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The Jellycat drama explained · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

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From viral plush toys to furious stockists, jellycat's story
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isn't all cute and fluffy. Today we're exploring what's really going
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on behind the British success story that has been hitting the headlines for all
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the wrong reasons. I just thought it was very strange because I think in our
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previous communications I'd shown her my Instagram to be look, I've got a decent
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following. They'd made it very awkward placing orders
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as well, but until the letter came we didn't know any more. You
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know, prior to that. With them it's about brand positioning and
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perception, whether we agree with that or not.
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Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan. I'm Catherine Edley and in the
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next few minutes you're about to get powerful real world retail strategies
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from insights shared both from my guests and myself, backed up
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by my 25 years in the retail industry. Keep listening to
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learn how to grow a thriving, profitable product business. Let's
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jump in with this latest episode.
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What fascinates me about this story is that it's not only a thought provoking
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and cautionary tale about what happens when a brand takes off, but it's
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a story about a brand I've long been aware of as both a retail expert
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and a parent. So when I started to see the backlash on social
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media from shops who had been dropped by jellycat, I knew I wanted to put
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together a podcast episode to really dive into the details.
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It all started for me when my daughter was a baby and someone gave her
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a bashful bunny, one of those classic Jelly Cat to that's instantly
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lovable. A few years later, JellyCat launched the
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amusables range, inanimate objects with smiling faces and dangly
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legs. That was the year we bought her the smiling watermelon for her
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eighth birthday and it quickly became one of her favorite toys.
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Jelly Cats were such a regular feature of her Christmas and birthday list that when
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she turned 14, we threw a Jelly Cat themed birthday party.
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I spent hours decorating food with tiny smiling faces just like
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the amusables. And she loved it. The centerpiece was a cake made
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to look just like the Jelly Cat birthday cake plush. Last
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year we even made the trip to Selfridges to visit the fish and chips Pop
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up, which was ended up being one of my most popular reels on
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Instagram. But this story isn't about me and my family. One day I
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shared on Instagram that I was planning an episode about jellycat. I was
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overwhelmed by the response. People told me how deeply they
2:19
care about this brand and some Retailers even admitted that Jelly Cat
2:23
has been at the heart of their business for the past 10 years.
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What's making the story story so difficult is that Jelly Cat always felt like
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one of those rare, special brands that got it right. They had
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the design, the creativity, the magic, and they had the loyalty of
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independent shops who loved selling their products. Now that
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relationship feels fractured. It's a reminder of how quickly things can
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shift, even for a brand that seems untouchable. You can have a
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beautiful product, loyal stockists and years of goodwill and still find
2:52
yourself in the middle of controversy when things go wrong. So who
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are the company behind jellycat? Well, as a A brief
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history they were founded in 1999 by two brothers, Thomas and
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William Gattaca. The founders are notoriously publicity shy
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and there are very few interviews or even quotes available from them.
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The company grew, but things really took off in 2018 with the launch of
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the inanimate objects with cute smiley faces. The Amusables
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the Amusables were a major hit, tying in with the Kidult trend
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where adults spend money on items more usually associated
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with children, such as soft toys. According to a
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2024 Guardian in Article, the brothers first hit the Sunday Times
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rich list in 2018 when the business was valued at
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155 million. By 2022,
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revenue was reported to have jumped 72% on the previous
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year to 146 million, then grew another
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37% to 200 million in 2023
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with a whopping 67 million pounds of pre tax
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profit. So the company was growing fast
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and in 2022, for the first time, the brothers
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stepped back from the leadership of Jellycat. They brought in
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Arno Mesal, who joined Jellycat in
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2022 as CEO. It appears
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that the business was growing rapidly and they decided to bring someone in with
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previous experience in a global company. For
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example, Arnault's previous company Ren Skincare, was quoted as
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having a 1.2 billion pounds turnover in
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2023. Interestingly, in light of what has happened recently
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at Jellycat, Moselle, who was CEO at Rennes from
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2017 before leaving for Jellycat in early 22,
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presided over a move to refocus and reposition Ren
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not only as a more sustainable brand, but also away from mass
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market retailers and towards premium beauty. This is worth
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bearing in mind as we continue through our story.
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So jellycat has become in recent years, years more than just a toy brand.
