Parents warned of possible Christmas toy shortage as panic-buying surges online

2 October 2020, 08:49 | Updated: 2 October 2020, 08:50

Retailers have warned of a possible shortage of toys this Christmas after a surge in demand online.

Parents have been warned that coronavirus-induced panic-buying could lead to a toy shortage for Christmas.

Some toy retailers have seen a surge in demand for their products, and have urged shoppers not to get carried away with stocking up on Christmas presents.

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James Owen, from Rebo UK Ltd and founder of Outdoor Toys, said, according to the Mirror, that panic-buying could hit the toy sector, and anticipated that in-demand toys could sell out by December.

He said: "We are already seeing a big surge in demand for children's outdoor play equipment - swings, slides, climbing frames, ride-on cars, trucks and quad bikes. We have many thousands of products in stock now and thousands more already on the way to our warehouse to cope with the Christmas period".

Due to rise of coronavirus cases in the UK and increased lockdown restrictions, it's been predicted that online buying could increase by 300 per cent compared to 2019.

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Mr Owen has warned that parents should buy early to make sure their kids don't miss out, but not to get carried away with spending too much.

Yodel - an online delivery firm - has said that it's hired 2,500 more drivers and 500 new workers in response to the increase in demand.

Andy Mulcahy from IMRG said: "We think the volumes are going to be really very excessive this year.

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"Whilst that in itself is not a problem, getting too much of it too close to Christmas is going to be a bit of a problem.

"If you can spread out your shopping and do quite a lot of it in November, maybe even a bit of it now, then that would really help."

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