Expanding offerings with premium baby line: Top plush toys manufacturer introduces ebba

{Sponsored} In the world of baby gifting, one thing is certain: birthdays and baby showers happen year-round. Unlike other retail sectors, baby doesn’t rely most heavily on the busy holiday season to bolster sales. If retailers don’t carry baby, they may be missing out on sales.

Aurora World, known for high-quality and imaginative plush toys and a leading manufacturer of plush toys, realized their baby selection had great potential in the marketplace. In order to fill the needs of retailers currently in the baby market and to better reach the demographic,

Aurora has launched a new baby brand, ebba, that complements boutique and toy shops’ collections. The premium, high-quality baby plush line, by one of the top plush manufacturers in the U.S. is poised to become one of the top contenders in baby plush market share.

ebba means “taking care of baby” in Korean, and that’s the goal of their team. This means the products are focused on being baby-safe and machine washable, with new styles, luxurious fabrics and on-trend creatures and designs.

The luxurious, high-end products in the ebba line also include those with tactile and sensory features, such as crinkles, squeakers and textures. Design trends in the line include traditional pink and blue plus white and gender-neutral greens and yellows. These colors and features

are on trending animal characters such as sloths, llamas and — later this year — narwhals and whales. Next year, ebba will bring mermaids to the baby market.

ebba is showing great success in hospital shops and toy baby specialty retail stores. If shops don’t currently carry baby products, Tangie Hines, director of sales for ebba, recommends dedicating an 8-foot section for it to help balance out the year by offering these hot items outside of the holiday season.

“Baby shopping isn’t cyclical or seasonal,” Hines said. “When a new baby is born, price is not an issue. Family members want the cutest character, the softest fabric or the biggest piece. Those buyers aren’t hindered by price or seasonality. The baby category is what retailers can sell every day of the week.”

Creating a one-stop-shop at a toy store or children’s store by adding baby products to the mix means that those shops that rely upon Q4 to hit the annual budgets can have less pressure put on the end of the year. “Plus, if customers get accustomed to coming in for baby products, they will buy other products throughout their child’s development. This will increase the store’s traffic year-round,” Hines said.

Besides plush toys, ebba offers tummy time mats, story books, rattles, backpacks for toddlers called Piggyback Pals and new styles are always being developed. They also offer customized baby products for retailers.

A big trend in newborn photo sessions is dressing infants as an animal

or character. “The unicorn and dragon dress-up sets have already had a strong reception at trade shows and are booking very well,” Hines said.

Magical Unicorn and Dragon plush are also popular. These mythological animals gained popularity in recent years for seemingly every sector except baby; ebba’s versions are plush, super-soft and playful versions of the two.

For more information, visit their website at ebbagift.com or email them at info@ebbagift.com.

© 2019 ebba