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It's a cultural phenomenon. On TikTok and Instagram,
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dedicated fan accounts post daily about their collections, racking
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up millions of views and Jelly Cat hunts, where collectors scour
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shops for rare or retired designs have become a trend in their own
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right. One of the biggest drivers of this viral moment has
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been the Jelly Cat Pop Ups. These aren't just a place to buy a plush
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toy, they're full blown experiences. They started in
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late 2023 in New York where Jellycat partnered with
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FAO Schwartz to launch the Jellycat diner where customers could
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order a plush burger or milkshake and watch staff form a
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playful cooking routine before serving the toy on a tray. It
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became a social media sensation with reservations selling out and
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tiktoks of the experience going viral. Then came the Paris
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Patisserie Pop up in Galerie Lafayette Aussmann, a luxurious
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French inspired setup where plush pastries were wrapped like high end
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treats. The setting alone inside one of Paris's most
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premium department stores was a statement. The Jelly Cat was positioning
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itself as a lifestyle and design brand, not just a children's toy company.
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And by the summer of 2024 London got its own version with the
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fish and chips Pop up at Selfridges. The queues went around the block and my
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own reel from that event became one of my most viewed posts of the year.
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It was clever. Jellycat tapped into British nostalgia while
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pairing it with One of the UK's most prestigious retailers, reinforcing the brand
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as quirky, aspirational and fun. And let me tell you,
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it was mostly adults at the Selfridges Pop up and they were
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spending hundreds of pounds on these limited edition
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items. These pop ups, they weren't just marketing stunts. They
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signaled jellycat's ambition to move up market and cement its reputation
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as a brand with premium design led credentials.
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But alongside the success stories, a darker side started to
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emerge. Police are hunting masked thieves who broke into an endless shop
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by ramming the door with a car and a wooden plank. CCTV
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footage shows one of the thieves grabbing jellycat collectible toys from the
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shelves and packing them into a bag before taking off. The store owner,
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The Gorge Bear Company estimates the total price of the 200 stolen toys
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to be £20,000. There were reports of of
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Jellycat thefts. With plush toys so valuable and in demand they had become
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a target for shoplifters. And 2023 was also a
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turning point for many independents. Some noticed that
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jellycat's agents began to speak differently about the brand. There was a shift,
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a move towards curating. Who represented the jellycat image?
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Hannah Davis, who owned at the time West Stanton, a
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design led kids store in Surrey, had been trying for years to become a
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Jellycat stockist. Despite multiple conversations with Jellycat in
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2021 and 2022, she was turned down. But in
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2023, everything changed. The lady
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that I'd spoken to numerous times and met with came
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into my store and introduced Jelly Cat to me
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as a brand. And I was like, this is so weird because I don't think
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she knows that. We've met twice and spoken on email quite a few times.
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So it's a bit like, this doesn't give me great vibes.
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Anyway, search your inbox before you turn up in someone's shop. But she
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was like, yeah, we would love you to stock jellycat. We're moving
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away from like the Garden center Waterstones
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vibe and we're really looking for like design led
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independent stores. She said, the owners, I don't know who the owners of
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jellycat are, but the owners really want it to be like a
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trend design LED brand. You don't want it to be like
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what granny buys the new baby anymore. We want it to be really cool. And
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I was like, oh yeah, cool. Also thinking like,
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I've replaced you because you said no to me for three years even
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though I told you I was the design led store. I told you that I
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wasn't like the other ones and you ignored me and in some scenarios were
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a bit rude. So I was just like, oh, thank you. But actually, you know,
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we've got other brands that are
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cooler now, so I never ordered with them. But
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yeah, it was an extreme pivot from the years of no, no, no to
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Let me introduce you to jellycat. We would love you to work with us. And
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did you get the sense that she'd come to the store because she'd maybe seen
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your social media or she'd seen the store and she felt like it fit the
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profile? Was she concerned about the way the store looked, for example?
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Definitely, she said, because she had said. And actually with Leeward, when
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I first stocked them, somebody came to to see how like the
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aesthetics of the store were before they would approve me as a retailer. I'm
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guessing jellycat kind of adopted that. But yeah, she had come in
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to see the vibe, but I just thought it was very strange.
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I don't know how she found me because I think in our previous
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communications I'd shown her my Instagram to be like, look, I've got a decent following.
