Page 14 - Toy & Hobby Magazine NovDec20Jan21_Mag

TOY FAIR DIGITAL
SPONSORED CONTENT
Future now
moment is still getting that supply out of China and from overseas.
With parents wanting toys and wanting to buy earlier for Christmas I think the suppliers have had a little bit of a delay there.
With regards to what we’ve been doing
for members; we’ve been keeping them up to date as much as possible on the regulations as government announced them, both for the first lockdown as well as what happened to Melbourne Metropolitan for the last three months – lucky we’re finally coming out
of that.
We also ran a campaign near the start of it all with our PR company where our members were able to supply products that were their hottest items. Then our PR company put them in contact with the influencers.
And based on the feedback that we’ve gotten on that from our PR company, the influencers and our members, we feel that that’s been a pretty positive program and it’s helped them through this time.
The ATA has chosen to go with an all- virtual fair for 2021. Talk me through this decision.
Australian Toy Association executive manager Alice Sanderson and event manager Georgina Kritsilidis join Imogen Bailey to discuss Toy
Fair Digital.
How has the industry been impacted by the pandemic and how has the ATA helped its members?
ALICE: The industry in the main has been very resilient compared to some other industries which have been unfortunately decimated. A lot of our members have been reporting higher sales compared to this time last year so that’s been really good.
With the first COVID lockdown in March, which was Australia-wide, we saw the sale
of games and puzzles as well as activity and outdoor products really fly off the shelves.
As parents were home schooling, I think educational products were quite a popular item as well.
But the second lockdown in Melbourne was a bit harder, especially for those retailers that weren’t online. I feel that there was a little bit of a negative effect that they felt, but the suppliers and the distributors were still doing well.
I think the suppliers’ main concern at the
14 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021