Woolies stock floods toy market

Toy specialist Character Group expects that there will be many children disappointed with Santa on Christmas morning, given the fact that some of the most anticipated toys of the season will be out of stock. In particular the group predicts that the Peppa Pig products and Go Go Pets will come up short this year.

At the same time, its results for the full year have still suffered a bit after Woolworths collapsed last year with stock meant for Woolworths from 2008 swamping the marketplace and diverting profits.

Thus, the company was forced to record that they suffered a pre-tax loss of £2m for the year out of which £1m was left over from Woolies, which was drastic compared to its report of a £5m profit the previous year. However, due to some good Christmas trading this year the company has a lot of hope towards the future.

Richard Hickinbotham a prominent analyst said that Character Group will start out in the market place in 2010 in a much better position than last year and with a new focus on their products they should be able to continue the profitability turn around that they exhibited in the second half of 2009.

Next year the group already plans to put together new ranges for the Doctor Who line along with a new Fireman Sam line and more Go Go Pets.

Go Go Pets already see massive Christmas sales

Go Go Pets are quickly becoming the must have toys for Christmas, given that they are charmingly interactive and furry without any of the mess that comes from real pets and need cages cleaned.

The new line of toys are actually battery powered hamsters that cost less than a tenner. At the moment stock of the funny animals are flying off the shelves in both America and the UK with a new market slowly developing on eBay as well.

In order to keep up with the demand, UK distributors of the popular toy, Character Group, are flying in new Go Go pets from China. The demand is so high that chief executive of the US toy store, Toys R Us stated that that the craze is about equal to the 80’s demand for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Last month, the Toy Retailers Association placed the line of toys in the ‘dream dozen’ for this year’s Christmas present, while Argos the retailer placed then in their top ten Christmas gift list.

One reason for the toys popularity may in part be its small price given the fact that many people are not willing or able to fork out a lot of cash for presents this winter, with the current economic conditions.

Managing director of Character Group, Jon Driver, stated that 600,000-700,000 of the accessory packs have also been sold in the UK along with the toys. He said that the craze is just incredible with many people making multiple purchases of everything that is related to the Go Go Pets brand.