With parents turning to books for home learning and online retail dominating sales, preschool publishers have been steadily navigating their way through lockdown and out the other side.
Christian Herisson, UK commercial and sales director at Usborne Publishing, takes a look back at the past six months and what is in store for the future.
“Business is steady. We are just behind where we were this time last year, and last year was a record year for Usborne in the UK. So even with physical stores closed during lockdown, sales through online and supermarkets have been strong. As we move into Q4, the aim is to try to get as close to last year’s turnover as we can.
We have had fantastic sales in the That’s not my… range with new titles and reissues performing particularly well. The Don’t Tickle series is also establishing itself well in the market, with Don’t Tickle the Dinosaur performing exceptionally well during lockdown.
We have a host of brilliant Christmas titles including the new That’s not my… Robin, plus Poppy and Sam’s Christmas. 2021 is a big year for our Don’t Tickle books. Don’t Tickle the Tiger joins our series of noisy touch-and-feel books. We also have a sure-fire Easter favourite with Poppy and Sam and the Lamb, with a soft lamb hand puppet in the book.
The most important thing in the preschool publishing sector is to innovate, and luckily, that’s what Usborne does best.”
This feature originally appeared in Progressive Preschool September/October. To read the full issue, simply click on this link.
