Jay Foreman, CEO at Basic Fun!, discusses big initiatives, the future of Toy Fair, and more in this extended edition of The Toy Book’s 2024 State of the Industry Q&A. For our annual roundtable, The Toy Book brings together a panel of industry leaders, manufacturers, retailers, and distributors to discuss the trends, wins, challenges, and opportunities shaping the North American toy industry as it regroups after a tough year and gets ready to rock and roll. Click here to explore the series archives.
The Toy Book: With a challenging year behind us, what are some big moments that retailers and consumers can get excited about from Basic Fun!?
Jay Foreman: It’s all about Littlest Pet Shop! In the spring and fall of ‘24 we are relaunching this classic brand globally. Our preorders at Amazon, early launch at Toys “R” Us Canada, and early reads at Target have shown extremely positive signs and in some cases, the toys are blowing out!
The new Littlest Pet Shop experience on Roblox launched in December and smashed records with over two million unique visits in the first month. In addition, Care Bears continue to perform extremely well with an ever-growing fan base of new Care Bear collectors and kids. Finally, our new launch for fall will be a collectible plush line of cotton candy-themed plush. We have lots of other great new products for this year and many classic favorites to share with consumers.
TB: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the overall industry this year and how is Basic Fun! approaching them?
To me, the biggest challenges to the industry are the continuation and acceleration of three ongoing trends:
1. Age Compression in the Age of Electronics: Kids are getting older younger and getting, using, and loving electronics younger. If kids would always rather be playing video games, be on social media, and/or viewing content on their devices more than sitting and playing with traditional toys, it’s a huge challenge for us.
2. Growth and Dominance of Online Retailing and the Omnichannel: It’s not quite at the level of shopping for a book, but shopping for toys online is getting easier and more routine. Just 15 years ago you couldn’t find too many people over 50 that trusted using their credit cards and shopping online. Now grandma is as big of an online shopping ninja as mom is! With all the product info posted, along with reviews, consumers feel comfortable. The problem is, we know that brick-and-mortar is the real showcase and launch environment for toys. The more that flows online, the less that will be in stores to show off and promote.
3. Geopolitical Tensions, Highlighted Around China: China is the workshop of the toy industry, no matter what fantasies people might have about India or Vietnam. The worse the West’s relationship is with China, the worse it is for the toy industry, as China still produces more than 80% of the world’s toys. Finding ways to help turn down the heat and rhetoric on China is crucial to stability for the industry.
TB: Following a few years of skewed sales numbers, 2023 was pegged by many to be a return to normal or a “rebalance.” Do you believe that has happened, or is further evolution yet to come?
JF: Last year was far from normal! The first half of the year was terrible, with retailers overstocked and holding back orders. Q3 was robust, as it always is and has to be, and Q4 was good but not great, and sell-through across the counter was late.
TB: With Toy Fair taking a year off this year, Basic Fun! set up shop at Spielwarenmesse for the first time. Having been deeply involved in Toy Fair in the past, what is your current outlook for the North American trade show scene?
JF: The future of Toy Fair in New York is the question of the year for sure! As always, it’s about timing and the audience. I’ve asked everyone on my team and asked folks in the industry to be thinking about, between the week of February 19 and March 4, “What we are missing this year by not being in New York during this period?”
As every company does this, they will rationalize what, if anything, they are missing by not being in NYC this time of year this year and relate it to next year. If they are missing sales, they will commit to Toy Fair. If they feel they are not missing anything, they won’t.
We will likely see a bit of a “changing of the guard” at Toy Fair with the big mass market-focused companies that had really big blocks of space starting to reduce their footprints. The large specialty-oriented companies will be the new drivers of the show along with a lot of the smaller companies that had been struggling to get into the show and get larger spaces in better locations. There will certainly be some companies that will just not see value in the show at all and will pull out. The hope for The Toy Association is that they will still fill the hall and generate the buzz and the revenue needed to keep the show in place and relevant. Every company should have set up meetings around that period this year to discuss what the value for their company would be if they were set up in NYC to show and sell toys.
For the record, Basic Fun! has already put down its deposit and will exhibit at Toy Fair in 2025!
TB: What are your overall predictions for the state of the toy industry — and toy retail — this year?
JF: While I don’t think 2024 will be a great year — and it might not even be a good year — it does look to be a more stable year. That goes for the pace and rhythm of purchasing and sales of toys. In the end, if you’ve got hot and new toys, you should have a good to great year. If you have an average, weak, or dull line, you are going to have a lousy year. No free rides in 2024 for sure!
A version of this story appeared in the 2024 edition of The BIG Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue. Want a copy in print? Click here for back issues and subscription options.
