When your best-selling supplier pulls the rug out, what’s your next move?

I’m Catherine Erdly and this week’s Resilient Retail Game Plan episode dives straight into the Jellycat drama that’s rocking UK indie retail. Plush toys flying off the shelves one day, a curt rejection letter from your biggest brand partner the next. So how did Jellycat, the darling of TikTok and Instagram, go from indie retailers’ secret weapon to their biggest heartache? You’ll hear first-hand from shop owners blindsided by sudden cuts, dig into what this shock move reveals about scaling a product business, and learn hard-won lessons on loyalty, stock planning, and brand control. Plus my own take after 25 years in retail trenches.

Why listen?

• Discover how Jellycat’s decision upended cash flow for retailers—and what resilient retail really looks like in a storm
• Hear real talk on demand forecasting, inventory management, and pricing products for wholesale when the rules change overnight
• Unpack honest product business advice from guests who’ve been both championed and ghosted by hot brands
• Squeeze out independent retailer tips for strengthening supplier relationships—and never relying on one source again
• Reflect on indie shop survival and the community power that outlasts any viral craze

DM @resilientretailclub on Instagram with your biggest takeaway or who you’d love to hear next. If this episode hit home, rate and follow the Resilient Retail Club Podcast on your favourite app. Want even more? Read my latest Forbes article for funding options and fresh retail trend insights.

Not every plush is as soft as it looks. So let’s get into the real story.

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From viral plush toys to furious stockists, jellycat's story

isn't all cute and fluffy. Today we're exploring what's really going

on behind the British success story that has been hitting the headlines for all

the wrong reasons. I just thought it was very strange because I think in our

previous communications I'd shown her my Instagram to be look, I've got a decent

following. They'd made it very awkward placing orders

as well, but until the letter came we didn't know any more. You

know, prior to that. With them it's about brand positioning and

perception, whether we agree with that or not.

Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan. I'm Catherine Edley and in the

next few minutes you're about to get powerful real world retail strategies

from insights shared both from my guests and myself, backed up

by my 25 years in the retail industry. Keep listening to

learn how to grow a thriving, profitable product business. Let's

jump in with this latest episode.

What fascinates me about this story is that it's not only a thought provoking

and cautionary tale about what happens when a brand takes off, but it's

a story about a brand I've long been aware of as both a retail expert

and a parent. So when I started to see the backlash on social

media from shops who had been dropped by jellycat, I knew I wanted to put

together a podcast episode to really dive into the details.

It all started for me when my daughter was a baby and someone gave her

a bashful bunny, one of those classic Jelly Cat to that's instantly

lovable. A few years later, JellyCat launched the

amusables range, inanimate objects with smiling faces and dangly

legs. That was the year we bought her the smiling watermelon for her

eighth birthday and it quickly became one of her favorite toys.

Jelly Cats were such a regular feature of her Christmas and birthday list that when

she turned 14, we threw a Jelly Cat themed birthday party.

I spent hours decorating food with tiny smiling faces just like

the amusables. And she loved it. The centerpiece was a cake made

to look just like the Jelly Cat birthday cake plush. Last

year we even made the trip to Selfridges to visit the fish and chips Pop

up, which was ended up being one of my most popular reels on

Instagram. But this story isn't about me and my family. One day I

shared on Instagram that I was planning an episode about jellycat. I was

overwhelmed by the response. People told me how deeply they

care about this brand and some Retailers even admitted that Jelly Cat

has been at the heart of their business for the past 10 years.

What's making the story story so difficult is that Jelly Cat always felt like

one of those rare, special brands that got it right. They had

the design, the creativity, the magic, and they had the loyalty of

independent shops who loved selling their products. Now that

relationship feels fractured. It's a reminder of how quickly things can

shift, even for a brand that seems untouchable. You can have a

beautiful product, loyal stockists and years of goodwill and still find

yourself in the middle of controversy when things go wrong. So who

are the company behind jellycat? Well, as a A brief

history they were founded in 1999 by two brothers, Thomas and

William Gattaca. The founders are notoriously publicity shy

and there are very few interviews or even quotes available from them.

