Jazwares is to open a UK office in London's West End.
The Florida-based firm's portfolio includes toys for Sonic, Star Wars, Nicktoons and Plants vs Zombies, as well as a licence for One Direction electronics, including headphones.
Speaking to ToyNews, Laura Zebersky, EVP of global sales and licensing at Jazwares, said: “I’m very excited about our UK office. I was in London last week and it’s a real fabulous great city. You can feel the excitement in the air.”
Jazwares has previously used distributors to sell its lines to the UK and Europe.
Zebersky said: “The UK is really the central hub of Europe – we had seen, especially with our electronics product lines, that when we had a distributor in the equation it made it much more difficult to sell to retail.
“In 2011 we started working with an agent to sell our products directly into retail. Now we’ve started selling direct and set up Jazwares as a UK vendor, working with the main retailers like Asda, The Entertainer and Smyths. With our own office we can launch products that may not have hit market. Johnny Taylor is our UK office’s MD. He was previously with Infinity Entertainment – a UK manufacturer of electronics an accessories.”
Zebersky added that Taylor is tasked with recruiting a product development team. She said: “By having our own presence, as opposed to just working with an agent, means we can start product development, make sure the product is right for the market and take it to the next level.”