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Like you can see the kind of brands I hold, how the aesthetics of
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the shop are. But no, she fully came in as if
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she had never heard of me. We'd Never spoken. So she said they were actively
10:02
looking to move away from some retailers. Yes.
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She basically said the more old school it was definitely
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garden centres. They didn't like jellycat being associated with garden centers
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was the general gist that I got. And Waterstones, they were just
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like as if it was a bit beneath them now where it is
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kind of their bread and butter as well. Like I've worked with and
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stocked so many brands over the years that they know who
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their audience they want are but they're also. You
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can't neglect the people who are actually buying from you. And Jenny Cat must
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make a fortune out of the garden centers because you do have the
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grannies going in and treating them and having a kids store granny is
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spend a lot. Yeah. So it's like I get that you want to be trendy
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and design led but you do make pink fluffy bunnies.
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It was clear that jellycat's idea of who they were and who their retail base
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should be was changing. The indie crisis really began in January
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2025 when Jellycat made a major operational change.
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They replaced their independent agents with an in house sales team.
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From that moment on, according to both existing and former
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stockists, ordering became much more difficult. It was email based.
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There were no more phone calls or personal conversations with agents who really
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knew the shops. And many at that point had not actually had anybody from
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jellycat in their shop for quite some time. Then came the
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letters. Stockists were suddenly divided into three
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categories. The ones who were confirmed as official stockists going
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forward. The ones who were told they had the potential to improve
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with no real clarity on what that meant. And around 100
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stockists, or roughly 8% of their network, were cut
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entirely. Retailers were blindsided. There was no
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explanation of how these decisions were made. And according to a current stockist I
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spoke to, jellycat has never shared their criteria. Even for
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those who weren't cut, the tone of communication felt unsettling.
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One current stockist who was told they could continue but would need to improve
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their jellycat experience to keep their status quo next year, described
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it as feeling like a veiled threat. Instead of a sense of partnership, there was
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a sense of being judged without clear standards or guidance.
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Georgie Stewart from Stewart's of Bakewell in the Peak District was one of
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the stockists to receive their letter withdrawing their status as an official
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jellycat stockist. It came completely out of the
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blue, although we had an inkling in the fact that it was
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becoming increasingly difficult to keep supplying in the
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store and they'd made it Very awkward placing orders
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as well. But until the letter came, we didn't know any more
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prior to that. And that was the 17th of June,
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I see. And you hadn't had any direct communication
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from your jellycat rep? It was just direct from the company.
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Prior to January, we'd had an agent
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and they were let go and they jellycat employed
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reps, so we had a rep for the first time from January.
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We only seen him once in store and
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everything pretty much was done on email or
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telephone. But it just made it very difficult
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placing orders. They sent out an order form on a
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Monday that you had do online, but it was
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obscure things and then there was no guarantee that what you
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ordered is, you know, you even could get it. And so
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from having had stock in store for 20 years,
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there was weeks where we have nothing or very, very little stock.
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Yeah. So you'd been a Jelly cat stockist for 20 years, and when would you
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say the stock problems really began? January, a little
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bit before Christmas. It was becoming increasingly difficult,
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but certainly the biggest problems came from January
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onwards. How has it impacted you both emotionally,
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to get informed in this way, but also from a business perspective?
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Well, from a business perspective, it's been very difficult because
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we've always believed, my husband and I were in partnership together
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at the store, that we shouldn't sell any one products. But
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jellycat has huge following
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locally and with collectors. It will impact us,
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obviously, and we're desperately looking around for new stockists.
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And it's interesting how many people want you to suddenly stock their product
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emotionally. It's been an absolute roller coaster. Just the
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fact that it came out of the blue. There was no consultation.
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The wording in the letter was awful. We've cried, there's no
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doubt about it, we've both cried. Just because you think you're doing
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your best and the way they've let us go.
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So what was behind this decision is it simply about stock?
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Stock certainly comes up again and again from the stockists who were cut
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to those who are still on the list. Massive demand and limited availability
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have become the defining challenge. I spoke with several current
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jellycat stockists who, for obvious reasons, weren't able to talk publicly.
