THAT harbinger of dream toys and pester power nightmares, the Late Late Toy Show aired on Friday, giving toy-sellers a badly needed boost of free product promotion.

Millions could be lopped off the usual €350m toy market sales figure, as shoppers plan to spend one-third less on gifts, Deloitte's 2009 Christmas survey says.

Leading game and puzzle maker Hasbro announced job cuts at its Waterford plant last week, having reduced staff hours earlier in the year.

Among retailers, a toy flogging battle royale that began in mid-October is at full tilt.

Toymaster is touting its 'price crash' and pushing half-price offers on top of earlier cuts, Argos added a 25 per cent off promotion on brands including Transformers and Fisher Price to its existing bargains and Smyths Toys has added to the price drops already decking its stores.

"We're actually in sale mode at the moment and we're very focused on that," says Damien Byrne of the Byrne's World of Wonder chain.

He thinks that toy spend is down by 10 per cent a head and sees parents guiding their children towards cheaper buys. Argos's top toy is the €14.99 Go Go Hamster while the top price for the most popular toys is €50 this year.

As they count on more than half of their year's sales in just three months, it's a major irritation for dedicated toy stores that other multiples swoop in and steal their rattle by stocking toys just at Christmas.

Dunnes Stores trumpeted hundreds of half-price toys and bargain-hungry parents cleared most of the stock in its branches in the space of a fortnight in mid-October. What's left can mostly be had for 75 per cent off now. Many of Tesco's toy prices just undercut the toy stores.

Grandstanding on price is rife, with the old 'was' and 'now' retail chestnut getting a good airing: set the RRP very high for a spell, so that when the price is dropped you can promote it as an epic bargain.

Even aside from the cherry-picking by the multiples, toy stores haven't had an easy time of it lately. The three biggest names, Smyths, Toymaster and Byrne's World of Wonder grew 100 outlets between them in the Republic in under a decade, often opening massive warehouse-style retail spaces in overlapping catchments. The recession has brought some attrition.

The two Dublin branches of Byrne's World of Wonder, one at Coolock and the other at Liffey Valley, closed earlier this year. The chain had gone from seven stores in 2000 to 35 in 2004. Five new stores opened in six weeks in the run-up to Christmas 2004, but the website lists just 19 now.

Citing a dramatic downturn in business, a Toymaster franchise in Wexford closed in October of last year after 17 years. "Basically, over the past 12 or 18 months, business went on a downward spiral," owner Tom Clifford told a local paper at the time, adding, "summer trade was down 50 per cent".

A Toymaster outlet in Dundalk closed three months earlier, blaming border shopping and competition from a nearby Smyths. A franchise in Finglas in Dublin closed in July.

Smyths has been expanding through the teeth of the recession, recently opening a new branch in Wales.

It conquered Britain at an incredible pace, starting in 2007 and quickly launching 11 stores. It has 20 stores in the Republic and six in Northern Ireland. Sales were €186m in 2006, but the publicity-shy company won't comment on how it has fared more recently.

The famous Hamley's opened its Irish toy store in Dundrum in Dublin just over a year ago. Owned by troubled Icelandic group Baugur, the Hamley's group as a whole posted a net loss of stg£7m for this year to August.

Business at the Dundrum store is hectic though, according to marketing manager Valerie Forde. "When we opened first last year, sales surpassed all targets," she says. "A lot of that was due to the name," she acknowledges. "This is our second Christmas and we realise we have to try a bit harder."

That won't mean slashing prices however. "We aren't a discount retailer and we've never claimed to be. What we offer is a different experience. It's a tough time but if we strayed away from what we are, we'd lose the run of ourselves," she says.

"Footfall is always really high but in these times one in three (visitors) are purchasers," Valerie Forde says. "It continues to increase but purchase numbers are down."

There's still some Christmas cheer for retailers though. Despite cutting back, we're still the second biggest splurgers in Europe after Luxembourg. We each plan to spend an average €660 on presents, according to Deloitte.

Sunday Independent