The company grew, but things really took off in 2018 with the launch of

the inanimate objects with cute smiley faces. The Amusables

the Amusables were a major hit, tying in with the Kidult trend

where adults spend money on items more usually associated

with children, such as soft toys. According to a

2024 Guardian in Article, the brothers first hit the Sunday Times

rich list in 2018 when the business was valued at

155 million. By 2022,

revenue was reported to have jumped 72% on the previous

year to 146 million, then grew another

37% to 200 million in 2023

with a whopping 67 million pounds of pre tax

profit. So the company was growing fast

and in 2022, for the first time, the brothers

stepped back from the leadership of Jellycat. They brought in

Arno Mesal, who joined Jellycat in

2022 as CEO. It appears

that the business was growing rapidly and they decided to bring someone in with

previous experience in a global company. For

example, Arnault's previous company Ren Skincare, was quoted as

having a 1.2 billion pounds turnover in

2023. Interestingly, in light of what has happened recently

at Jellycat, Moselle, who was CEO at Rennes from

2017 before leaving for Jellycat in early 22,

presided over a move to refocus and reposition Ren

not only as a more sustainable brand, but also away from mass

market retailers and towards premium beauty. This is worth

bearing in mind as we continue through our story.

So jellycat has become in recent years, years more than just a toy brand.

It's a cultural phenomenon. On TikTok and Instagram,

dedicated fan accounts post daily about their collections, racking

up millions of views and Jelly Cat hunts, where collectors scour

shops for rare or retired designs have become a trend in their own

right. One of the biggest drivers of this viral moment has

been the Jelly Cat Pop Ups. These aren't just a place to buy a plush

toy, they're full blown experiences. They started in

late 2023 in New York where Jellycat partnered with

FAO Schwartz to launch the Jellycat diner where customers could

order a plush burger or milkshake and watch staff form a

playful cooking routine before serving the toy on a tray. It

became a social media sensation with reservations selling out and

tiktoks of the experience going viral. Then came the Paris

Patisserie Pop up in Galerie Lafayette Aussmann, a luxurious

French inspired setup where plush pastries were wrapped like high end

treats. The setting alone inside one of Paris's most

premium department stores was a statement. The Jelly Cat was positioning

itself as a lifestyle and design brand, not just a children's toy company.

And by the summer of 2024 London got its own version with the

fish and chips Pop up at Selfridges. The queues went around the block and my

own reel from that event became one of my most viewed posts of the year.

It was clever. Jellycat tapped into British nostalgia while

pairing it with One of the UK's most prestigious retailers, reinforcing the brand

as quirky, aspirational and fun. And let me tell you,

it was mostly adults at the Selfridges Pop up and they were

spending hundreds of pounds on these limited edition

items. These pop ups, they weren't just marketing stunts. They

signaled jellycat's ambition to move up market and cement its reputation

as a brand with premium design led credentials.

But alongside the success stories, a darker side started to

emerge. Police are hunting masked thieves who broke into an endless shop

by ramming the door with a car and a wooden plank. CCTV

footage shows one of the thieves grabbing jellycat collectible toys from the

shelves and packing them into a bag before taking off. The store owner,

The Gorge Bear Company estimates the total price of the 200 stolen toys

to be £20,000. There were reports of of

Jellycat thefts. With plush toys so valuable and in demand they had become

a target for shoplifters. And 2023 was also a

turning point for many independents. Some noticed that

jellycat's agents began to speak differently about the brand. There was a shift,

a move towards curating. Who represented the jellycat image?

Hannah Davis, who owned at the time West Stanton, a

design led kids store in Surrey, had been trying for years to become a

Jellycat stockist. Despite multiple conversations with Jellycat in

2021 and 2022, she was turned down. But in

2023, everything changed. The lady

that I'd spoken to numerous times and met with came

into my store and introduced Jelly Cat to me

as a brand. And I was like, this is so weird because I don't think

she knows that. We've met twice and spoken on email quite a few times.