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But when I asked one what their biggest wish was from jellycat, their answer was
15:23
immediately stock. The frustrations that they shared were
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hard to ignore. There's no clear information about when stock will be available,
15:30
no proper B2B ordering system, and if you don't respond to a stock
15:34
email on the day it lands, you lose your chance to order back orders
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are being canceled without notice. And crucially, the core lines such
15:42
as Bashful Bunnies, Bartholomew Bears that customers ask for
15:46
every single day have been unavailable for months at a time. If
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you want to see real evidence of how the balance of power has really
15:53
shifted towards jellycat, one stockist told me that they were offered a
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summer bundle. Now this summer bundle is something that I've heard about from a few
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stockists, but this person went into a bit more detail. They said
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with nothing else available, they felt they had no choice but to take this summer
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bundle. But the bundle had to be purchased sight unseen. They didn't know necessarily,
16:11
necessarily what they were going to get. And surprise, surprise, when it arrived,
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it wasn't made up of their best selling lines. In fact, it was full of
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what seemed like obscure or slower selling items they knew that their
16:22
customers wouldn't buy. And they felt that it was a tactic by
16:25
jellycat to shift their own dead stock. As one
16:29
retailer told me bluntly, when I asked them what it was like working with jellycat,
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they described them as. Tricky, arrogant, absent,
16:36
inefficient. Jellycat have certainly lost their cute and.
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Fluffy appeal to deal with, and it's. This contrast between the
16:43
adorable, smiling toys and the strained relationship with their
16:47
stockist that has made this story so striking. So is
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this a move to protect strange stock levels and perhaps give
16:54
priority to more premium channels? Of course, we can't know for
16:58
sure without being a fly on the wall in jellycat's boardroom. Now I did
17:02
reach out to jellycat and invite them to contribute to the this podcast, but
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perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't get a response. To get some
17:09
perspective, I turned to Therese Autumnblad, wholesale expert and founder of the
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Small Business Collective, to hear her take on what has happened.
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In my 17 years in the industry, I haven't really seen
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any brand or company reshuffle
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their stock is this way. There are many commercial reasons
17:30
why jellycat has made this decision. I'm sure we can
17:34
only speculate, but I think they made it very clear
17:37
that for them it's about brand positioning and perception.
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Whether we agree with that or not, I believe that they
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want their end consumer to have the same experience. Whether they're
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shopping with an independent store or in one of their pop
17:52
ups or on their website, they want more control
17:56
of how their brand is perceived.
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It's well known that they have had some stock challenges over
18:03
the last few years. With growing popularity
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and dealing with larger retailers that
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can buy bigger volumes and forecast more can really
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help to forecast better and ease that load.
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It will also mean less spend on resources because you need less
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people in sales and customer service and sales administration,
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less people packing orders, dealing with less small
18:30
orders from independents which can be time consuming. It
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is less invoices, less bookkeeping, less
18:38
shipment coordination and a lot of things
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just can become slightly easier I
18:45
suppose. I also believe that they are
18:49
moving more towards pay direct consumer
18:52
model with focusing more on their pop ups,
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more on their big retailer partnerships,
19:01
more on retailing through their own website,
19:04
etc. Teresa's view that this is largely about cost cutting
19:08
and control mirrors what we've seen under jellycat CEO Arnaud
19:11
Meisel and his previous brand. Arnaud, who previously led Ren's
19:15
Skincare, is known for strategies built around tight brand control, operational
19:19
efficiency and premium positioning.
19:26
Streamlining wholesale means fewer small accounts to manage, less admin
19:30
and a stronger focus on larger retailers and direct to consumer
19:34
sales. Now direct to consumer sales naturally deliver
19:38
far higher margins, so they are often an area of focus,
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especially for a brand with such strong brand awareness.
19:45
Automating systems and reducing personal interaction also helps
19:48
keep costs down. And here's the thing, cost cutting and margin
19:52
growth are not inherently bad moves. In fact, they're strategies I
19:56
often advise fast growing companies to adopt. And they're scaling because
19:59
they set the business up for long term success. So if this is what
20:03
jellycat is doing, there's a measure of good business sense behind it. And some
20:07
voices online even support jellycat's approach. They argue that the company
20:11
is deliberately holding back expansion while carefully and
20:14
slowly onboarding new factories to ensure capacity and
20:18
quality. The logic is that if jellycat just wanted to cash in, they could
20:21
have churned out lower quality versions years ago. But they haven't.
