Christmas Gifts for Toddlers - A Few Ideas

Good evening!  I have put this information on my website, but I thought that some of you might be interested in the different developmental toys I stock.  To some of you it might look like my stock is a random set of things I wish I had brought for my children when they were smaller, but I do try and buy a range of things that develop key skills.  Enjoy!


Building Blocks

We stock 3 stages of building blocks – the Clemmy soft bricks for initial play, the Sluban construction blocks, and then the Melissa & Doug castle blocks are a good follow on for role play and balancing.  These all develop the hand eye coordination and delicate motor skills baby/toddler needs.


Shape Sorters

These are old favourites anyway, but a good shape sorter can teach not only fine motor skills, but also pattern recognition.  To start with a younger baby might want to just put the blocks in and tip them out again, but as they start to develop they will enjoy trying to get the shapes in the holes.  It doesn’t matter if your toddler can't get the colour names yet, but understanding that certain blocks are the same colour is a really important developmental step between 2 & 3 years




Threading Toys

Threading toys are great for developing hand eye co-ordination – even up to pre-school age these have value because fine motor skills are essential for being able to hold a pen/pencil as children begin to write – often just an attempt to scribble their name at first, but its really important that they develop this before school.



Imagination & Role Play

Toddlers love mimicking grown ups and encouraging them to make believe is really important – it helps with the development of abstract thinking (you aren’t really eating the wooden apple, you are pretending).  Something like the soft sandwich basket or handbag for younger babies is great, moving onto the play kitchen or shop.  For 3 years plus we also have the castle blocks and fold-n-go barn for pretend play.

Mumpreneur? I'm not sure I like it!!

Hi - here we are again.  Nearly November!!  Can't decide whether to be excited or worried about my first christmas with the shop.  I'll let you know.

I've decided to wade into the "mumpreneur" debate on here - dicey I know, there are two very divided camps and I don't want to antagonise anyone, but here is my twopennethworth.

Obviously the majority of my customers are mums - some grandparents or interested other parties but mostly mums.  And I want to offer a service that appeals to them whatever their work situation - I'm not sure it matters what that is, but I know I want to be as convenient and inspirational as possible, thinking about my own experiences as a working mother.  And I am a mother myself - and I have 2 businesses - does this make me a mumpreneur?  I guess so, by definition, but why does it sit so uneasily?

Lets take the mum thing out of it for a second.  When I was a senior manager at a global bank, I was, whether I liked it or not (too much pressure!), a role model to other women, and networking with other women was important to me.  So important I spent several hundreds of pounds to join a professional women's networking and support group, whose aim was to encourage us to eventually strive for board appointments.  I found the events exhilerating and inspiring but it was greeted with a sneer from my role-model mum ("I HATE women-only things", she said) and disgust from my male colleagues ("its terribly sexist, you know").  So I ended up half-apologising for it whenever it was mentioned.  Ridiculous!  I wonder whether part of the reaction actually showed underlying distaste still for a women fighting for her career with other women rather than putting up and shutting up with male dominated environments.

So why is label mumpreneur a bit uncomfortable for me - isn't it an extension of female networking?  I think because I don't want to be defined by the fact I am a mother.  And I'm not sure the term itself is helpful to dispell the idea that this is women playing at it, its just a hobby, not to be taken seriously.

So just for the record - I take my business very seriously.  I want to win.  Market share, plaudits, awards.  I want to push myself creatively, negotiate hard, work hard.  But its true - I want to do this for my kids too - I want to be able to pick them up from school.  I want to be a good role model for my daughter.  And if people don't take me seriously, thats their problem.

And I am enjoying meeting other business women, having spent nearly 15 years in male dominated environments - many of the mothers I meet are just trying to keep something for themselves whilst they bring up their children.  Good on them.  And some of them are incredibly creative (more than me) and have really good business concepts, and have a drive and passion that will make them a success.

So "Businesswomen", fine.  "Mumpreneur" - if you really have to - I'm not ashamed to play on it.  Just don't make the assumption I'm not serious - I am.