So it's a bit like, this doesn't give me great vibes.

Anyway, search your inbox before you turn up in someone's shop. But she

was like, yeah, we would love you to stock jellycat. We're moving

away from like the Garden center Waterstones

vibe and we're really looking for like design led

independent stores. She said, the owners, I don't know who the owners of

jellycat are, but the owners really want it to be like a

trend design LED brand. You don't want it to be like

what granny buys the new baby anymore. We want it to be really cool. And

I was like, oh yeah, cool. Also thinking like,

I've replaced you because you said no to me for three years even

though I told you I was the design led store. I told you that I

wasn't like the other ones and you ignored me and in some scenarios were

a bit rude. So I was just like, oh, thank you. But actually, you know,

we've got other brands that are

cooler now, so I never ordered with them. But

yeah, it was an extreme pivot from the years of no, no, no to

Let me introduce you to jellycat. We would love you to work with us. And

did you get the sense that she'd come to the store because she'd maybe seen

your social media or she'd seen the store and she felt like it fit the

profile? Was she concerned about the way the store looked, for example?

Definitely, she said, because she had said. And actually with Leeward, when

I first stocked them, somebody came to to see how like the

aesthetics of the store were before they would approve me as a retailer. I'm

guessing jellycat kind of adopted that. But yeah, she had come in

to see the vibe, but I just thought it was very strange.

I don't know how she found me because I think in our previous

communications I'd shown her my Instagram to be like, look, I've got a decent following.

Like you can see the kind of brands I hold, how the aesthetics of

the shop are. But no, she fully came in as if

she had never heard of me. We'd Never spoken. So she said they were actively

looking to move away from some retailers. Yes.

She basically said the more old school it was definitely

garden centres. They didn't like jellycat being associated with garden centers

was the general gist that I got. And Waterstones, they were just

like as if it was a bit beneath them now where it is

kind of their bread and butter as well. Like I've worked with and

stocked so many brands over the years that they know who

their audience they want are but they're also. You

can't neglect the people who are actually buying from you. And Jenny Cat must

make a fortune out of the garden centers because you do have the

grannies going in and treating them and having a kids store granny is

spend a lot. Yeah. So it's like I get that you want to be trendy

and design led but you do make pink fluffy bunnies.

It was clear that jellycat's idea of who they were and who their retail base

should be was changing. The indie crisis really began in January

2025 when Jellycat made a major operational change.

They replaced their independent agents with an in house sales team.

From that moment on, according to both existing and former

stockists, ordering became much more difficult. It was email based.

There were no more phone calls or personal conversations with agents who really

knew the shops. And many at that point had not actually had anybody from

jellycat in their shop for quite some time. Then came the

letters. Stockists were suddenly divided into three

categories. The ones who were confirmed as official stockists going

forward. The ones who were told they had the potential to improve

with no real clarity on what that meant. And around 100

stockists, or roughly 8% of their network, were cut

entirely. Retailers were blindsided. There was no

explanation of how these decisions were made. And according to a current stockist I

spoke to, jellycat has never shared their criteria. Even for

those who weren't cut, the tone of communication felt unsettling.

One current stockist who was told they could continue but would need to improve

their jellycat experience to keep their status quo next year, described

it as feeling like a veiled threat. Instead of a sense of partnership, there was

a sense of being judged without clear standards or guidance.

Georgie Stewart from Stewart's of Bakewell in the Peak District was one of

the stockists to receive their letter withdrawing their status as an official

jellycat stockist. It came completely out of the

blue, although we had an inkling in the fact that it was

becoming increasingly difficult to keep supplying in the

store and they'd made it Very awkward placing orders

as well. But until the letter came, we didn't know any more

prior to that. And that was the 17th of June,

I see. And you hadn't had any direct communication

from your jellycat rep? It was just direct from the company.

Prior to January, we'd had an agent

and they were let go and they jellycat employed

reps, so we had a rep for the first time from January.

