About us

The In Thing is the UK's premier pocket money distributor. We love our trading name - It says everything about who we are as a company!

We deal with most major UK national accounts and the diversity, reach & service standards of our independent distribution capability is unrivalled by our competitors.

Our ability to react, within hours if necessary, to rapidly changing toy trends, is without doubt our predominant forte. We are a young and agile company and although we are not alone with having the ability to ‘think outside the box’ we quite simply believe that we do our ‘thinking’ a lot quicker than the majority of our competitors!

We have an established network of international trading partners for the two brands we control worldwide - Gelli Baff & Magic Choc.

We have strong partnerships with most of the UK’s best toy manufacturers e.g. Lego, Activision, Flair, Vivid etc & our portfolio of our own licensed products continues to grow. We had a phenomenal 2012 with our exclusive Moshi Monsters products & have multiple Bin Weevils AND Skylanders SKU's due out in the first half of 2013.

We are part owned by Dracco - Dracco are Hong Kong based, European run toy manufacturer that give us a manufacturing edge that few of our competitors can compete with!

Currently, we are massively 'bucking the trend in the toy industry, we have had growth in 18 out of the last 20 months which resulted in us growing by 41% in 2012, and with growth in early 2013 running at 50%+, this trend shows no sign of diminishing!

The In Thing provide a wholesale and distribution gateway to the United Kingdom, Eire, Europe & beyond. Giving toy, craze & collectable manufacturer’s access to all retail & trade channels including:

• Over 5000 independent retailers
• All major toy chains and national stores
• The Internet, including eBay, Google & Yahoo
• Television
• All major trade exhibitions

Access to Independent Retailers
We supply over 5000 independent retailers week in, week out, including toy, gift and card shops, newsagents, convenience stores and Post Offices.

Toy chains and Nationals

We supply the main toy shop buying group, Toymaster as well as the UK’s leading toy retailers, Toys R Us, The Entertainer, Smyths toys and Hawkins Bazaar.

Well known department chains such as John Lewis, Fenwicks & Selfridges. The countries best known independents such as Hamleys, Dominoes, Harrods & The London Design Museum.All the major UK internet retailers such as Play.com, Amazon &Firebox.Not to mention the majority of the leading UK national retailers with diverse examples such as Martins, WH Smiths, Sports Direct, WaterstonesTesco & Claire's Accessories

Internet expertise

We have our own in-house Internet expertise with the ability to show your products on our leading B2B website plus our retail website within hours . Backed by powerful Google, Yahoo and MSN search and eBay marketing campaigns we can GUARANTEE your product a page one listing on Google. To test this try putting the word distribution with any of our brand names into Google? With most brands we distribute, between our retail, B2B & micro sites we on average will have four out of the first ten ‘page one’ listings!

We design, manage & host literally hundreds of ‘product specific’ micro sites. This is an exercise we complete for no fee for most of the major products we distribute. This not only presents each product in a professional manner but also guarantees our company superb rankings across ALL search engines. We believe this ‘expertise’ is critical in today’s climate as virtually every buyer, large or small, now uses a search engine as their main buying tool.

A small selection of our micro sites

• www.1st4yu-gi-oh.co.uk
• www.buy-angrybirds.co.uk
• www.buy-binweevils.co.uk
• www.buyskylandersgiants.com
• www.skylandersuk.co.uk
• www.cardfightvanguard.co.uk
• www.gellibaff.co.uk(B2C)
• www.gellibaff.com(B2B)
• www.uglydolls.co.uk
• www.webkinzuk.co.uk
• www.ukwebkinz.co.uk
• www.techdeckuk.co.uk
• www.magic-choc.co.uk(B2C)
• www.magic-choc.co.uk(B2B)
• www.buymoshimonsters.co.uk
• www.trashpack.co.uk

Television

A close working relationship with children's TV channels such as Nickelodeon & Cartoon Network etc gives us the power to expose new brands to huge, highly targeted child audiences, building unparalleled brand awareness when launching new crazes.

Additionally we can offer a direct response TV sales solution enabling the immediate satisfaction of sales through our experienced telesales operators and supporting branded websites.

Major trade show exposure
Extensive trade show presence makes us exceptionally approachable and offers new products a superb platform for creating exposure and excitement.

We currently exhibit at the following shows:-

• London Olympia Toyfair
• NEC Autumn Gift Fair
• Nuremberg Toy Fair
• National convenience Show
• G.A.P. Forecourt & Convenience Retailing Show
• Distoy London

Partners
As a company, The In Thing is constantly seeking and forming new partnerships and alliances with product manufacturers, inventors, retailers and the trade press. To talk about how we might work together please click here to be taken to our contacts page so as you can contact the correct person

We Support...

Here at The In Thing we are proud to support 3 Charities that we believe are directly relevant to our organisation. As a toy organisation we enjoy the feeling of helping Children with whom we are directly involved with. The charities we support are:

Children with Leukaemia are the UK’s leading charity dedicated to fighting Britain’s biggest childhood cancer.

For more than 20 years, they have been helping children affected by leukaemia. They fund research into causes and treatments, support families through welfare programmes and campaign on their behalf.

The Meningitis Trust support everyone in the UK who is facing the challenge of life after meningitis through professional services. They help people practically, emotionally and financially. They also educate communities about the symptoms of meningitis, saving lives through early detection.

If you are a customer or supplier of our company please be aware we do not send out Christmas cards. Instead, we make an annual donation to the Toy Trust with what would be our Christmas Card budget plus of course save an odd tree or two :)

The Toy Trust exists to raise money predominantly from the toy industry, its suppliers and friends; and distribute the money raised to young disadvantaged and disabled children's charities within the UK and abroad.

Since its foundation in 1990 by the British Toy & Hobby Association, The Toy Trust has made a real difference to over a million children and their families in the UK and right across the world.

With the help of the many supporters of the trust, from across the entire industry, over £2.8 million has been raised since its inception.

There are many charities which benefit from the hard work and support of our members, many of which have their own charities that they support as individual companies.

The Toy Trust has benefitted from the support it has been given from across the whole industry which takes pride in being able to give something back to children in need of help.

The Toy Trust raises money throughout the year which is then distributed by a committee that meets five or six times each year to allocate grants to children's causes in need of support.