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Consumers set to spend vast amount on toys

Cape Town - Despite financial pressures market indicators show that consumers still spend a vast amount on toys, according to Gavin Mansour, Hasbro South Africa’s business development manager.

As a significant percentage of a retailer’s annual income comes from toy sales over the festive season, it’s essential that retail stores not only offer the right choice of toys, but have sufficient stock available, he explained.

Hasbro, one of the world’s largest toy, game and entertainment experience companies, recently directly entered the South African market with a focus on the top 10 key toy retailers in the country. With Hamleys toy stores following suit and the expansion of local companies such as Toy Kingdom, the local toy market offers abundant opportunities for growth, in Mansour's view.

"By directly supplying South Africa’s leading toy retailers, the move underscores Hasbro’s strategy to build a stronger presence in emerging markets. It will allow the company to build deeper partnerships with existing and new retailers and consumers in South Africa," Mansour told Fin24.

He said a global trend in the toy industry is for retailers buying more to bulk up toy ranges in order to provide parents and children with variety. At the same time they keep quality in mind. Entertainment brands like Transformers and My Little Pony - with an animated series and movie releases - consistently perform well.

According to the leading retailers in South Africa, top toy choices for the up-coming festive season include toys that stimulate creative thinking, outdoor fun, techno toys, food play and popular movie-themed toys.

"Hasbro is a branded play company and we utilise many marketing tools, including programming to communicate with our consumers and get them to have an emotional connection to our brands where price will not be a major factor in the decision making process. Along with this our pricing strategy will always be aligned competitors and the market," explained Mansour.

Hasbro's SA division will focus on South Africa for at least the next two years and utilise its retailer infrastructures to distribute product into Africa.

"Once we have a strong foundation in SA we will look expand into the rest of the African continent," said Mansour.

"In SA, Hasbro aims to significantly grow the business over the next three years by investing heavily in Hasbro’s local organisational structures and marketing, which should in turn grow the local branded toy market and Hasbro’s market share."

Other steps Hasbro SA intends to implement include, building its franchised and key partner brands with best-in-class execution and investing in its retail growth partners.

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