We only seen him once in store and

everything pretty much was done on email or

telephone. But it just made it very difficult

placing orders. They sent out an order form on a

Monday that you had do online, but it was

obscure things and then there was no guarantee that what you

ordered is, you know, you even could get it. And so

from having had stock in store for 20 years,

there was weeks where we have nothing or very, very little stock.

Yeah. So you'd been a Jelly cat stockist for 20 years, and when would you

say the stock problems really began? January, a little

bit before Christmas. It was becoming increasingly difficult,

but certainly the biggest problems came from January

onwards. How has it impacted you both emotionally,

to get informed in this way, but also from a business perspective?

Well, from a business perspective, it's been very difficult because

we've always believed, my husband and I were in partnership together

at the store, that we shouldn't sell any one products. But

jellycat has huge following

locally and with collectors. It will impact us,

obviously, and we're desperately looking around for new stockists.

And it's interesting how many people want you to suddenly stock their product

emotionally. It's been an absolute roller coaster. Just the

fact that it came out of the blue. There was no consultation.

The wording in the letter was awful. We've cried, there's no

doubt about it, we've both cried. Just because you think you're doing

your best and the way they've let us go.

So what was behind this decision is it simply about stock?

Stock certainly comes up again and again from the stockists who were cut

to those who are still on the list. Massive demand and limited availability

have become the defining challenge. I spoke with several current

jellycat stockists who, for obvious reasons, weren't able to talk publicly.

But when I asked one what their biggest wish was from jellycat, their answer was

immediately stock. The frustrations that they shared were

hard to ignore. There's no clear information about when stock will be available,

no proper B2B ordering system, and if you don't respond to a stock

email on the day it lands, you lose your chance to order back orders

are being canceled without notice. And crucially, the core lines such

as Bashful Bunnies, Bartholomew Bears that customers ask for

every single day have been unavailable for months at a time. If

you want to see real evidence of how the balance of power has really

shifted towards jellycat, one stockist told me that they were offered a

summer bundle. Now this summer bundle is something that I've heard about from a few

stockists, but this person went into a bit more detail. They said

with nothing else available, they felt they had no choice but to take this summer

bundle. But the bundle had to be purchased sight unseen. They didn't know necessarily,

necessarily what they were going to get. And surprise, surprise, when it arrived,

it wasn't made up of their best selling lines. In fact, it was full of

what seemed like obscure or slower selling items they knew that their

customers wouldn't buy. And they felt that it was a tactic by

jellycat to shift their own dead stock. As one

retailer told me bluntly, when I asked them what it was like working with jellycat,

they described them as. Tricky, arrogant, absent,

inefficient. Jellycat have certainly lost their cute and.

Fluffy appeal to deal with, and it's. This contrast between the

adorable, smiling toys and the strained relationship with their

stockist that has made this story so striking. So is

this a move to protect strange stock levels and perhaps give

priority to more premium channels? Of course, we can't know for

sure without being a fly on the wall in jellycat's boardroom. Now I did

reach out to jellycat and invite them to contribute to the this podcast, but

perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't get a response. To get some

perspective, I turned to Therese Autumnblad, wholesale expert and founder of the

Small Business Collective, to hear her take on what has happened.

In my 17 years in the industry, I haven't really seen

any brand or company reshuffle

their stock is this way. There are many commercial reasons

why jellycat has made this decision. I'm sure we can

only speculate, but I think they made it very clear

that for them it's about brand positioning and perception.

Whether we agree with that or not, I believe that they

want their end consumer to have the same experience. Whether they're

shopping with an independent store or in one of their pop

ups or on their website, they want more control

of how their brand is perceived.

It's well known that they have had some stock challenges over

the last few years. With growing popularity

and dealing with larger retailers that

can buy bigger volumes and forecast more can really

help to forecast better and ease that load.

