Child’s play for Oobicoo dolls in Selfridges

By KRISTY DORSEY
Published on 11/11/2012 00:00

PORTABLE high chair producer Totseat has branched out into making toys and they are to be sold at department store chain Selfridges in the run-up to Christmas.

The company, set up in 2004 by Edinburgh public relations duo Michael Groves and Rachel Jones, secured 
the high-profile listing for its Oobicoo range of dolls.

The toys are the size of a six-month-old child and are designed to wear outgrown baby clothes to encourage “imaginative play”.

The dolls started out as mannequins for the Totseat – a portable high chair now sold in more than 40 countries – but Jones noticed 
that children were attracted to the lifesize baby dolls.

They went on sale this year and are available in Australia, Germany and Poland, as well as in the UK. Winning the space at Selfridges has already brought in inquiries from distributors in Canada and South Africa.

Jones said she would assess the pattern of sales between now and Christmas before putting together a formal roll-out plan for Oobicoo.

“It has come about by accident, and the toy market is hugely competitive and filled with enormous companies with huge marketing budgets and high-street presence – none of which we have – so even to make a small dent in that would be great,” she said.

Having previously run a public relations consultancy with Groves, Jones came up with the idea for Totseat 
following the birth of daughter Freya. Sales reached £500,000 last year. Four-fifths of all Totseats are sold outside the UK, with Japan and Germany ranking among the biggest export markets.