Elizabeth Royall Darby, owner of Wonder Works Toys, talks about supply chain disruptions, holiday toy shipments, and shopping trends in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: How did Wonder Works plan for supply chain disruptions early in 2021?
Elizabeth Royall Darby: We worked closely with our reps and vendors to ensure we had product on our shelves. Relationships are extremely important in the toy industry. When placing orders, we always ask, “Do you have product available to ship and do you plan on having inventory in the future?” We would then place our orders accordingly, normally placing one large order rather than multiple orders with future ship dates. We did not wait to place orders at all. We acted very quickly when a new product came out or a vendor mentioned low inventory. In June, we reviewed our top vendors and the holiday season must-haves. We strategically placed large orders to guarantee we would have the quantities we needed for the holidays and to have inventory on shelves for January. We rented three storage units and would retrieve merchandise from them daily.
TB: Do you expect missing holiday toy shipments to arrive in early 2022? How does Wonder Works plan to balance that out with spring 2022 product shipments?
ERD: We have delayed shipments arriving daily, which is providing customers with new choices earlier than normal. In mid-December, we reviewed orders that had not shipped and worked with vendors to adjust to more appropriate quantities for the first quarter. We began placing spring orders at the end of December and early January to ensure arrival for spring. With the success of 2021, we have more dollars to bring in merchandise earlier than normal. In addition to receiving merchandise early, we will be sending out a catalog to our customers in early spring, unlike other years when we only sent during the fourth quarter.
TB: What consumer shopping trends do you predict this year?
ERD: We are optimistic for a successful year. With supply chain issues in 2021, customers came to their local shops where they would find shelves loaded. On average, we signed up 10-15 new customers in our database daily. With the growth of our customer base and our current customers shifting even more of their shopping locally, we predict 2022 to be close to, if not just as successful as, 2021. Consumers will still be looking for those trending items from last year, such as Squishmallows and the newest fidget toys, but they are already asking what is going to be hot for this year — which is a great sign!
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
