, an umbrella and a lot of charm

Sightseeing: Richard (l.) and Tony Belford show their German colleague Joe Weber (center) around Leeds – including the town hall, built 1853-1858 at the height of Britain’s industrial prosperity.

The British toy market is Europe’s largest: very important, very quirky, very challenging. In 2009, the Simba Dickie Group set a trio of experts to work in Leeds. Their target: the UK. Their objective: conquest.

Not all prejudices are bad. At least, it’s a pleasant surprise when they are disproved. No, it isn’t always raining in England. No, it isn’t true that the English drink nothing but tea: they can produce a cappuccino mean enough to make an Italian tremble. Nor are watery canned peas the only dish on offer: the UK’s all-embracing fusion cuisine is fantastic. Cliché fans need not despair, however: in many ways Leeds, a city of over 700,000 inhabitants on the banks of the River Aire in the Metropolitan County of West Yorkshire (northern England), is very British. The pubs sell bitter, the football ground is a Mecca, doubledecker buses abound and people queue politely to get on them; you can still see red telephone boxes (though they’re on their way out), and you can sample the world’s tastiest cakes and the latest extravagant designer fashions.

Very British – double decker buses are part of the Leeds street scene.

Leeds is now the country’s biggest financial centre after London; its university, with around 30,000 students, dates back to 1904 and its links with the textile industry have produced some world-beating courses. The youth culture gives the city its tone. The architecture is a fascinating mix of the very old and the very new; the city was founded in 1207 and its atmosphere occasionally reminds you of old Amsterdam, or the restored warehouses in Hamburg. Its 213 square miles encompass a blend of the modern and the traditional.

The English subsidiary 
But it wasn’t the special Leeds flair that induced the Simba Dickie Group to set up its sales and marketing subsidiary Simba Smoby Toys UK Ltd in Bradford, Leeds’s twin city (they share the Leeds Bradford International Airport) in the autumn of 2009. Leeds – with one of the fastest economic growth rates of any British city – is the birthplace and home own of our long-standing agent and joint venture partner Tony Belford. With his son Richard, and Anglophile Joe Weber from Nuremberg, he’s setting out with the new firm to conquer the English market. Joe Weber used to work at the Smoby subsidiary in Bristol, which has since been wound up.

Image change
"Time has run out for traditional agency agreements," says Simba Dickie Group COO Uwe Weiler, explaining why they opted for a joint venture. "Nowadays trading partners prefer a direct relationship with the supplier." The takeover of Smoby Toys in April 2008 was the deciding factor. "Smoby UK had been operating successfully from Bristol for years, but that didn’t do anything for our other brands," says Weiler. Anyway, it wasn’t a good thing for the Group to be perceived as a mere FOB supplier on Europe’s largest market. "Now at last brands like BIG and Smoby are getting us recognized as a major toy manufacturer."

Tony Belford was away as a lone fighter for about twenty years. Now he has two experts by his side. His son Richard (25) acts as Sales Manager, Joe Weber (29) as General Manager. The triumvirate is supported by three office staff and two warehousemen.

Revered legend: Tony und Richard Belford und Joe Weber (l. to r.) at the statue of Billy Bremner (1942-1997), captain of Leeds United AFC 1959-1976, in front of the Elland Road Stadium.

Big boxes, small prices
The British toy market is unlike any other in the world. "Brits buy their toys in supermarkets," says Tony Belford. "Specialist toyshops account for only about 30% of the market. We like our toys to be cheap," he adds frankly. Big boxes and small prices are the best combination. "The average price people will pay for a toy is around £ 7 ($ 10)." Luckily a lot of Simba Dickie products come within that price category. Nicotoy and Schuco are still unknown in the UK, but that’s going to change.

Does all this mean that British children play in a different way from German ones? "Yes: British kids are like Americans, they go for a lot more licences," says Joe Weber. Back in Germany, about 17-18% of turnover comes from licensed products; in Britain it’s a good 30%. "English own brand goods also sell very well," continues Weber. In other words, dealers want a quality product such as a Smoby kitchen, but they want their own logo on it. "We see a lot of potential in both these developments, because the UK is a trendsetter." Weber contemplates the future with youthful enthusiasm.

Part of the landscape: Joe Weber (center), Tony (r.), and Richard Belford go for a beer in a traditional pub.

Please do not touch!
Argos is a sales concept unique to the UK: an online and catalogue order store. The Argos catalogue has nearly 2,000 pages and on average 18 million British households have a copy. It offers the fullest imaginable range of consumer goods, from tennis rackets to wardrobes and from flat-screen TVs to washing machines. You go to one of the 700-plus Argos stores across the country, browse the catalogue, make your selection, fill in the number on an order form, take it to the cash desk, pay, and are told your waiting time. A few minutes later your number comes up and you can collect your purchase. Large articles are delivered to your door.

"Argos is the UK’s biggest toy sales outlet," says Weber, who is responsible for supplying this important customer. The catalogue offers Simba, Smoby, and Dickie toys. Why do the Brits go for this hands-off way of buying a product that they never get to see or touch? "Don’t ask me, it’s just a British thing."

Vast horizons: Joe Weber (l.) checks out the presentation of Simba Dickie Group products in a Mothercare/ELC store. Dickie toys sell briskly: Richard Belford (r) in Tk Maxx.

Another commercial phenomenon that is distinctively British is the successful retail chain Tk Maxx. Its slogan, "Big labels, small prices," draws customers like magic. They’re continually urged to grab things now, because only a few units of each product are ever put on the shelves. This last-chance-to-buy scenario arouses people’s killer instinct. "Simba and Dickie toys adapt particularly well to this approach," says Sales Manager "Rich" Belford, who supplies the 350-plus Tk Maxx stores.

Another chain to watch is the giant "Mothercare" store chain, now coupled with ELC (the Early Learning Centre). These stores cover thousands of square feet and stock every mother-and-baby article you can think of, from layettes to school uniforms – and every conceivable sort of toy in between. They include some own-brand products such as Smoby’s wheel barrows produced to an ELC design.

A German toddler may receive 156 euros worth of toys in a year; an English one gets 291 euros worth – almost double, as reported by market research institute Eurotoys. In that context, the ambitious plans of COO Uwe Weiler seem by no means unrealistic. "Over the next three years, the Simba Dickie Group aims to get into the UK top ten." Its current position, according to NPD/Eurotoys figures, is about no. 20.

A special flair: former warehouses along the Leeds-Liverpool canal have been converted into hotels, restaurants, and cafés.