Have a great evening x

Midnight purchases

Hello everyone,

Following on from last week's blog about eBay, I also wanted to make some observations about online shoppers.  Obviously what's really great about being online is never knowing when you are going to have a sale, you don't have to wait around in an empty shop for a customer and its pretty exciting when you first get started, to wake up to one or more Paypal notifications from overnight sales.

I've noticed some patterns, definitely.  End of the month is always good = payday.  Mondays and Wednesdays seem to be popular = post weekend slump / midweek blues I think!

Evening is obviously popular, but I am still surprised at how late people are ordering.  Perhaps I shouldn't be - I remember Nigella Lawson once saying on her cookery programs that when she couldn't sleep she would quite often buy cookery books on Amazon.  I also think its tired parents ordering once the children are in bed.

So back to my old friend eBay - the problem with the late night ordering is this - as those who follow my blog know, I have a full time job as well as running the shop - so when someone orders at 11.59pm, eBay expects the parcel to be despatched the next day (if you do "get it fast" as I do).  So I have to package up before I go to work, or else I will miss the depot and not meet the customer's expectations.


So one night I had just got into bed after a very tiring, long day and I saw my phone flash - Paypal!  Oh good.  Oh no!  The customer had paid extra for next day delivery, so I had to get up, print an invoice, package it up, weigh it, order the delivery slot etc etc. So I got to bed just after midnight, and then got up 6am to drive 130 miles, then go to the depot in my lunch hour (30 mins!).

So sometimes I am so tired I don't know what to do with myself.  This is why I don't always do my blog on a Monday, sometimes its just too much.  But I don't seem to run out of enthusiasm for this business.  Well sometimes if I have a quiet week, or one of the disasters that I have written about on here.  But I am still one of the luckiest people I know and I don't forget it.

So go ahead - order at midnight!!  I am always at your service :)

Rachel
x 
(off to bed now, yawn zzzzzzzzzzzz)

"I'm just ordering something from Rachel's Toy Shop, Mum"

 

Doing my eBay sums......

Good evening!!

I decided after 3 months trading to do the sums on my eBay sales - in the first 3 months, as you can imagine, for someone starting from scratch, my eBay shop was generating most of my sales.  The website obviously is more of a slow burner, which I knew.

So I sat down in the quiet one afternoon, and downloaded all my eBay statements (all three of them!!) and got to work on Excel - as a "Lady Geek", I am never more at home than when messing about in a spreadsheet. (www.ladygeek.com)

Well, here are the horrible facts.  I had sold £400 of toys.  eBay had pocketed £80, and I walked away with a princely sum of £8 gross profit (after postage and all eBay fees, but before packaging).  Ouch.  That's alot of hassle for 8 quid.

Now this isn't eBay's fault - they even helpfully showed this worrying data on a graph (not my costs obviously), if I had bothered to read the statements before.  Thank goodness I did the sums before I got too far in.

So I cancelled my shop for the time being and then worked out, product by product, whether it was worth selling it on eBay.  I got down to 20 items from about 50.  I realised that some of my brands were pointless on there, because the competition is too fierce, and of course no sale is better than a sale at a loss (where there is little customer loyalty to be had by discounting).

I sort of understand why some brands won't let their retailers sell on eBay and Amazon, because I do think it can destroy the value, and perhaps ultimately make people stop stocking them.  I find it highly hypocritical though when they then sell direct themselves at cut prices on those sites, which makes it harder for both the online seller and traditional bricks-and-mortar toy seller.

Its a cut-throat internet retailing world out there, so you need to have your target market clearly in mind, and I have definitely paid more attention to the bottom line after taking everything into account, which I didn't always do in the first flush of excitement.

I don't usually plug my stuff on here, as I think that's a bit boring, but its near Christmas so what the heck.

New Stock Alert!!!

You may have noticed but I have an online shop :)
I have some new stock arriving this week, from a Dutch rival to the You-Know-Who construction toy, and is largely compatible with their toddler range, but 40% cheaper.  Here are some sneaky peeks at the new stuff:

www.rachelstoyshop.co.uk

Sluban Big Blocks Farm Animals Set - £9.99

Sluban Big Blocks Merry-Go-Round - £13.99

Celtic Manor Baby Show

We're in June now (don't worry we'll catch up before Christmas)


I decided to go Big Bang and book myself a proper baby show. 