20:25
In that sense, it could be a sign they're trying to protect the premium image
20:29
of the brand and the quality of their products, even if the process
20:32
is frustrating. However, speculation among retailers, and it's
20:36
something I believe too, suggests that further cuts to independence are
20:40
likely. The open letter sent to some stockists telling them that their
20:44
Jellycat experience will be reviewed before confirming their
20:47
2026 status points strongly in that direction.
20:51
That said, it is also important to note that not all current stockists have had
20:55
a bad experience. One retailer told me my rep was
20:58
very interested in how we present not just jellycat products, but our whole shop,
21:02
our ethos, the way we dispatch online sales beautifully boxed with
21:06
handwritten messages. She spent over two hours with me
21:09
talking about how jellycat wants its stockists to align with their brand.
21:13
Well I'm not here to defend a multi million pound company. I do hope
21:17
I'm not the only one who's had a slightly better experience. This
21:21
highlights the jellycat's approach, for better or worse, is about curation and
21:24
alignment. They want their brand represented in a certain way
21:27
and some shops see that as a positive challenge, while others naturally
21:31
feel excluded, especially the way that the change was communicated.
21:35
To get another perspective, I spoke with Hilary James, founder of
21:39
Wardrobe at the Cross, a womenswear boutique in Cheshire. Hillary once
21:43
tried to stock jellycat but never got through their door. As a
21:46
retailer and a marketing consultant and fractional cmo, she can see
21:50
both sides of the jellycat conundrum.
21:54
I would say that there are some amazing retail environments where jellycat is
21:58
sold beautifully. So for example, and I've seen various pieces
22:01
around Insta in the last few days of beautiful retail environments,
22:05
independent retail environments that could not be more exquisite
22:09
and offer the flourish that I think Jelly Cat would want. And
22:13
to me that seems crazy that they wouldn't want that individual
22:16
interpretation of their brand. Some of these retailers have supported them for
22:20
20, 25 years when they were nothing. That seems
22:24
really sad, but also quite shaky from a commercial point
22:27
of view from them, because those environments look beautiful to me.
22:31
I can see that maybe there are certain environments that are perhaps not optimum,
22:35
then they're not selling the story. But actually there are some beautiful
22:38
independents selling that story incredibly well. And I think that can only be
22:42
brand enhancing. That letter that was sent was emotionless,
22:46
void of any humor or jellycat touches. It was just kind
22:50
of a Dear John, there we go. So just playing it out as a brand
22:53
marketeer, really poor. However, I can see their point.
22:57
If they have got a real protection problem around
23:01
this brand and they do believe it's perhaps not being sold in the
23:05
best environments, they have a job to do for their shareholders, for the
23:09
brand, to make sure that they continue to grow in the way they wish to,
23:12
to protect that brand. And their brand is everything to them. You can see
23:16
that from that collateral, their Insta, everything they put out there
23:19
brand is absolutely central to them. I can see the reason.
23:24
However, I think there is a bit of a conceit there because I do believe
23:28
that, you know, they're sending out these things saying it's all about stock, we can't
23:32
supply you. I actually think, yes, I'm sure there is a stock problem.
23:35
I'm sure they can't supply everybody, but I do think
23:39
that it's more about brand than it is about stock.
23:43
Ultimately, this story is beginning to feel like a brand desperately trying
23:46
to control and harness its viral success, all while juggling
23:50
stock shortages and negative press around Jelly Cat thefts. But
23:54
the biggest issue here isn't just what they've done, it's how they have
23:58
communicated it.
24:06
According to BBC's you and yours, Jellycat did issue a public
24:09
apology in their statement to the BBC, but crucially there was
24:13
no direct apology to the stockists themselves, the very businesses
24:17
that helped build their success. Going back to
24:20
Hilary James point, the real sting in all of this lies in the tone and
24:24
delivery of the news. Stockists were hit with vague corporate
24:28
sounding brand elevation emails with no real explanation of what that
24:31
meant and often no actual visit from jellycat in a
24:35
long time. For many, this lack of clarity caused confusion
24:39
and genuine hurt. To dig into the communication side of the story,
24:43
I spoke with Fiona Minute, PRX expert and founder of Boss yous pr
24:46
to hear her thoughts on how jellycat handled their messaging.
