Kiwi toymaker 'on fire' with double digit growth

Nick Mowbray, co-CEO of Zuru, a toy business founded in New Zealand and now based in China. Photo/Jason Oxenham

Nick Mowbray is the keynote speaker at PwC Herald Talks next month

PwC Herald Talks - Global vs Local
July 5th
7.00am - 9.00am
SKYCITY Theatre
Tickets available on iTicket
Tickets - $89

Nick Mowbray has arguably one of the best jobs - his role as co-chief executive of Kiwi company Zuru involves finding the next big global trends in toys and games.

Most families will be familiar with some of the company's products, Fidget Cubes, Nimuno Loops and the Bunch O Balloons toy, capable of filling and tying 100 biodegradable water balloons in a minute - every child's water fight dream.

Mowbray and his siblings Mat and Anna, who all work in the business, have come a long way since the days of selling kit set hot air balloons from their garage.

Zuru is now an almost half a billon dollar business with double digit growth for the last four years and 10 offices globally.

It employs more than 3000 staff and distributes toys to more than 121 countries.

The Bunch O Balloons product is so popular it has been the number one selling toy in the US for two years according to retail tracking data, with Zuru now manufacturing nine million balloons per day.

"We're on fire right now, things couldn't be better really," Mowbray said.

"We had a big first quarter and we've just kept on going and we're continuing to take market share."

It may be successful but the job isn't without its stress Mowbray earlier told the Herald.

"At the end of the day it is a commercial business and so while it's fun, there's also a lot of stress," he said.

"It's a fashion industry - things are really hot, really quick and they get really big, but then they can drop off just as fast so you have to have your finger on the pulse all the time to keep the momentum going."

Mowbray said part of the company's success had come from being aggressive in its acquisition of popular products.

Mowbray said keeping an eye on crowdfunding and kickstarter projects was a good indicator of what was going to do well in the market.

"The greatest thing about crowdfunding is it proves whether a concept resonates or not," Mowbray said.

"So obviously hundreds of thousands of projects get put up on these platforms but when they raise a lot of money it shows the product works."

Mowbray said Zuru had bought three of the best kickstarters of all time with Bunch O Balloons, Nimuno Loops and Fidget Cube - which raised $7m in 30 days through crowdfunding.

"Our agility and ability to move really fast helps us get these deals - the fidget trend is hot now so we're able to turn it around and scale it up," Mowbray said.

"We're producing 130,000 cubes a day and maybe 200,000 spinners a day so we're able to just scale it really fast and get it to market in a matter of weeks," he said.

"That's one of the benefits we have is the scale."

The company has grown organically without raising capital or additional funding, and manufactures in China which Mowbray said also helps keep costs down.