Gifts / Sports & Toys

The global supply chain continues to be tight, and the supply of Christmas toys in the European and American markets has been greatly affected: the MGA boss exclaimed "This year's American Christmas season is over"! Some experts say that the bottleneck of the US supply chain may not be eliminated until early 2023. The supply chain crisis in the UK is likely to continue until Easter next year. This Christmas it is estimated that the delivery of online orders worth 1.5 billion pounds will be delayed...

"Empty shelf" has become a hot search term

A recent Wall Street article pointed out that more than 60 American cargo ships are waiting to dock in California, carrying hundreds of thousands of containers, and they may be trapped in traffic jams for months after arriving from Asian ports.

Despite the order of US President Biden, ports on the west coast of the United States are required to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to solve the supply problem before Christmas. However, MGA Entertainment, the world’s largest private toy company and the West Coast Los Angeles-based MGA Entertainment, was not satisfied. The company’s CEO even shouted: "This year’s American Christmas season is over." To send the merchandise out."

Larian mentioned that due to the shortage of supply, one of MGA's children's toys-LOL Surprise Movie Magic can only meet 60% of the needs of retailers and e-commerce warehouses. He said that many children will not be able to get their surprise dolls under the Christmas tree this year.

Larian blamed the unemployment subsidy policy of the Biden government for the port congestion caused by the labor shortage. Stimulated by unemployment compensation, American workers would rather stay at home to collect unemployment compensation checks allocated by the government's stimulus policy than to find a job.

It is worth mentioning that the day after Biden issued the port’s all-weather operation command, last Thursday (October 14) Eastern Time, #EmptyShelvesJoe# became a popular hashtag for Twitter netizens to post. Netizens used it to represent the global supply Chain problems and insufficient supply have led to empty shelves in local retailers.

In the Google Trends statistics, the number of Google searches for "empty shelves" has also surged, becoming a hot search term.

At present, Wall Street predicts that the bottleneck problem of the US supply chain may not be resolved next year. Jennifer McKeown, head of Global Economic Services at Capital Economics, believes that the deterioration of supplier delivery times and port conditions indicates that the shortage of products in the United States will continue into the middle and late next year.

Noel Hacegaba, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, California, predicts that the supply crunch will not be eased until next summer. Other experts believe that the bottleneck of the US supply chain may not be eliminated until early 2023.

U.S. toy dealers re-ship small commodities

It is difficult to find a container by sea worldwide, and the American toy industry has to change course and ship small and squeezable toys to maintain profits.

According to foreign media reports: This year, affected by the shortage of workers in Port Saigon, there is not only a shortage of containers, but also a much higher freight rate than before. According to Drewry, a maritime research consultancy, the spot booking price for a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Los Angeles in the first week of August hit US$10,229, a surge of 238% over the same period last year.

According to estimates by the United States Toy Association, up to 85% of toys currently sold in the United States are made in China.

The shortage of containers, the limited cargo space of ocean-going ships, and the ever-increasing freight costs have caused toy manufacturers to make many trade-offs in deciding which products to ship with the most economic value.

Toy manufacturers, stores, and analysts agree that one of the countermeasures is to ship small toys and withdraw larger products.

According to David Garfield, head of the consumer goods department of AlixPartners Consulting Company, toy manufacturers must think about how to make good use of container space so that the container can carry the most goods. This also means reducing the actual packaging size, or reducing accessories, and packaging. More lightweight.

The American toy manufacturer Basic Fun! once estimated that in the same container space, it can carry Mash'ems toys worth $150,000 and small plush toys worth $100,000. If it is loaded with Tonka trucks and Care Bear dolls made of alloy, the total value is only $120,000. This also prompted Basic Fun! to decide to adopt a new strategy, instead shipping smaller and squeezable toys.

In addition, Yogibo, which specializes in selling toys, home decorations and bedding, has also decided to follow up with the Basic Fun! practice, giving priority to small items such as Squeezibo pressure relief balls and small plush toys, because they occupy a relatively small space, and the same number of others Compared with commodities, it can provide higher value.