I don't know if anyone reading this has ever booked a stand at a baby show or similar, but it's pretty expensive. Usually at least £100+ VAT per square metre for one day which is cheap when you consider the sales you could make, but is expensive when you have a fairly small £ profit margin.

For example, if you sell 4D scans (or whatever) at say £100 profit per scan, then you only have to sell   4 scans to break even on a small stand. This is doable. 

However, when the equivalent for me is 50 Welsh teddy bears, you can see that scale is my problem. This is what I learnt at Celtic Manor resort. 

It was a long round trip to learn this lesson. You may ask "why didn't you do the Maths before?"  We'll I sort of did but I was brimming with enthusiasm and I thought I might clean up with my Welsh bears, even have to take back orders. And this event was £120+ VAT. So I thought it might be good. 

I met my mum at the Premier Inn and we had dinner together. This was very nice and I felt quite excited. I managed to get my dongle working (no jokes) and tested the virtual terminal for credit and debit cards. All ok. 

We got up early and made our way over to the hotel. It went downhill (or uphill) from there. I won't got into too much detail, but it went a bit like this:

Think we are first at the loading bay. 
Find we are in the wrong place. 
Find other loading bay is up a big hill, and is full. 
Park precariously on the slope, unpack. 
Shortage of trolleys. 
Only one very slow squeaky lift. 
Very hot day. 
Unpack. 
Eat free event cupcake in hyperglycaemic frenzy. 
Arrange stall. 
Wait for customers. 

The customers were nice, I sold a few things, but as anyone involved in mothers and mothers to be knows, they come out early. So the initial rush was hopeful but it quickly petered out. Mum and I took it in turns to get our pre-ordered lunch. This is where the hotel took the proverbial. £12 buffet lunch was some pathetic chips and some slithers of smoked chicken on some crostini. Well, I tell you, I ate more of those little tasty morsels than was really necessary, but I wanted to get my money's worth. Where were the cold drinks (just lukewarm cheap orange juice), where was the salad even?

It was in the terms and conditions that nobody was to pack up before 4pm. Most people in our room had finished packing up by 3!!  I sold a welsh bear at the eleventh hour but I still managed to only take £200, which is about £50 profit. So you already know it was a financial disaster. But I got some email addresses out of it, and at least one follow up sale. And I learnt a lot.

Seems to be a common theme so far, eh? I am getting better at this, I am a fast learner. It was a long journey home though with all those toys in the back. 

I met a nice lady though who had invented a step to help toddlers get into their car seats - she has since won awards - check her out at www.mycarstep.com or at JoJoMaman Bebe

And of course don't forget to look at my lovely website www.rachelstoyshop.co.uk

Ttfn x

Depots in the rain

Good evening everyone!

Back to my normal Monday slot, hopefully you will have seen that last weeks hiatus was because I was busy promoting European Day of Languages - if you are quick you can still get 10% off all languages toys at www.rachelstoyshop.co.uk until 1st October.

This week I was thinking about what happens when you don't work on something full time, as I don't currently on the shop - deliveries are a real problem (as you will have seen the previous arrangement of having them delivered to my mums office was bonkers). I often return home to a "sorry you were out" card, and it won't come as a massive shock that the main delivery companies don't have depots in Wigan. So I often have to drive to Preston, worst case scenario is near Liverpool airport. The amount I spend on petrol sort of negates me getting free delivery from my suppliers.

One thing I have noticed is that (male) depot staff often like to leave women standing in the rain at security gates. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but I have often been standing at the locked turnstile, trying to resist the urge to press the call button repeatedly as I get soaked.

UKMail are the worst - they are like Fort Knox to get in there - but if you are dropping something off I have found sometimes they just say (without looking up) "leave it on the chair, love". Very security conscious.

One evening after being left in the rain for 10 minutes before I gave up and walked under the lorry entrance barrier, I left my parcel "on the chair" in the waiting room as directed. As I walked out a customer who was waiting for her parcel said to me as I left - "I wouldn't use them, love, they're useless". Thanks for the helpful comment I thought.

