PreschoolNews.net talks to Amanda Alexander from Giddy Goat Toys about how trade has been through the summer and challenges going forward.
“Things are good at Giddy Goat Toys,” the retailer’s Amanda Alexander tells PreschoolNews.net.
“We have had a big rise in online sales this year, both via our own website and through Down Your High Street, which is a marketplace website for independent retailers which we sell on and this kept us going during lockdown.”
Back on the high street, there has also been a “good level” of footfall since the re-opening of the Manchester shop “although we are finding Saturdays to be quieter than previously, largely because we don’t have the usual queues of parents en route to children’s parties and needing party presents,” Amanda adds.
When it comes to popular products, offering a broad variety has certainly helped Giddy Goat Toys, Amanda believes, with top sellers coming from categories ranging from baby toys through to dolls, puzzles, games and gifts.
Understandably though, at that the moment there are some key concerns for the future.
“My concerns for the future, like everyone else, revolve around whether there will be a second wave of the virus, whether my children will get proper schooling, whether I will have to go into isolation if either of my kids come home having been told to isolate as a classmate has tested positive and if so how I will run my business, whether there will be a second lockdown and how any of us will cope with that when it’s cold and dark outside,” Amanda commented. “Businesswise as customers increasingly turn to online shopping, I just hope that they make an effort to support independent retailers and don’t just do everything on Amazon, otherwise the high streets are going to be very different empty and soulless places in the future.”
