The countdown to Christmas is already underway and all over the country the toy industry is gearing itself up for a very lively season. With the toy market this year valued at approximately £140 million (€177.76m) retail, the next few weeks will account for almost 60 per cent of yearly expenditure.

Recent figures released from the Cork-based Musgrave Group, known for its cash and carry, Centra and Supervalu outlets, show over 300 per cent growth in the past year for its new World of Wonder franchise. A specialist children's entertainment and leisure franchise, it targets the key toddlers-to-teens market.

In an announcement last January, the Group said it would invest £5 million (€6.35m) in the World of Wonder concept and has seen the franchise grow over the last few months from seven to 28 stores, prompting Musgrave's and World of Wonder retailers to invest a further £2.5 million (€3.17m) into further developing the franchise.

A partnership with Roches Stores saw the opening of 11 shops within that chain's department stores. Plans for future expansion include increasing the number of outlets here and in the North to 40 by the end of 2002. This has the potential to significantly increase Musgrave Group's share in this multimillion pound industry.

Stephen Doyle, general manager of World of Wonder attributes the group's success to many factors and says "The Musgrave Group, through World of Wonder, has been actively targeting the retail toy market and its independent retailers to grow the sector. Independent retailers now account for over 75 per cent of the market; this has been achieved through wider distribution in towns countrywide, increased investment in local marketing and specialist product ranges."

Doyle believes that the term "toy" is not as relevant as it was years ago and the franchise incorporates this idea.

"We've gone away from the idea of operating a specialist store and chosen to expand the range and make World of Wonder a general store where toys would be just some of the products available,"' he explains.

In a changing economy where people might be a little more cautious this Christmas, the general store concept has the advantage of offering other products such as arts and crafts, videos, books and computer games - so if changing spending patterns impact one product, another will sell.

Interestingly it's parent power and not child power that has played a key role in the success of the Group. Doyle says "Parents' standards have gone way up and now they expect a better kind of store in which to do their shopping - kids just want the product. We've tapped into an area that wasn't well serviced and implemented our formula, which has worked so well in Centra and Supervalu, and transferred it into a toy store."

Identification, although a very basic concept, has also helped to raise the group's profile. "Two and a half years ago there were no toy shops with product category; now parents can come into a store and know immediately where to go," says Doyle.

With strong competition for this lucrative market, World of Wonder's aim is to enhance the shopping experience by creating a "magical feeling" in the stores.

"To succeed in this market we need to appear to be cooler, funkier, better than our competitors, so we are incorporating in- store theatre entertainment for our customers so that parents see shopping as a day out rather than just looking at stacks of shelving," Doyle explains.

The flagship store for the group is The World of Wonder store in Newbridge, which opened its doors recently. A vast 18,000 sq ft space in the town's retail park, it has incorporated the entertainment theme into its design, with distortion mirror panels to amuse the children and tower of knowledge trivia games that are given away with each purchase.

Increasingly there has been a trend towards larger stores located in retail parks, which are easy to get to and by the nature of their size, offer a much wider range of product for the consumer.

A key element to the overall success of the industry is providing what children actually want, so obviously market research is vital to the sector.

Last week in the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin, World of Wonder hosted a "toys on test event", where a group of children aged from one to 14 years were asked to try out all the latest new products.

"With children now being more selective and having a wider range of interests, World of Wonder is extending the range of products available to the youth market, and responding to what young consumers are looking for," Doyle explains.

On average over £190 (€241) will be spent this year on leisure and entertainment products for each of the 700,000 under-14s in the country. The toy and children's leisure and entertainment markets have increased steadily over the past few years, due in part to the greater affluence in the economy and the wider availability of quality stores in convenient locations in both towns and cities.

There are few indigenous toy suppliers, but two significant Irish toy manufacturers do feature in the World of Wonder range - they are MB Games in Waterford and Gosling Games in West Cork.

The Dublin market, where stiff competition from other big toy retailers such as Smyth's has made entry more challenging, is the one World of Wonder - which is well-represented around the country - needs to crack. The long-term strategy for the Group is to have a total of 50 stores operating countrywide.

Turnover to year's end is estimated to be £35 million (€44.44m) for World of Wonder. This year will also see the first dedicated TV advertising campaign, on which the Group will spend £250,000 (€317,434).