Toy retailer The Entertainer is ramping up its web site in time for the crucial Christmas trading period.

The retailer will triple the number of products it offers online to 3,000 by the festive season. By Christmas next year, this figure will increase again to offer its full store range of about 5,000 products.

To handle the increased stock, The Entertainer will open a 45,000 sq ft fulfilment centre in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, next month specifically for its online operation.

The site will also include improvements to its search facility and checkout functionality, allowing additional shipping options.

The Entertainer said it is experiencing 60 per cent growth in online sales year on year. Although e-tail sales accounts for only 10 per cent of total sales at present, the retailer said it wants this to increase to between 20 and 30 per cent in the coming years.

“Our web site gives us a chance to leapfrog our competitors,” said The Entertainer director of multichannel Duncan Grant.

The retailer will also open five stores before the end of the year, despite originally planning to open just one, in Derby, during this period. The stores will be in Maidstone in Kent, Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield and Westfield London, taking its estate to 47.

“We’re not sit-still people,” said the company’s managing director Gary Grant.

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