As for WowWee, it also chooses to ship more My Squishy Little Dumplings interactive Q cute dolls and toy cans with 30 kinds of virtual fairies. The common characteristics of these products are also small size and squeezable.

British parents snapped up toys in advance

Ta Kung Pao quoted foreign media to point out that the crisis in the UK supply chain continues to ferment. The analysis pointed out that the supply chain crisis in the UK may continue until Easter next year. This Christmas is estimated to be worth 1.5 billion pounds (approximately 13.222 billion yuan) of online orders to be delayed for delivery.

Prudgis, the owner of the "House of Spells" in London, said that first was Brexit and then the impact of the epidemic, which affected the production and transportation of toy manufacturers. Now all Harry Potter merchandise stores have inventory. Quickly empty, and it is difficult to replenish. He also said: “A Harry Potter wand was originally sold for 20 pounds, and now it will sell for 35 to 40 pounds.” Usually the shop sells a magic wand to make 20% to 30% of the profit, but now the shop still needs An additional 25% to 30% of container transportation fees and up to 30% of additional customs fees will be paid.

The London Toy Company, which is responsible for importing Harry Potter goods, said that the company currently has a backlog of 35,000 toys at the port, and the price of containers loaded with goods has risen by 900%. "We had to ship 10,000 toys to the Port of Tilbury in London via France and Belgium. These goods could have been shipped directly to the Port of Felixstowe. This extended the time by 2.5 to 3 weeks."

The British Retail Industry Research Center warned that there will be a shortage of Christmas gifts this year, and predicts that the supply chain crisis will last until at least April next year. A person in charge of a toy store pointed out: For mom and dad, the lack of toys may be more worrying than the lack of turkey. Therefore, in the past week, a large number of people in the UK flocked to shopping malls and retail stores to buy toys and gifts, driving the growth of passenger traffic in various shopping malls. They bought gifts more than a month to two months earlier than in previous years, and the total number of customers increased by nearly 5% every week.

French toy shortage triggers Christmas anxiety

According to French TV Station Two: Picture books, knight swords or toy cars, for many French people, the competition for the best Christmas toys has begun. But will the supply of Christmas cabinets this year be sufficient, and will the prices of toys rise? To answer these questions, we must go to China to find answers.

China is the world's largest toy manufacturer and exporter. On the assembly line of a toy factory in China, thousands of toy cars and mini drones can be produced every day. A female worker at the factory said that she would conduct quality inspections on 200 toy cars every hour, and handle more than 2,000 toy cars every day. In the past, 90% of the factory's products were exported to Europe and the United States. However, this year a large number of products are piled up in warehouses, and it is likely that they will not be able to reach the European and American markets before Christmas. The factory director, Mr. Zhang, said that many toys that were supposed to be shipped in August are still waiting, and the delivery period has been extended by an average of 2 months. This has resulted in toys worth millions of euros and a total of 50 containers are still waiting to be shipped.

As the world economy recovers, shipping demand has surged, and "big traffic jams" have appeared in European and American ports far away from China. The price of shipping has risen, and the price of a container shipped from China to France has soared from 1,855 euros to 12,530 euros in a year, an increase of nearly 7 times! Therefore, 20% of the toys in the catalog of French toy dealers are currently trapped in Asia, which has caused panic among French buyers.

Le Lang, the purchasing manager of a French toy importer, said that they are doing everything possible to get the pre-ordered Chinese toys to Europe as soon as possible. Many local businesses are putting pressure on importers, hoping to be the target of priority supply. In a toy warehouse in France, toys that were supposed to be stored at the end of August are "long overdue." In this regard, the importer who has just received a set of fire truck toys said: "I can finally rest assured. The landing of each toy container is a victory in a battle, because ‘it’s better to be late than nothing’"! If it is said that late toys can finally meet the purchase needs of (European) consumers, then price increases have become an indisputable fact. According to the French toy industry, toys in this Christmas season are at least 3% more expensive than in 2020.