It will also mean less spend on resources because you need less

people in sales and customer service and sales administration,

less people packing orders, dealing with less small

orders from independents which can be time consuming. It

is less invoices, less bookkeeping, less

shipment coordination and a lot of things

just can become slightly easier I

suppose. I also believe that they are

moving more towards pay direct consumer

model with focusing more on their pop ups,

more on their big retailer partnerships,

more on retailing through their own website,

etc. Teresa's view that this is largely about cost cutting

and control mirrors what we've seen under jellycat CEO Arnaud

Meisel and his previous brand. Arnaud, who previously led Ren's

Skincare, is known for strategies built around tight brand control, operational

efficiency and premium positioning.

Streamlining wholesale means fewer small accounts to manage, less admin

and a stronger focus on larger retailers and direct to consumer

sales. Now direct to consumer sales naturally deliver

far higher margins, so they are often an area of focus,

especially for a brand with such strong brand awareness.

Automating systems and reducing personal interaction also helps

keep costs down. And here's the thing, cost cutting and margin

growth are not inherently bad moves. In fact, they're strategies I

often advise fast growing companies to adopt. And they're scaling because

they set the business up for long term success. So if this is what

jellycat is doing, there's a measure of good business sense behind it. And some

voices online even support jellycat's approach. They argue that the company

is deliberately holding back expansion while carefully and

slowly onboarding new factories to ensure capacity and

quality. The logic is that if jellycat just wanted to cash in, they could

have churned out lower quality versions years ago. But they haven't.

In that sense, it could be a sign they're trying to protect the premium image

of the brand and the quality of their products, even if the process

is frustrating. However, speculation among retailers, and it's

something I believe too, suggests that further cuts to independence are

likely. The open letter sent to some stockists telling them that their

Jellycat experience will be reviewed before confirming their

2026 status points strongly in that direction.

That said, it is also important to note that not all current stockists have had

a bad experience. One retailer told me my rep was

very interested in how we present not just jellycat products, but our whole shop,

our ethos, the way we dispatch online sales beautifully boxed with

handwritten messages. She spent over two hours with me

talking about how jellycat wants its stockists to align with their brand.

Well I'm not here to defend a multi million pound company. I do hope

I'm not the only one who's had a slightly better experience. This

highlights the jellycat's approach, for better or worse, is about curation and

alignment. They want their brand represented in a certain way

and some shops see that as a positive challenge, while others naturally

feel excluded, especially the way that the change was communicated.

To get another perspective, I spoke with Hilary James, founder of

Wardrobe at the Cross, a womenswear boutique in Cheshire. Hillary once

tried to stock jellycat but never got through their door. As a

retailer and a marketing consultant and fractional cmo, she can see

both sides of the jellycat conundrum.

I would say that there are some amazing retail environments where jellycat is

sold beautifully. So for example, and I've seen various pieces

around Insta in the last few days of beautiful retail environments,

independent retail environments that could not be more exquisite

and offer the flourish that I think Jelly Cat would want. And

to me that seems crazy that they wouldn't want that individual

interpretation of their brand. Some of these retailers have supported them for

20, 25 years when they were nothing. That seems

really sad, but also quite shaky from a commercial point

of view from them, because those environments look beautiful to me.

I can see that maybe there are certain environments that are perhaps not optimum,

then they're not selling the story. But actually there are some beautiful

independents selling that story incredibly well. And I think that can only be

brand enhancing. That letter that was sent was emotionless,

void of any humor or jellycat touches. It was just kind

of a Dear John, there we go. So just playing it out as a brand

marketeer, really poor. However, I can see their point.

If they have got a real protection problem around

this brand and they do believe it's perhaps not being sold in the

best environments, they have a job to do for their shareholders, for the

brand, to make sure that they continue to grow in the way they wish to,

to protect that brand. And their brand is everything to them. You can see

that from that collateral, their Insta, everything they put out there

brand is absolutely central to them. I can see the reason.

However, I think there is a bit of a conceit there because I do believe

that, you know, they're sending out these things saying it's all about stock, we can't

supply you. I actually think, yes, I'm sure there is a stock problem.

I'm sure they can't supply everybody, but I do think

that it's more about brand than it is about stock.

