Chatting with the Industry tain a focused policy to support specialty retailers. It’s our job to help support the areas where specialty excels and to provide balance in the challenged areas. It is crucial that we ensure that specialty is not at a competitive price disadvantage to big-box retailers, so we offer aggressive price discounts and free freight specials. Separately, many small businesses don’t have the capital to carry the inventory they need and still be able to re-order items that are selling fast, so we offer extended dating to help with the ebb and flow of the year. In addition, specialty can do things that many larger retailers can’t manage effectively, such as in-store playdays, birthday parties, and recognizing and responding to hot trends immediately. It is our responsibility to help support their business models and provide tools to execute their strategies. A good example of this is our In-Store Play Day Kit.
Levins: We clearly see the value of having a vibrant specialty retail market. This is why I believe in the work of ASTRA. I have learned that
asking good questions, coupled with good listening, is really quite effective in learning what our specialty retailers need to succeed. We will continue to make every effort to support the specialty channel with excellent product, superior customer service, and policies that strengthen our retailers, such as our MAP policy, not selling on flash sites, and providing terms that are vital to brick-and-mortar health. In this ultracompetitive age, one must be excellent in a myriad of ways to be successful and this is our goal in terms of supporting our customer base. How do you maintain a product mix that keeps your customers interested and excited to return? Holliday: That is one of the biggest challenges that we, and I would think any, toy store has. We have a lot of people who like the classic toys, or ones that are similar to them, so we like to have a mix of those. Of course, you always have to be looking for something new to show your customers too, otherwise your really good, frequent customers will get bored with you, only seeing
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the same products. To combat that, we look all the time and everywhere. When we travel, we visit other stores. We use the ASTRA discussion boards. We use our sales reps. We use trade magazines and online information. Our biggest source for new products is the ASTRA Marketplace in June. And we have a secret weapon, too—our 10year-old daughter. She’s been going to ASTRA since she was a baby, and every year she finds a product that we would have overlooked if she hadn’t spotted it and shown interest in it. Another hard part of determining product mix is determining when you have a “new” classic that you can keep carrying, or when an item has run its course and it’s time to move on to something else.
Towles: Always being on the lookout for new things. New, smaller, less well-known vendors. Things that other stores may not have yet. Our regular customers have come to expect that when they come into aMuse, they will find some things that no one else has. Also, diversity is key (as it relates to country of origin). Yes, so many things in the world are made in China, and that is fine. But if you can also have a balance with toys made from other countries (they are certainly out there), your customers will love it and appreciate more options.
What are the major trends affecting your business in the year ahead? Levins: Without a doubt, the continued growth of online shopping is the most critical trend impacting our brick-and-mortar retailers and, by extension, our company. I anticipate more and more shoppers will move online before a plateau is eventually reached. As a company we have accepted this change and continue to adapt to it. Because of the nature of our products, we rely heavily on brick-and-mortar to be discovered by
MAY/JUNE 2014