Well, maybe she had a sixth sense, as I checked the tracking next morning, and it just said "delayed". It stayed like that all day, so I phoned them just before they shut.

Me:  "What does"delayed" mean?  I paid for next day delivery"

Chap : "let me have a look, madam. Oh I see. Yes, I'm afraid we've sent it to Ireland by mistake, but I'm happy to say it will be back in the country tomorrow morning. "

Me: "you have to be kidding me, the customer paid for next day delivery, I'll have to refund it"

Chap: "I suggest you phone the IPostParcels number and ask for compensation"

Me: "you own IPostParcels!"

Chap: "yes but it's a different number for compensation"

So I phone and was fobbed off to an online query form. I got an email with my compensation - 10% off my next order, within 2 weeks. 60p then. Brilliant.

So I vowed not to use them again but they are the most convenient, and I haven't had any trouble since (touching wood as I type).

My favourite is TNT though - they phone me ( not the other way round) to rearrange delivery, they let me drive right up to the door, and they insist in loading my boxes into the car. I may be small now but one day......

....here's hoping!  I quite fancy my own fleet of branded vans :)

A Money Belt and Alderley Edge

So I was all set with my gargantuan bubble wrap rolls, boxes and stock.  I decided that I needed to test the water with some fairs too.  I saw an advert for a baby sale in Alderley Edge, and although it said it was a mixture of new and used, I thought the lovely middle class mummies of Alderley Edge might appreciate my language toys and gorgeous unusual nightlights.

I had everything for the sale, except 3 things - float, bags and a money belt.  Yes a money belt.  I thought - this is the way to look professional - so I ordered a denim effect one from eBay.  Dark blue denim, not an 80s stone wash, but I still don't really know what possessed me.

So that was sorted, next bags.  I perused the selection available from my packaging man, Tony, and I thought that I would get some big blue recycled plastic bags for large purchases and some smaller white smart paper bags.  As you would expect, you have to order quite large quantities - 250 for the paper bags, 1000 for the plastic.  But it was still cheaper than ordering from someone on eBay and I didn't have funds to get nicer ones.

Well they arrived - and if you know me, and that disaster follows me like a bad smell, you will have already guessed that they were smaller than I thought. Who knew that when selling bags, manufacturers include the handles in the dimensions.  LUNACY! What have handles got to do with it?  I now had 1000 plastic bags, in a nasty food-hygiene blue, that basically I can get the turtles in and not much else.  The white ones were the size and type you get with a takeaway in. 

So the Sunday arrived, I packed up the car and set off for Alderley Edge.  I set off a bit later than planned (business as usual) but I got a good car parking space outside the side door of the Festival Hall and went to investigate.

I was instantly disappointed.  The Festival Hall was not very big at all, and my pitch, although I got double size "for free", was basically a pub corner sofa and table.  The lady next door was very appreciative of my Spanish things, however, and I was starting to feel more positive.  The doors opened and the initial rush was about 20 people.  This is not good.  If you have ever been to an NCT sale, you will know that mothers queue for a good half an hour before a sale opens and then there is a proper stampeed.  Not here.  And actually, I realised later that there had been a large NCT sale the day before, so this may have been why it was so quiet.  And the people who came in, with a couple of exceptions, only wanted 50p bundles of babygros, and were not interested in full price toys at all.

I thought for a minute that the lady on the stall next to me was going to buy a Spanish wall hanging calendar, then she turned to me and said "I think its lovely but its dreadfully expensive, I'll just buy one cheap when I next go to Spain."

I wanted to yell "you can't buy them like this in Spain, and I've already knocked a fiver off, and actually its very good value" but of course I didn't.  I started to pack my things away having sold nothing.

So I went to the main high street in Alderley Edge to buy a consolation brownie in Costa, where it was packed with lovely families having Sunday coffee.  If only they had wandered down to the hall....

What did I learn?  Don't buy cheap money belts.  Check out the event before you book it (I hadn't 100% learnt this yet as you will see another time).  Don't go to an event where secondhand stuff is also on offer.  And don't make silly assumptions about people with a few bob, do your research properly.


You have to put these things down to experience!