President’s Letter – April 4, 2017: Your Toy Association Helps You Forge New Business Relationships Online
The most successful New York Toy Fair to date is now behind us, but the play trade’s year-round business-to-business digital social marketplace is hopping with buyers and sellers!
As the only platform of its kind, ShopToys365.com (ST365) continues to grow and attract a global audience, with new toy retailers joining each week to browse digital showrooms, discover new products, and conveniently place secure orders online.
We’re pleased to share that ST365 is now also a valuable “news and information hub,” thanks to the site’s recent introduction of an innovative Toy Industry News Tracker. The news aggregator sources from 50 hand-selected industry trade publications, business resources, and influential blogs to keep play professionals up-to-speed on timely and actionable toy industry insights. Using a custom smart algorithm to continuously collect and sift through information for the best content, the tracker aggregates, ranks, and delivers relevant and popular toy industry-specific news directly to the ST365 homepage.
Some 20,000 global buyers from more than 100 countries are currently registered users on ST365. Retailers who regularly use ST365 tell us that it’s efficient and easy to navigate – one comprehensive stop for business transactions, networking, and trend spotting. Meanwhile, manufacturers are extending their sales reach 24/7/365 through their digital showrooms, and they use the site to view and navigate company and individual buyer profiles to identify new leads. If your company is not part of this active buyer-seller community, I strongly encourage you to join today!
The success of the ST365 platform speaks to the new reality of business – where the digital and the physical work together to create new opportunities. ST365 helps buyers and sellers forge and maintain relationships, while the face-to-face interactions that take place at our go-to-market shows, like NY Toy Fair and Fall Toy Preview, help keep business connections strong.
Every one of us at your toy association is committed to providing our members and the wider toy and play community with cutting edge resources and new opportunities to help more members sell more products more often. Whether you are a retailer or a manufacturer, I encourage you to take advantage of ST365. And please don’t hesitate to contact our team to get set-up or to share any helpful feedback as we continue to evolve the platform as a meaningful and well-rounded marketplace that meets both your business and social networking needs.
All good wishes for your business success,
Steve Pasierb
spasierb@toyassociation.org
Follow me on Twitter @StevePasierb