24:51
So from a PR on comms perspective I have to say I was
24:55
absolutely startled actually by the way that
24:59
this was actioned and handled by
25:02
jellycat. I rated quite poorly. There was a real
25:06
lack of transparency, there was no personal approach, there was
25:09
zero empathy, there was dismissive tone and
25:13
retailers partners were from all accounts left
25:17
quite blindsided. Effective communications
25:20
should provide clear, honest reasons for
25:24
decisions such as these and jellycat didn't.
25:28
There was sort of abrupt dismissive emails,
25:31
correspondence with very little explanation. So
25:35
we're sorry to let you know that we'll no longer be supplying jellycat products
25:39
to ex stockist and the reason
25:43
given was a brand elevation strategy. What does that mean?
25:46
What does that mean to a trusted stockist? To a
25:50
trusted partner? There was no personal sort of
25:54
address to jellycat stockist. I mean it's laughably
25:58
far from being personalised and respectful. A real lack
26:01
of clarity also comes through in terms of both the wider reasoning
26:05
and understanding the context for the changes, but also in the
26:09
implications of this kind of overhaul and this move.
26:13
Some stockists being told that they would no longer be supplied, you know, please do
26:16
not place more orders as they. Will not be fulfilled. And Alice were told that
26:20
their accounts would be unaffected, that supply would continue where
26:23
available, but that they would not be an official jellycat stockist.
26:27
And not only are jellycat dismissing previously
26:31
trusted stockists and partners, they are creating
26:35
a tiered system again amongst other
26:38
trusted partners and stockists. You know, small businesses
26:42
that have shown loyalty to the jellycat brand
26:46
and the tone of the communication really
26:49
suggested to partners stockists that they
26:53
were no longer valuable to jellycat. And this kind of language
26:57
really seriously damages trust. It
27:01
erodes goodwill both amongst stockists partners,
27:05
but also the wider retail community and
27:08
consumers. And there seems to have been
27:12
very little acknowledgement on the part of Delicap as to
27:16
how the change would affect small businesses, both
27:20
financially and emotionally. Fiona was not the only
27:23
person to be shocked and taken aback by the tone of jellycats
27:27
letters. After those letters went out, many stockists took to social
27:31
media to voice their frustration and to share screenshots of what they've received.
27:35
And the backlash has been severe. Jellycat's trustpilot page
27:39
had to be turned off after it was flooded with negative reviews from angry customers
27:43
and retailers. Social media is awash with critical posts, and even
27:46
some of the large jellycat fan accounts, the ones that used to create so
27:50
much free buzz for the brand, have started speaking out. One of the
27:54
current stockies I spoke to told me about the conversations that she's had with customers.
27:57
As one shopper put it, we'd rather buy our jellycats with you than in big
28:01
stores like we always have. It's our tradition. And that's the problem.
28:04
Jellycats move towards a tightly controlled premium retail model
28:08
directly conflicts with the hunt mentality that made the brand so special.
28:12
Customers loved the thrill of discovering a new jellycat in an unexpected
28:16
independent shop, but that sense of adventure is disappearing.
28:20
Instead, everything feels like it's being funneled into a narrow, high end vision of
28:23
the brand. And that raises a simple question. Why couldn't jellycat have
28:27
created a range for smaller shops and another for high end retailers?
28:31
There was a way to balance brand elevation with loyalty to the independents who
28:34
helped them grow. But that opportunity seems to have been missed. For
28:38
example, the core products like the Bashful Bunny and Bartholomew Bear could be kept always
28:41
in stock and available to service the lucrative gifting market for
28:45
the more limited range in premium retail destinations for the collectors,
28:49
Surely that could have been a compromise to keep everyone happy. All of this
28:53
makes me wonder, is Jelly Cat at risk of becoming just
28:56
another fad now? I had seen this pattern before.
29:00
Back in the late 90s I spent a summer working in a shop in the
29:04
US and one of my jobs was restocking the Ty Beanie
29:08
Babies. I remember having crowds of people waiting for for us
29:11
to put them out on the shelves and the hands pushing me out of the
29:15
way and grabbing them out of the box as soon as I put it down.
