The Mulberry Bush Blog

It really does seem that the Chinese are beginning to find that manufacturing is not all beer and skittles

In April 2008 I wrote that there were signs of slowing in the Chinese economy, and pondered whether it might not have been time for British toy manufacturing to re-emerge.  Now it seems the Chinese themselves are concerned at the rapid shrinking of their toy manufacturing sector, to the extent that they are seeking approval – presumably from their Government - to change direction, so as to manufacture more toys for adults and less for children.  Presumably by this they mean more high-tech toys, rather than anything more questionable.  We won’t go into that.

If you would like to read the Press release from China, you’ll find it here, but be warned – it’s in typical Communist style, and somewhat impenetrable.  For a more detailed and interesting analysis of the state of the Chinese economy have a look at this article – if you have five minutes.

Although we do not import directly ourselves we have certainly seen increasing signs of the difficulty in having toy manufacturing so far away.  Lead times are immense, and if a consignment misses a ship the next delivery is likely to be weeks away.  There’s no doubt that the quality of Chinese manufacturing has improved tremendously, but compliance with European standards has also added to lead times, and costs.  Costs are largely in US dollars, and because of the weakness of sterling this is contributing to rising prices in UK.  Now we know that the number of manufacturers has reduced, and is likely to reduce further, it seems inevitable that there will be both a shortage of toys this autumn and they will be more expensive.  Shop early for Christmas I suggest.

We regularly receive orders for toys and games from overseas, or to be sent overseas, but calculating the Postage & Packing cost is frequently difficult.  The cost depends on the weight and size of the parcel, where it is to be sent, what service is to be used etc.  Given the number of countries we have been asked to send to the permutations are enormous.

We tell our customers that we will advise the actual cost of delivery, (plus a small handling charge), which is to be added to the order.  We send an e-mail advising the cost of P & P, and the total cost.  This works fine but means the customer has to place the order before having any idea of the delivery cost.  Now we have put a table on our Postage & Delivery page which we hope will be helpful for those customers in mainland Europe.

Over the past 12 months we’ve noticed a marked increase in the numbers of orders from European countries, probably a sad reflection on the present value of Sterling.  Unfortunately we are still unable to send to USA and Canada so cannot offer such tremendous value for $ customers.

We’re told by the manufacturers of the Perfume Laboratory that it’s going to be advertised on TV over Easter.  Leaving aside the contentious question of whether children’s products should be pushed at them in this way, I can tell you this was a very popular science kit prior to Christmas.  With its links to the National Curriculum it’s one you can buy in the knowledge that it’s educational and fun at the same time.

So - if you find yourself badgered by your goggle eyed 8 year old daughter and you’d like to get her away from the TV for a while, well you know where to come.

I’ve just discovered our blog doesn’t look right in Internet Explorer 6.  On our screens its missing all the right side, navigation etc.   If, like me, you’re a bit slow to adopt new software I can only suggest you upgrade to IE7 or Firefox at your earliest convenience.  You’re probably missing all sorts of stuff on other sites too, without realising!

I was very sad to read in the Times that the owners of Letterbox have taken the decision to discontinue the business with immediate effect. Three or four years back Letterbox was an excellent toy retailer with a great range of wooden toys and traditional games, run by really nice people and as they were a larger company than us, having been going for a good few years longer,  we were always impressed with their catalogue. We tried not to follow their selection of toys and were often surprised - and I guess a bit miffed - to find that they had chosen products we had, but it just went to show that they and we had good taste!  Customers often asked whether we were associated in some way.

Then the business was sold to a larger company three years ago or so and became one of many strings to their bow, and I suppose expecting that the same flair and entrepreneurial spirit will survive in a large umbrella organisation is asking a lot.  We began to notice that customers didn’t mention their name as much.  It seems the new owners  couldn’t make it work and now this once great name is to disappear.

Probably someone will pick up the pieces and make something of it - that seems to be the way these days - but I can’t imagine it will ever be the same as it was.  I like to think that as our own Mulberry Bush business has continued to grow we also have an extensive range of traditional toys gifts and games.  Being still a family business we offer the friendly personal service that was associated with Letterbox and we look forward to welcoming even more of their customers in future.

When my wife and I started Mulberry Bush twelve years ago our aim was to build a collection of traditional toys and games that Grandparents would want to buy for their grandchildren.  Lots of wooden toys, not too much plastic, nothing to do with computers, and none of those character or film related toys that are the “must have” one Christmas and gone the next.  The only slight snag was that we weren’t grandparents ourselves, nor indeed did we have a single child in the family to buy for, our own all being well past that stage.  But we seem to have managed with, we believe, many thousands of satisfied customers over the years - grandparents and parents, uncles and aunts.

Now we too have joined the Grandparent brigade with the arrival of Max, just a month ago.  We’re still adjusting to being a generation older but he’s going to change our perspective entirely.  Now when we look at samples or our stock we’re saying “Oh Max will like that” and “When he’s a bit older Max would love one of these”.  He’s probably going to be a little spoiled, and when we met him for the first time just a few weeks ago we rather overdid the soft toys.  But isn’t that what Grandparents are supposed to do?

Now we have our own live product tester we really look forward to telling you which toys have proved to be his favourites, and finding out from him and his toddler friends what we should be including in our range.  Grannies and Granddads watch this space!

January and February are the months in which we go to the Toy Trade Fairs, sourcing new toys and games for our autumn catalogue.  Always a bit depressing to be thinking about next Christmas when we’ve hardly recovered from the last one.  This year we knew there would be added uncertainty because of the likelihood of significantly increased prices, resulting from the weakness of Sterling.

In fact we were not as unsettled as we had feared.  Some of our suppliers have been unable to avoid quite hefty price rises - up to 25% in some cases - but others have managed to curb their increases to a more acceptable level.  As a result we have managed to absorb a number of price rises for our Spring & Summer Catalogue, but sadly not all. If we had not increased the price of some toys and games we would have had to have dropped them from our range.  So regrettably you will see a few products that have had to go up by a £ or two.

We were relieved then to see on the BBC website that this increase in the cost of toys, games and hobbies is one of the factors in today’s rise in the Consumer Prices Index.  We don’t feel good about it, but at least we know we’re not alone in being forced in an upward direction.  Rest assured when the Pound strengthens against the Dollar and our costs start to fall we will do all we can to send them back down.

We’ve just received from the printers our great new catalogue of toys gifts and games for children.  There’s lots of new toys and and a focus on outdoor and summer.  Perfect for birthdays and summer holidays.  We don’t believe many of our competitors will be mailing a catalogue this spring, so we’re doing our bit to lift the doom and gloom !

If you’ve bought from us  recently there should be a copy coming to you in the post very soon. If you haven’t had one from us by, say, 3rd April,then complete a request form on our website and we’ll be delighted get one in the post to you.

Here’s a new bath toy that we at Mulberry Bush think will be a winner.  Pull the cord, pop her in the bath and Mummy duck’s flipper feet go like the clappers as she paddles away and chases her baby round the bath!  Don’t worry Mums - she catches him eventually !

The paddling duck - just £4.99 from Mulberry Bush

The paddle duck is a great way to encourage your child to have a bath.  The hard part will be getting them out!

Take a look at this lovely set of rainbow bells just come into stock.  A full octave of musical bells, each in a different colour so children can “read” the music provided simply by sounding the correct colour handbell. They’re not too big, so they’re not too heavy but they do make a lovely sound.  We think they’ll be hugely popular - and a great introduction to music.  And at £12.99 great value too !