Gifts / Sports & Toys

When market research institutions and toy companies have shown surprisingly good sales results, the industry has always been shrouded in deep worries.

▌The freight crisis is still unsolved

This year, the biggest headache for toy traders is to rent containers and book shipping schedules. The significant increase in freight costs caused by the global shortage of containers and months of delays in shipments have lasted for nearly a year. Overseas toy brands and retailers are worried that the existing toy inventory may not last Christmas, and will even be exhausted in October, and the supplementary goods are likely to be waiting at the Chinese dock on the other side of the ocean. I don't know when there is an ocean freighter with empty positions. And international shipping companies also took the opportunity to sit on the ground and raise prices. We have also reported many strange operations.

According to the usual practice in previous years, play enterprises will determine the main Christmas products based on sales popularity from June to July. Retailers will announce their forecasted hot sales lists from August to October, and then add more orders around October. But this kind of routine operation has been impossible this year. Even if the government has taken various remedial measures such as stabilizing and adding new ships and containers, the distant water cannot save the nearby fire. According to industry experts, it will not be relieved until 2022 at the latest, which obviously cannot solve the urgent need for Christmas this year.

In this regard, the toy industry keeps urging parents to start now to avoid the situation where there are no toys to buy for Christmas.

▌Not only out of stock, but also lack of drivers

When a game company has exhausted its efforts and spent several times or even ten times the big price to deliver the products safely to the port, they cannot relax because they are still facing the "last mile" problem. The shortage of drivers makes the land transportation of products from the port to the store warehouse equally difficult. According to Barry Hughes, managing director of the plush toy company Golden Bear Toys (Golden Bear Toys), in the last month, to ensure that drivers are available, costs have increased by 10%.

As early as November 2020, Bloomberg reported on the shortage of freight drivers. There are fewer and fewer young freight drivers, and the entire industry is seriously aging. According to the American Trucking Association, the average age of drivers is 46, and more than 55% are 45 or older. The situation in Europe is even more severe. According to BBC reports, the average age of EU freight drivers is as high as 55 years. A survey conducted by the British Road Transport Association showed that before the epidemic, there were about 600,000 freight drivers in the EU, with a gap of about 60,000, but after the epidemic, the gap further widened to 100,000. After the outbreak, the driving school was closed, and the assessment of freight drivers was more stringent. In 2020, the number of applicants will be 25,000 fewer than in 2019.

▌Serious loss of young sales

In the current situation of insufficient resources, coordination has become a very important task. But now, there are fewer and fewer young people willing to join the toy sales that are in the middle of the line. What is the reason?

For the same sales of entertainment products, the electronic game industry has more opportunities than the toy industry, and money comes faster. A toy sales representative once wrote a comment: Now the sales representative’s job is more difficult, and the economic security is not as good as that of the older generation:

You have to buy your own health insurance; you have to pay for the expenses incurred before signing the bill; before the customer pays, there is no income; if the performance is slightly worse, it will be abandoned by the supplier; if the performance is too good, it will be played again For the company’s "cake", the agency will be taken back by the other party for direct management.

After the epidemic, it was even worse. The original 5% commission bottom line cannot be kept. And because of the postponement of the shipping crisis, the sales representative has to be scolded for the shipping company, and suffer more pressure and splintering. In addition, policy adjustments increased, and the document processing originally done by the supplier was also left to sales, which increased the workload.

Therefore, young people who have just graduated and are burdened with huge college tuition loans, why should they choose to sell in the toy industry, which is laborious and low in return? Isn't it fragrant to be a small online celebrity?