29:18
So we've had waves of these toy crazes before from Beanie
29:22
Babies to Beanie Boos, Squishmallows, and now
29:25
labubu. The thing about these crazes is that they can
29:29
explode overnight and burn out just as quickly. Jelly
29:32
Cat has tapped into that same collectible energy. The limited editions,
29:36
the resale market, the viral moments on TikTok. But if they push
29:40
too far, they risk alienating the very community that made them a
29:44
household name. And there's already evidence of cracks, the
29:47
trust pilot backlash, the social media negativity and the sense among
29:51
retailers and fans that something has changed with even
29:55
some of the biggest jellycat fan accounts speaking out or pulling back from
29:59
promoting the brand. And I keep thinking, what happens next?
30:02
Will jellycat continue down this path of high end potential positioning and centralized
30:06
control? Or will they find a way to bring back some of the charm, the
30:10
accessibility and the loyalty that the independents helped build?
30:14
Because as history has shown us, with these types of toy crazes,
30:18
loyalty and community are the things that last, not just hype.
30:22
And what we don't know is whether or not this negative publicity will in
30:25
itself be the downfall of jellycat. Fiona Minute feels that the risk
30:29
to sales is real, but only time will tell. And in the context
30:33
of jellycat, a brand that relies on emotional
30:36
connection and brand loyalty, an erosion of trust and goodwill
30:41
can occur when mistreatment has maybe been
30:44
displayed in the supply chain or within business dealings.
30:48
Because many consumers, and a sort of growing number of
30:52
consumers might prefer to support small independent
30:55
businesses, especially if this is where they have been purchasing jellycats
31:00
up until now. And if they see those businesses being
31:03
poorly treated, then some might choose to stop buying
31:07
a certain brand altogether, look for alternatives
31:11
by means of continuing to support the independent
31:15
businesses. And this could lead to a dip in sales
31:18
amongst core customer groups that may be value
31:22
affecting ethical and more community conscious
31:26
brands. We've also got to keep in mind that
31:29
public sentiment is even louder these days thanks to the
31:33
amplification that comes with social media and any
31:36
negative swell of opinion. Fact, whatever it might be,
31:40
can be quick to spread. Conversely, as
31:44
purchasers in that kind of fast paced
31:47
retail world, we can be fickle, we can be
31:51
quick to forget. Jellycat's story is a reminder of how
31:54
complex success can be. A brand that started with something as simple as
31:58
a soft toy has become a global phenomenon. But with that journey has
32:02
come friction, stock shortages and tough decisions about who gets to
32:06
stay on the journey. For retailers, there's a clear
32:09
lesson here. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. It is worth
32:13
pointing out that according to its current stockists, jellycat themselves
32:17
do not feel comfortable with people taking too large of a percentage of sales
32:21
from jellycat. It's something that they actively really do encourage
32:24
their stockists not to do. And as Therese Ortonblad
32:28
suggests, protect yourself by having strong alternatives in each
32:32
degree in your shop. No single supplier should hold that much
32:36
power over your business. The best thing an independent retailer
32:39
can do to protect themselves is to have a
32:43
diverse supplier base to avoid becoming
32:47
overly reliant on one or two key brands to
32:50
drive footfall and sales.
32:54
I having a mix of best sellers from different types of
32:58
brands, I think that it is always if a
33:01
category is doing really well, having a second
33:05
option within that category I think is a
33:09
good strategy. So that if something
33:12
were to happen, if that best selling brand has
33:16
any supply issues, they decide to go in a different
33:20
direction or anything like that, you have
33:23
something up and coming coming up behind that.
33:32
For brands, the takeaway is just as important. Love your
33:36
stockists. They are your storytellers. They're the ones who bring
33:39
your products to life in front of customers, build loyalty and create
33:43
those little moments of magic. Without them, the story loses some of
33:47
its soul. And if you do have to make difficult decisions, be
33:50
kind, be human and communicate in a way that is
33:53
respectful. This episode isn't just about jellycat, it's about
33:57
the wider relationship between brands and the independent shops that champion
34:01
them. There's so much that could have been done differently, with more care,
34:05
more communication and more respect. If this episode
34:09
resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it with a friend, a fellow
34:12
retailer, parent, or someone who loves the independent shop experience.
34:16
Because behind many best selling products, there's a network of
34:20
independent retailers who believed in it first and they deserve
34:23
to be part of the story. Thank you so much for listening. Listening. Do take
34:27
a moment to follow the podcast or
34:30
subscribe whatever platform that you're on and if you have a minute to rate and
34:34
review it Inside Apple Podcast, that makes all the difference. See you next week.