In the wake of last year's recalls on several toys manufactured in China, many European toy brands are seeing a jump in sales and customer interest, even more than six months later. Despite an increasingly strong Euro and a weaker dollar, consumers seem ready to pay a premium for products they perceive as safer. U.S. toy retailers are responding by broadening their European toy offerings and bringing in new lines to fill the void.

“Absolutely, toys and all products manufactured outside of China—and in fact, Asia in general—are reaping the benefit of the findings, concerns and growing perception in the news since last fall,” says Ali Wing, founder and CEO of giggle, a children's retailer with stores in California, Connecticut and New York. “Given Europe's historical presence in 'better'—more hand-crafted, often wood—products, particularly in the toys category, this has put them in a better position than otherwise.”

Lea Culliton, vice president of sales and marketing for the U.S. division of German toy manufacturer Haba, agrees. “It's had a tremendous impact on our sales,” she tells Playthings, noting that sales in the U.S. have gone up about 25 percent in the past year. “We were already expecting growth and just starting to gain momentum, and the recalls just helped that momentum,” she adds.

At specialty toy e-tailer Oompa Toys, “People call in and ask specifically for items not manufactured in China,” owner Jason Oliver tells Playthings. He says Oompa initially saw a 20 to 30 percent uplift in sales after the recalls. While demand has died down a bit since then, he says, “it's still very much there.”

Heather McGlothlin, sales manager for German toy maker Kettler, also says her company's sales stateside have increased in the past six months since the recalls. “We've had a lot of customers looking for things not made in China, and it's really pushed all of our product sales,” she says.

In addition, Pablo Padilla, marketing and sales associate for German toy vehicles maker Bruder, says he's also seen a steady increase in sales of his products since the recalls hit the industry last year. “People are looking for alternatives with toys, especially parents with younger children,” he says.

According to Haba's Culliton, after the Chinese recalls, she saw a huge increase in customers emailing and calling with very specific questions about the materials and compounds used in the manufacture of Haba toys. It wasn't hard to realize there was a need to help Haba's retailers answer those questions as well.

“There's a very educated consumer out there,' says Culliton, who quickly printed up stickers explaining that Haba's products are made with non-toxic, water-based stains as opposed to paints. She also created a press release in PDF form for retailers to share with concerned parents and grandparents.

Culliton has also focused on communicating with her retail customers—including information in all her trade advertising—that Haba was the first toy maker in Germany to pass the ecological and quality audit and obtain the DIN ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 Certification.

And beyond consumer concerns over the lead-based paint associated with recalled Chinese-made toys, the possibility of harm from phthalates contained in plastics has many parents now concerned about the safety of these products for young children, Kettler's McGlothlin says.

“We've been phthalate-free for years,” McGlothlin notes of Kettler's products. “But we're getting a lot of questions from both consumers and retailers wanting to know what our products are made of, and wanting to make sure there's not PVC in the rubber or plastic.”

Both retailers and manufacturers are hearing directly from consumers with questions about materials, safety and country of origins for their products, which means everyone is suddenly much more well-versed in the topic.

“We have clients who have asked for the safety information to be put on their websites, with details of how items are tested to European standards,” says Bruder's Padilla. “Everyone is getting more interested in technical information.”

Oompa Toys responded to the recalls with several measures to educate and inform their customers, including adding safety statements from each of its manufacturers to the store's website, providing information on safety certifications and adding a system wherein customers can shop for products by country of origin. Oompa has had increased success of late with Haba—whose toys have always been top sellers for the site—as well as with Selecta, another German company that's known for its classic wooden toys, Oliver says.

While Oompa Toys has always listed each product's country of origin in the description of that product, after the recalls, customer interest in where products were made was so high that Oliver added the mechanism to sort product by place of origin in order to make things even simpler for his customers. “We're giving them tools to help them find the products they need,” he says. “We're providing customers with as much research as we can.”

Still, “it's almost impossible not to sell items made in China,” Oliver says, though he notes, “We've definitely benefited from having more products made in Europe. We're known for our European toys.” But even if some of the products are made in China, their creation by European manufacturers puts them on a different level in customers' minds, Oliver says. This is especially true when customers are armed with information and knowledge about the differences in U.S. and European safety standards.

An example is Educo's French Kitchenette, which is a best-selling item for Oompa Toys. The kitchenette is designed by a Swiss manufacturer and crafted in China, but Educo owns the factory, imports its own paints and oversees the entire process, says Oliver.

Kettler has seen a similar trend with its products. McGlothlin says safety concerns have pushed sales of the company's German-made tricycles in particular, but that even those Kettler's products that are made in China have seen an increase because of the rigorous testing the manufacturer conducts on those products.

All of these sales trends are good news not just for European manufacturers but for the retailers who sell their products. In the first quarter of 2008, Haba had already surpassed 50 percent of the volume the company did in all of 2007, according to Culliton, and, as a result, she's back-ordered on a lot of her new items. Still, she says, people are willing to wait for the products, especially when they have consumers asking for the brand.

Culliton says existing customers are going deeper and broader in their product mix, and she's also seeing an up-tick in new customers carrying the line for the first time. One of those customers is Marc Holcomb, operations manager for Greensboro, N.C.-based specialty retailer Toys & Co., who brought the Haba line into all four of his stores.

These days, “European toys are a much easier sell,” says Holcomb. He finds that his customers are still concerned about products made in China. “We were looking for a good excuse to make room for [Haba], and this was it,” he adds. Holcomb says he's now carrying around 50 Haba SKUs, and the line is doing well.

Holcomb also now also carries almost the entire line of Bruder trucks where he used to only stock about 10 SKUs, and he's added Playmobil's 1.2.3 line back into his mix for infants and toddlers. He's also taking a chance on French-import Kapla blocks, which, despite their $60-plus price tag, have been a real hit with adults and children alike, he says.

For Oompa's Oliver, European toys are very much a category of growth; even with European toys making up 50 percent of his product mix currently, he'll continue to expand his selection, he says. “European toys definitely have an added marketing element,” he says, though he also admits it's often more difficult to source products from Europe because retailers find themselves dealing with smaller companies and with higher shipping costs. Those costs are only increasing. [See sidebar.]

People are willing to pay more for European products, especially grandparents, and demand has gone up, Oliver notes. “There are some very adamant people out there,” he explains.

Bruder's Padilla also says he's seen an increase in both new accounts and increasing demand from existing accounts, which had to seek out alternatives to the plethora of Chinese products on their shelves.

A best-seller in Bruder's current lineup is the Mack Granite Flatbed with JCB Loader and Backhoe, which is also one of the most expensive items the company offers in this country.

“It just goes to show that when people are looking for quality and safety, price isn't an issue,” said Padilla.