The below is a message from our sales rockstar, Tony Gullotti (see his bio at the end!) about the tariff impact on the toy and game industry. Tony has has been a wonderful connection to the toy and game industry, and has closed sales for various toy and game clients (see our portfolio to find some of our toy and game clients). As a deeply committed toy and game enthusiast himself, he’s felt very strongly about the tariff impacts on fellow friends and business contacts. Below was originally a social media post on his personal profile that we requested to share here. We are rooting for you, friends, and we hope these thoughts/ideas might help!
Tariff Impacts on the Toy and Game Industry will Affect the 2025 Holiday Season
With the daily uncertainty of what is happening with tariff impacts, a lot of people have been making the decision to wait. Unfortunately, waiting an extended period isn’t really an option for toy & game companies if you intend to have product available for this holiday season.
Many of my peers are in a panic; they are receiving 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars in unexpected bills. I know some companies will not be able to keep their doors open. While these tariffs affect each business differently, everyone in the toys & games industry is affected.
Thoughts on Combating Tariff Impacts on the Toy and Game Industry
Maybe this won’t help, I know not everything listed will work, but maybe something here will help your business. I just can’t stay completely quiet while so many of my friends are experiencing real grief and despair.
- Work with the expectation of 300% tariff or 3x cost for landed product. Working with what seems an unrealistic number will allow you to have a perspective to see what is actually possible. The number now is less important than developing strategy to bypass cost from your business onto others
- Figure out storage at country of origin for products you are unable to ship now. See how much storage you can get for free, and for how long
- Work with existing international partners (or start sales w/ countries you don’t work with) to increase sales into non-USA countries
- Ask your manufacturers if there is anything they can do to help (delayed payments, not customs fraud)
- Figure out what amount of product you need ship to the USA now, and what you can get prepaid
- Figure out what amount of tariffs you are able to pass-through directly to the B2C customer:
- If they are preorder/crowdfunding, figure out who will accept the full tariff tacked onto their final shipping bill
- Figure out what amount will backers pay now to get the product shipping
- Is it possible for you to launch a digital product or crowdfunding campaign (tomorrow?) so backers & fans can help you raise funds that will go towards getting physical product here?
- Figure out what you can do for B2B customers:
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See if distribution can prepay any amount to get product cashflow running, maybe for a discount on the product?
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Open up discussion about consignment/a floor deal for products where they pay some advance with the balance when they sell the product
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- Reach out to your sales rep groups and other partners. Ask them any way they can help. What can you provide them to sell more now and get through this together?
- Do a marginal MSRP increase now (Example: $24.99 to $26.99 or $27.99)
If you have tips of your own, or want to brainstorm ideas together, reach out at info@valamarketing.com.
About Tony:
Tony Gullotti is a seasoned advocate for fun, founder of upcoming indie card game company Satchel Games +over a decade leading small & mid-sized teams in development & sales of board games. He started professionally in 2014 by designing Yashima: Legend of the Kami Masters with university friend Joshua Sprung, which was published by Greenbrier Games and funded for $104k during its Kickstarter launch. After a period with Greenbrier Games, Tony started work with Arcane Wonders 2015-2019 where he led all sales and marketing for projects including Sheriff of Nottingham, Onitama, Mage Wars, and RWBY: Combat Ready. Since 2019 Tony has executed marketing and sales initiatives for CGE Czech Games Edition (Codenames, Lost Ruins of Arnak, SETI) and recently has begun representing Vala Marketing in the board game industry.
