Off to the toy fair

Today I am writing the blog from the train, which is good in that I have time to myself, but bad in that I hate Pendolinos, they make me feel sick even when I'm not reading/typing. 2 hours to London is not to be sniffed at though ....

So this time last year I was stressing about setting off for the London Toy Fair in thick snow, worried it would be a disaster and scared I would be "found out".

This year I am properly excited! Even a late train and being 9 coaches the wrong end of Euston station when I arrive is not going to weigh me down.

Because I know what I am doing. I am beginning to know what sells, what to say, how to ask about shipping and MOQs and FOB. I know this stuff!  And I know where the toilets are, I haven't forgotten my business cards, I am a young (ish) business woman who isn't going to be scared of the salesmen in suits who sneer at these "idiots who sell via Third Parties". I sell on Amazon, eBay, my own website AND in a bricks and mortar shop. Get with the times losers.

And best of all I will have my mum with me so I have someone to chat to - maybe I'm not so tough after all.....but she is my accountant, and if we didn't look so alike I could get away with it 100%

And that's the lonely part of working for yourself I suppose. That's partly why I am so excited to be going to the trade fair because I get to talk shop with people who are interested. I realise that although my heart is taking me in another direction, i loved working in huge organisations because I like to talk. I like to laugh with colleagues, do a secret bit of gossiping, argue with other people about the right way of doing things, so I think that's why having a face to face shop or keeping up with occasional contracts in financial services is the right thing for me. I need to interact, I can only enjoy my own company for so long.


So with that, wish me luck for tomorrow, and lets hope I find lots of lovely things for the shop. Well not too many things, I need to shift all the stock I already have!

Au Revoir

Welsh Tedi Bears - Bestsellers and Nightmare all in one

Sorry for the absence, my first "shop" Christmas was a bit of a whirlwind of late night orders, fairs and frantic hair-tearing-out.  But that's for another post!

Back on the story of my first year trading, this cute little bear above has caused me highs and lows all on its own.  Let me elaborate....

Just before the Celtic Manor Show I blogged about before, I emailed the manufacturer of my Welsh speaking Tedi Bear "BB Bear" to ask what stock levels were like, in case I sold out.  I didn't hear back straight away but that didn't ring any specific alarm bells.

I did sell a couple at the show but nothing epic.  I also made a contact with a government backed agency promoting Welsh speaking at preschool age upwards, and we made a deal to offer a bear as a competition prize, as they couldn't directly promote me.  Fair enough I thought.

Anyway, the Facebook promo started and the hits on my website went off the scale - so I hurredly emailed Adrian again and to my horror he rang me and said he had none left and wouldn't be making more for 6 months.  SIX MONTHS!!!  And the Facebook competition hadn't even finished.

What was I going to do?  A cold sweat started as I got off the phone.  What a fool I was for not checking first. What a missed opportunity.  All those lost sales...

I needed have worried as it turned out - what I also learnt through this was that you can't control Social Media (shame some bigger companies didn't learn this earlier eh?).  Someone posted on the company's Facebook page that people should be buying these bears in their local bookshop instead, the company themselves then promoted someone else's online shop and didn't mention me (not able to promote as a government-backed agency?) and basically I lost control of the whole thing.

But it didn't end there.  I bought some extra bears that someone else was selling cheap - were they mad I had to wonder to myself - and its a good job I did because I had a massive Christmas rush on them and completely sold out.  Everyone sold out of them this Christmas, just as they had the Christmas before according to newspaper reports at the time.  So I shall be stock piling them this year as soon as they are available.  My husband will be pleased....

lesson #641 - you can't control Social Media
lesson #642 - giving away your stock always seems like a good idea and never is
lesson #643 - check stock availability before any advertising


And there end-eth the lesson(s)

See you same time next week!!

www.rachelstoyshop.co.uk