Ultimately, this story is beginning to feel like a brand desperately trying

to control and harness its viral success, all while juggling

stock shortages and negative press around Jelly Cat thefts. But

the biggest issue here isn't just what they've done, it's how they have

communicated it.

According to BBC's you and yours, Jellycat did issue a public

apology in their statement to the BBC, but crucially there was

no direct apology to the stockists themselves, the very businesses

that helped build their success. Going back to

Hilary James point, the real sting in all of this lies in the tone and

delivery of the news. Stockists were hit with vague corporate

sounding brand elevation emails with no real explanation of what that

meant and often no actual visit from jellycat in a

long time. For many, this lack of clarity caused confusion

and genuine hurt. To dig into the communication side of the story,

I spoke with Fiona Minute, PRX expert and founder of Boss yous pr

to hear her thoughts on how jellycat handled their messaging.

So from a PR on comms perspective I have to say I was

absolutely startled actually by the way that

this was actioned and handled by

jellycat. I rated quite poorly. There was a real

lack of transparency, there was no personal approach, there was

zero empathy, there was dismissive tone and

retailers partners were from all accounts left

quite blindsided. Effective communications

should provide clear, honest reasons for

decisions such as these and jellycat didn't.

There was sort of abrupt dismissive emails,

correspondence with very little explanation. So

we're sorry to let you know that we'll no longer be supplying jellycat products

to ex stockist and the reason

given was a brand elevation strategy. What does that mean?

What does that mean to a trusted stockist? To a

trusted partner? There was no personal sort of

address to jellycat stockist. I mean it's laughably

far from being personalised and respectful. A real lack

of clarity also comes through in terms of both the wider reasoning

and understanding the context for the changes, but also in the

implications of this kind of overhaul and this move.

Some stockists being told that they would no longer be supplied, you know, please do

not place more orders as they. Will not be fulfilled. And Alice were told that

their accounts would be unaffected, that supply would continue where

available, but that they would not be an official jellycat stockist.

And not only are jellycat dismissing previously

trusted stockists and partners, they are creating

a tiered system again amongst other

trusted partners and stockists. You know, small businesses

that have shown loyalty to the jellycat brand

and the tone of the communication really

suggested to partners stockists that they

were no longer valuable to jellycat. And this kind of language

really seriously damages trust. It

erodes goodwill both amongst stockists partners,

but also the wider retail community and

consumers. And there seems to have been

very little acknowledgement on the part of Delicap as to

how the change would affect small businesses, both

financially and emotionally. Fiona was not the only

person to be shocked and taken aback by the tone of jellycats

letters. After those letters went out, many stockists took to social

media to voice their frustration and to share screenshots of what they've received.

And the backlash has been severe. Jellycat's trustpilot page

had to be turned off after it was flooded with negative reviews from angry customers

and retailers. Social media is awash with critical posts, and even

some of the large jellycat fan accounts, the ones that used to create so

much free buzz for the brand, have started speaking out. One of the

current stockies I spoke to told me about the conversations that she's had with customers.

As one shopper put it, we'd rather buy our jellycats with you than in big

stores like we always have. It's our tradition. And that's the problem.

Jellycats move towards a tightly controlled premium retail model

directly conflicts with the hunt mentality that made the brand so special.

Customers loved the thrill of discovering a new jellycat in an unexpected

independent shop, but that sense of adventure is disappearing.

Instead, everything feels like it's being funneled into a narrow, high end vision of

the brand. And that raises a simple question. Why couldn't jellycat have

created a range for smaller shops and another for high end retailers?

There was a way to balance brand elevation with loyalty to the independents who

helped them grow. But that opportunity seems to have been missed. For

example, the core products like the Bashful Bunny and Bartholomew Bear could be kept always

in stock and available to service the lucrative gifting market for

the more limited range in premium retail destinations for the collectors,

Surely that could have been a compromise to keep everyone happy. All of this

makes me wonder, is Jelly Cat at risk of becoming just

another fad now? I had seen this pattern before.

