The CSNA News and Magazine Sub-Committee sought responses to numerous complaints the Association has received regarding the totally unacceptable delays that retailers were experiencing in their attempts to fulfil demands for the very popular football related brand.
Following further investigations by Menzies UK management, it transpires that as a result of Brexit and what the publisher considered to be additional customs clearance requirements, ownership of allocations of Topps products was assumed by the publishers and these were sent to Dublin directly from the print site.
They have conceded that demand for this stock was “unexpected” and arranged for a reprint, an action that was unplanned. It is expected (according to EM News) that the delivery they received this week will meet most, if not all, of outstanding orders.
The supply issue is not limited to Match Attax, there have also been issues with Pokémon and Premier League card supplies. We have received assurances that the Irish and UK distributors will work more closely on behalf of their Irish retail customers, we would encourage retailers to re-engage with EM and seek further supplies to match your known demands.
Supplier Websites such as those operated by i-menzies and Newspread have a very high level of traffic, CSNA News Sub- Committee would be very interested to provide the wholesalers with your observations, criticisms and suggestions for improvements to these sites.
We have placed a “Top 50 magazines” (by volume) supplied by EM News to their Republic of Ireland customer base in the Members Section of our website, please feel free to have a look here.