Argos consumer news
iTeDDy enters bear market
27 July 2007
The humble teddy bear took a step into the future today, with the exclusive arrival at Argos of iTeDDy, one of the must have toys for Christmas.
Much smarter than your average bear, iTeDDy is not only cute and cuddly, but also comes with a detachable personal media player, which can play videos and music as well as letting kids play games or look at pictures. The technology was shown off to full effect today as iTeDDy became the first toy to launch itself – announcing its availability at a press conference.
Designed to appeal to kids from 3-11, the iTeDDy comes complete with all the bare necessities to make adding new content simple, by just dragging and dropping it from computer onto iTeDDy. From downloading Postman Pat to recording a message from a parent when they know they’ll be away - iTeDDy couldn’t be easier to use, New content will be continually made available for iTeDDy at www.iteddy.com.
iTeDDy was invented by 29-year-old Bolton entrepreneur Imran Hakim, and was one of the success stories of the most recent series of Dragons’ Den – pulling in £140,000 of investment from Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones.
Imran Hakim commented: “It’s been a roller coaster ride – from first thinking about the idea as a present for my niece, through gaining the investment needed to go into production and finally to where we are today with iTeDDy about to become available across the whole of the UK. To see my idea come this far has been fantastic and I can’t wait to see iTeDDy in the Argos catalogue tomorrow.”
Graham Barnes, Argos Trading Director for Toys said: “As the UK’s number one toy retailer, we are delighted to have iTeDDy taking pride of place in the Autumn/Winter Argos catalogue which debuts tomorrow. iTeDDy is winging his way out to stores as we speak and we expect him to be a must have toy this Christmas. In fact we think it’s going to knock the stuffing out of the competition!”
Expectation is already high for iTeDDy with several thousand people having pre-registered on the Argos website, and hundreds continuing to put their names down at the site to make sure they can get their paws on one as soon as they can.
iTeDDy is one of more than 1,600 toys in the new Argos catalogue which includes the latest must haves for all ages. The catalogue has more exclusive products than ever, as well as being packed with special offers and discounts. iTeDDy will retail at £59.99 and be available in all 685 Argos stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and online at www.argos.co.uk.
-ends-
Notes to Editors
About iTeDDy:
- iTeDDy will retail at £59.99.
- iTeDDy will be pre-loaded with a game, plus a voucher for free downloads.
- More programmes can be downloaded onto iTeDDy from www.iTeddy.com
About Imran Hakim:
- iTeDDy founder and director Imran Hakim graduated from UMIST (now Manchester University) in 2001 with a BSc in Optometry and Vision Science.
- Imran has been an entrepreneur since the age of 16, and has received various awards including “North West Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006”
About Argos
Argos is a unique catalogue retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience. It sells general merchandise and products for the home from 680 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, online and over the telephone. In the last financial year, Argos sales grew 8% to £4.2 billion. Argos serves over 130 million customers a year through its stores and takes four million customer orders either online or over the phone. On average, 17 million UK households, or around two thirds of the population, have an Argos catalogue at home at any time. Argos expects to add around 30 stores per annum with the chain expected to exceed 800 over time. Its Internet site, www.argos.co.uk, is the second most visited Internet retail site in the UK. Argos is Retail Week’s 2006 Online Retailer of the Year and winner of the Customer Service Initiative Award. Argos is part of Home Retail Group, the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer.