Back in the late 90s I spent a summer working in a shop in the

US and one of my jobs was restocking the Ty Beanie

Babies. I remember having crowds of people waiting for for us

to put them out on the shelves and the hands pushing me out of the

way and grabbing them out of the box as soon as I put it down.

So we've had waves of these toy crazes before from Beanie

Babies to Beanie Boos, Squishmallows, and now

labubu. The thing about these crazes is that they can

explode overnight and burn out just as quickly. Jelly

Cat has tapped into that same collectible energy. The limited editions,

the resale market, the viral moments on TikTok. But if they push

too far, they risk alienating the very community that made them a

household name. And there's already evidence of cracks, the

trust pilot backlash, the social media negativity and the sense among

retailers and fans that something has changed with even

some of the biggest jellycat fan accounts speaking out or pulling back from

promoting the brand. And I keep thinking, what happens next?

Will jellycat continue down this path of high end potential positioning and centralized

control? Or will they find a way to bring back some of the charm, the

accessibility and the loyalty that the independents helped build?

Because as history has shown us, with these types of toy crazes,

loyalty and community are the things that last, not just hype.

And what we don't know is whether or not this negative publicity will in

itself be the downfall of jellycat. Fiona Minute feels that the risk

to sales is real, but only time will tell. And in the context

of jellycat, a brand that relies on emotional

connection and brand loyalty, an erosion of trust and goodwill

can occur when mistreatment has maybe been

displayed in the supply chain or within business dealings.

Because many consumers, and a sort of growing number of

consumers might prefer to support small independent

businesses, especially if this is where they have been purchasing jellycats

up until now. And if they see those businesses being

poorly treated, then some might choose to stop buying

a certain brand altogether, look for alternatives

by means of continuing to support the independent

businesses. And this could lead to a dip in sales

amongst core customer groups that may be value

affecting ethical and more community conscious

brands. We've also got to keep in mind that

public sentiment is even louder these days thanks to the

amplification that comes with social media and any

negative swell of opinion. Fact, whatever it might be,

can be quick to spread. Conversely, as

purchasers in that kind of fast paced

retail world, we can be fickle, we can be

quick to forget. Jellycat's story is a reminder of how

complex success can be. A brand that started with something as simple as

a soft toy has become a global phenomenon. But with that journey has

come friction, stock shortages and tough decisions about who gets to

stay on the journey. For retailers, there's a clear

lesson here. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. It is worth

pointing out that according to its current stockists, jellycat themselves

do not feel comfortable with people taking too large of a percentage of sales

from jellycat. It's something that they actively really do encourage

their stockists not to do. And as Therese Ortonblad

suggests, protect yourself by having strong alternatives in each

degree in your shop. No single supplier should hold that much

power over your business. The best thing an independent retailer

can do to protect themselves is to have a

diverse supplier base to avoid becoming

overly reliant on one or two key brands to

drive footfall and sales.

I having a mix of best sellers from different types of

brands, I think that it is always if a

category is doing really well, having a second

option within that category I think is a

good strategy. So that if something

were to happen, if that best selling brand has

any supply issues, they decide to go in a different

direction or anything like that, you have

something up and coming coming up behind that.

For brands, the takeaway is just as important. Love your

stockists. They are your storytellers. They're the ones who bring

your products to life in front of customers, build loyalty and create

those little moments of magic. Without them, the story loses some of

its soul. And if you do have to make difficult decisions, be

kind, be human and communicate in a way that is

respectful. This episode isn't just about jellycat, it's about

the wider relationship between brands and the independent shops that champion

them. There's so much that could have been done differently, with more care,

more communication and more respect. If this episode

resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it with a friend, a fellow

retailer, parent, or someone who loves the independent shop experience.

Because behind many best selling products, there's a network of

independent retailers who believed in it first and they deserve

to be part of the story. Thank you so much for listening. Listening. Do take

a moment to follow the podcast or

subscribe whatever platform that you're on and if you have a minute to rate and

review it Inside Apple Podcast, that makes all the difference. See you next week.