Spring Trade Fairs

At this time of year there are several big trade fairs so that wholesalers can try and tempt retailers to take their new lines (there are another batch in the early autumn ready for Christmas) and I don’t think it would take much for people reading my blog to guess that Littlesheep Learning being a toy retailer would be looking at Toy Fair 2012 and Spring Fair International as the two big ones given that if you look for “toy trade show” in a search engine they are top of the list.

So which one to go to and why? This was a question being asked by the toy trade magazine Toyworld in a poll of independent retailers recently who even published my comment in the Toyworld February 2012 issue!

Which says:
Littlesheep Learning
Elaine Lambe
I’ll be going to Spring Fair because it is more local ad I can go on the Sunday so I won’t have to worry about childcare. I am considering going to the Toy Fair but have yet to be convinced tht it will be any better for me.

The options in their poll were Nuremberg Toy Fair, Hong Kong Toy Fair, Spring Fair or Toy Fair.

So to elaborate on my comment…

Apparently Nuremberg is the best toy fair to go to but unfortunately the budget for sourcing new lines for Littlesheep Learning doesn’t stretch that far at the moment so that will have to wait for another year. Similarly I think Hong Kong is way out of our budget and would be far too diverse from our niche range of educational toys.

This leaves Toy Fair 2012 and Spring Fair International – so which one or both should I go to?

Pros and Cons of both:

On balance I will definitely go to the Spring Fair because it is convenientand as it currently stands I am still unconvinced that going all the way to London to go to the Toy Fair would give a good enough return on the investment.

But I’m still open to the idea if any one has any comments that can change my mind!

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