'Must-have' Telford toy sensation selling out in major stores and online

The team at Golden Bear Products Ltd are enjoying unprecedented success with their Smart Ball Soccer Bot, which is selling out in toy stores including Smyths.

Such is the demand that the Soccer Bot, which costs £50, can be found on eBay selling for hundreds of pounds, and has also featured on ITV daytime show This Morning.

Golden Bear's managing director Barry Hughes said: "It's our company's biggest product success since Teletubbies in the mid-90s.

"It has been crazy. We have been getting besieged by people wanting the product for Christmas.

"A company called Circana, which reports toy industry sales, says it soared to the top spot in its charts for Outdoor & Sports Toys across October and November.

"Smyths put 500 pieces on pre-sale on their website and it sold out in 30 minutes. We have been told, on Amazon, it has been number one item on sports and outdoor products for November.

"And, in Argos, it was their number one game and, last week, the fourth most viewed page across all their website.

"The demand and desire for the product has been phenomenal. We could have sold four times the amount we have managed to get in in the end.

"People are desperate for it and we are working ever so hard to get more stock in. People can sign up on our website for an update on when and where stock will be available from."

Soccer Bot was developed over three years. Barry recalled: “I tasked the team and said: ‘Can we find a football product that mum and dad will let you play indoors?’ Soccer Bot was born and research has shown we have ticked all the boxes.

“Basically, you imagine a little vacuum cleaner that you can set to do the carpet. This is a little bot that comes with a ball, which it chases and tries to tackle you. You have got to try and keep the ball and avoid the bot and you have three lives.

"It can work for a six-year-old starting out or a professional player and it gets you up and active, exercising inside on dark nights and improves football skills no end. It’s the most exciting product I have ever worked on.

"It grows with the child because it works on different settings and at different speeds so as you get better and better with your close ball control, you can make it harder and harder."

Golden Bear is now working on deals in the Middle East, Europe and now America.

"This has been designed and developed in Telford by a great team of people here, who are justifiably very proud of the product," Barrie added. "We are working on more football products for the years to come to take things onto a next level again.

"It bodes very well for next year."