Giftguide sat down with Max Phung, owner of Pink Poppy and Martine Broadley-Reid, global business development manager at Pink Poppy, to get the lowdown on the brand and its future plans.
Tell us more about how it all started?
Pink Poppy was launched over 30 years ago by husband and wife team Max and Hiromi, who believe children should remain children and therefore wanted to provide children with products which promote enjoyment but also aid social development. Pink Poppy believes in the importance of pretend and play and our products are designed with this aspect in mind. We sought out the best designers and educators to create products which stimulate imagination and creativity with a bit of style and glamour.
What are your best-selling ranges?
Our music boxes are our best-selling range, simply because of the high quality and bespoke designs. They are sold at affordable prices and customers rave about them.
What are the trends for 2018/19?
A trend which comes around in cycles is that of fables and fairy tales. We believe the pastel trend will remain strong for a few years and the push towards DIY- that being patchwork and organic elements is also strong.
Children of all ages in all markets are creating their own identities and more freely than ever. This is a great and very positive change, however, at this stage, we will continue to develop and design to our customers wants and needs which currently is all things colour, namely all shades of pink, with elements of beauty and sparkles.
Why did you decide to take the brand overseas?
We wanted to create an awareness of our brand in the international market to increase our brand and company’s image globally.
International expansion offered us a chance to reach more consumers, thus increasing sales. We were being inundated with customer requests from worldwide retailers, therefore it made sense to expand the range outside of Australia. We are now in over 45 countries, with the US being a huge market for us. This year our ‘My mermaid wig’ was a finalist in the USA Astra Toy of the Year awards for best new product in the Pretend and Play section, which is a great achievement for an Australian company.
The US market is very different to Australia, standing from the seasons. Trends also vary and do not always come through to Australia. What little girls in the US want and what their parents will buy them at certain ages, differs to what little girls in Australia want and what their parents will buy them at certain ages. Therefore, we offer different designs to the US, than we do to Australia.
In terms of the UK & Europe, whilst competition is strong, we target a niche market and our customers keep coming back. We have a design team based in our Sydney office, who are constantly working ahead seasonally to ensure we have strong offers in all categories.
What are Pink Poppy’s future plans?
We will continue to employ the best talent for our business to ensure the success of the brand. Working closely and listening to our retailers is key to any business, especially in the toy and gift business, which has seen huge changes over the last two years. We strongly believe that our brand will continue to grow both here and overseas by making sure we continue to develop to the same quality and superior creative designs.
