One of the UK’s best known high street toy retailers is experiencing a 10% spike in online sales, but due to the coronavirus and supply chain issues The Entertainer cannot meet the demand.
The company is experiencing Black Friday levels of demand but cannot meet them as its warehouse is only operating at 40% capacity because of the measures to keep staff safe. “We are not going to sit back and let an opportunity pass us by but we can’t suddenly change in a week,” says Grant.
The first news of the virus reached Grant after Christmas when there were concerns in China about workers returning to work after their new year holiday.
“In January and February we were dealing with a broken supply chain,” he says. Deliveries were delayed and he spent two or three weeks trying to secure enough stock for Easter. But by the end of February it was becoming clear the virus could have a much wider impact, as parts of China went into lockdown.
Sales at The Entertainer’s larger city-centre stores began to drop and Grant said he took the hint from what was happening overseas: “If China had closed its shops, we realised that could happen to us.” By mid-March sales in some stores had fallen by as much as half. While small local outlets were holding up and online trade was brisk, that didn’t compensate for the loss of trade in large outlets.
