The UK toy market just got slammed by the chairman of the BTHA (British Toy and Hobby Association) Roger Dyson. In
an address to visitor's of the association's Industry Day, he pointed to a number of difficulties faced throughout 2008, which led to the UK becoming "The worst performing toy market in the
developed world when compared with 2008." Dyson gave a few reasons for the decline
"The
administration of Youngsters in April was challenging enough for many
of our members, but the reqercussions of the administration of
Woolworths have still not subsided and are unlikely to to, at least
until 2009 is well past.
"The changing landscape of retail in
teh UK is and will continue to be a challenge to our members for some
time to come but our industry will as ever change and adapt to what
will continue to be an ever changing economic and retail environment." ... "We face a further difficulty, lower turnover leads to
lower marketing spend which leads to lower sales, we are in a downward
spiral that we need to reverse."