With all the recalls being made on Chinese-made toy products, how have you been preparing for the holiday season? Happily, shoppers turned out by the millions to take advantage of Black Friday weekend deals. The National Retail Federation reported over 147 million shoppers in stores this past weekend; an increase of almost 5 percent over last year’s Black Friday.
On the down side, on average, customers spent approximately $347, which is 3.5 percent lower than last year, but up 14.8 percent in comparison to 2005. According to NRF’s survey, over 55 percent of consumers looked to discount retailers for the best deals, nearly 39 percent shopped at department locations, more than 43 percent shopped at specialty stores, and about 32 percent shopped online.
Are you taking out a few extra (or a few less) ads, investing in American-made toys, or going about business as usual? Did you host any toy specials for Black Friday, and if so, what were the fruits of your effort? Will you do the same for the upcoming holidays? How do you think the CPSC Reform Act will affect fourth quarter sales? Speak out and confer with others about the measures you’re taking during these business altering times.
We’ve had a number of shoppers specifically avoiding Chinese-made toys. Unfortunately, the insistence of American consumers on placing price first when making shopping decisions has practically priced American-made toys out of the market. We point out the American-made and European-made products that we carry, but I think that the American consumer has caused this problem. We’re just trying not to say, “We told you so.”
Most consumers trust retailers to do the product screening for them. Consumers are aware that dangerous products make their way into the marketplace and that recalls happen, but for the most part they trust the stores to sell products that have been determined to be safe.
Unfortunately, retailers have a similar outlook and expect the distributors to only sell pre-screened products.
Distributors expect manufacturers to only sell products that they have been developed while adhering to strict production guidlines.
Manufacturers expect foreign plants to consistently monitor what goes into their products and where the raw materials are acquired.
Who is responsible? The blame is continually passed up the supply chain until it reaches a faceless entity like ‘China.’