Traders are optimistic about sales despite delays: “There are products that in June we already knew would not come in time”
The toy sector faces the closing of the Christmas season in the Murcia Region with optimism as it dodges the dreaded “perfect storm” in a year that was predicted to be especially difficult due to tensions in the supply chain. According to the traders, sales have proceeded normally, despite the absence of some products on the shelves and the late arrival of many of them. The situation has not caught them by surprise: «We are now receiving things that we asked for in January and February, and we have others that in June or July we already knew that they would not be able to come on time, because they had already notified us from the houses », Says Ana Belén Bernabéu, in charge of the Juguettos business in Murcia.
Once the situation is known, the market consultancy NPD has estimated that the toy industry will end 2021 with a sales increase of 9% in Spain. “This year the campaign is being marked by the delay in the receipt of merchandise and bottlenecks,” acknowledges Bernabéu. And it is that, in this store in the capital, last week they continued to receive pallets with merchandise, an anomalous situation at this time. “It is something that has conditioned us throughout the year and that continues to condition us today,” he points out. It is being a bit crazy, because there are some articles that are entering us at the last minute and that upsets parents a bit ».
The disembarkation of items from Asia has been irregular and has caused some orders to arrive in the last days of the campaign
José Martínez Segura, owner of Juguetes Josemi, in Lorca, acknowledges that “it has cost more for the product to arrive.” “We belong to a group that used to do everything in three deliveries, and now we have two or three shipments every week because things are coming in very slowly.”
Some stores are already gathering ‘stock’ for the coming months: “We know that imports from China are not going to enter us”
Behind the delays is, fundamentally, the imbalance in the transport of maritime containers from Asia and the shortage of materials, which has affected both the import of finished products from the East and that of materials destined for manufacturing in Spain. The concern has been present in the sector in recent months, since the toy industry concentrates 70% of its annual sales at Christmas.
Julián Serrano, president of Almacenes Dino, a cooperative that has been selling toys for almost 30 years in Los Dolores de Cartagena, explains that he places orders every year “in January and February”, in such a way that in March they already have most products ordered. In Juguettos they usually have all the products in store in September. It has not been the case. “For us, from the initial order, about 5% failed us, the rest they did serve us, but you could see that it was going to be a very complicated year,” says the owner of Juguetes Josemi.
Despite the obstacles, the stores have been able to count on products to save a campaign that, without being the brightest, is still satisfactory. “In sales we are practically as in 2019. We have dropped a little perhaps – Serrano estimates -. We have a section service and we already have almost 500 reservations, more or less like every year ».
“Before we received everything in three orders and this year there are deliveries every week”, says the owner of Juguetes Josemi, from Lorca
“We have been worried because all we want is to continue working for another year. Toy stores suffer unfair competition from saldistas, online stores and supermarkets, and it is increasingly difficult to move forward, “he says.
Anticipation and strike
The alerts in recent months regarding the risk of shortages have had another collateral effect: the anticipation of purchases. Ana Belén Bernabéu has noticed a greater anticipation than has followed a shopping valley. In any case, he anticipates that “it is difficult to predict how things will end.” “These days are so important for the toy industry that a day or two of sales fail, the campaign is already spoiled”, declaims.
What no longer worries the small business is the march of the strike of the transport of goods by road that is celebrated until 2 January. “We already have everything we need to sell. I think it will affect online sales more », says Bernabéu.
Of course, the crisis is not over, and there are those who already take measures to face what may happen: «We have filled the store with ‘stock’. We know that, in the next three months, imported products from China will not enter. ”
Interactive animals and Pokémon articles, the great absent
Many children in the Region will have to go through this year without seeing their star requests met. For weeks it has been impossible to find some products that the houses have not been able to supply.
Above all of them this year stands out, according to the toy stores consulted, “the interactive pig and koala from Famosa’s ‘Little Live Pets’ series.” “They have not even become available,” says Ana Belén Bernabéu, from Juguettos Murcia. Before they went on sale, we already had a waiting list. ”
The Pokémon universe has also died of success, with products such as the ‘pokeball’ belt or the cards of this saga, completely disappeared.
“There is inventory of which we have been out of ‘stock’ for almost three weeks. There is always something missing because all children want the same thing, but this year a little more is happening, “he says.
The lack of the most demanded items also affects large stores every year. Julio Vizuete, delegate of the National Association of Medium and Large Distribution Companies (Anged) in the Region of Murcia, points out that these are “very specific products” whose absence he attributes “to an excess of demand which is something that happens every year. years with some references ». Along with the toys, another of the impossible missions this Christmas is in the “consoles” area. “The Play Station 5 and the Xbox Series X and S have been sold out and there are not yet available,” he says.
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