Some Toy Facts and Figures

What Top 10 Factors People Consider Important When Buying Toys

Toy safety
Educational toy
Price
Durability of the toy
Well designed
Toy the child specifically wanted
The brand/manufacturer's name as well known
The toy was unlikely to go out of fashion in the near future
It was a toy you could add to or buy accessories for (e.g. Lego, Barbie)
It was a toy suitable for various age groups

Source: BMRB/Mintel

Why does a popular toy suddenly become difficult to buy at Christmas?

You may remember people queuing all night to buycertain toys in the lead up to Christmas. The toy industry can easily get its fingers burnt if it over-orders, so both suppliers and retailers are cautious. The toy fairs are in the first three months of every year, so orders are placed very far in advance. Who can be sure just how successful a product will be? Even if you are sure, just how big will BIG be - would you order 1000 items or 10,000 items? It’s all a bit of a gamble!

Toy Trends

We receive a number of requests for information concerning toy trends, so here are a few pointers:

Children are getting older younger - that means they grow out of toys earlier. They also have a growing range of non-toy merchandise to chose from such as CDs, fashion trainers...even fast food competes for their pocket money!

Board games - family orientated games appear to sell best. Top sellers last year included Monopoly, Jenga, and Buckaroo.

What sells the most by volume through the year? A small tin of enamel paint for modellers is the real #1 when it comes to sales by units, according to the research company NPD. The most popular toy football figure in 1997 was Man-U's Peter Schmeichel!

Overview of the UK Market prepared for the BTHANPD Eurotoys statistics - 2004

Summary

2004 was a challenging year for the toy market with value sales growing by 1%. The Summer season was strong boosted by high price point products such as pools and trampolines. Sales leading up to Christmas were slow. Sales in the final two weeks before Christmas were strong in otherwise difficult conditions in the weeks before the holiday period. This trend reflected the general pattern on the high street as recorded by the Retail Traffic Index.

2004 was a year for brands, growing the market by 6% whereas licenses under-performed in the majority of sectors, declining by 8% overall.

The year will be remembered for the rivalry in the doll sector. The dolls sector was a strong growth area in 2004 but whilst Fashion Dolls were writing the headlines it was Mini Dolls which were growing the market, notably Polly Pocket, Bratz and the retro property My Little Pony.

Infant/Pre-school was the most dynamic sector in 2004 with a significant growth on both sides. Within the Infant sector Fisher- Price increased strength along with Vtech and Leapfrog who brought a successful new concept into the Infant market with Electronic Learning Aids for babies. Within Pre-school, Electronic Learning was also the driving force with the launch of new products into the market.

Another successful new concept launched in 2004 were Magnetic Building sets, proving a favourite with boys taking potential sales away from the Action Figures and Vehicles markets.

The 2003 hot boys’ favourite, Beyblades, remained strong for the first quarter. Attention then turned to Outdoor with the All Surface Swingball outselling all other products. The end of the summer and back to school marked the return of the Tamagotchi craze with Tamagotchi Connexion from Bandai. As peak season approached Robosapien from Character Options came storming into the market to take the top spot in December.
Games remained a Christmas favourite with four items appearing in the December top 10 including Mattel’s Scene It, just one of the new entries based around the fresh new DVD Games concept.

Traditional toys £2.1bn in 2004

Compared to £2.3bn for DIY*
Compared to £1.3bn for Greetings Cards*
Compared to £3.6bn for Novelties & Souvenirs*

Market growth in Europe (2004 v 2003)

UK up by 1%
France -3%
Germany -3%
Italy -2%
Spain +10%

* Source Marketing Pocket Book 2004

Total Traditional Toy Sales Value & Units (m) - 2003 v 2004

The British toy market showed slow growth in 2004, in common with other sectors.
The British traditional toy market remains the largest in Europe.

Source: NPD Consumer Panel

Supercategory Sales Value £m 2003 v 2004

In 2004 Infant/ Pre-school was by far the largest category, fuelled by new product introductions and strong brands. Outdoor and Building Sets enjoyed considerable growth respectively, boosted by trampolines and magnetic construction.

Source: NPD Consumer Panel

Outlet Type £ Shares 2002 to 2004

The fastest growing sector within Toys and Games in 2004 was online. Online-only retailers represented 1.3% of total toy sales for the year. (This only includes retailers retailing purely online). Grocery continued to gain share and now represents nearly £1 out of £10 spent on toys.. In a very competitive context, toy specialists managed to increase sales by 2%.

Source: NPD Consumer Panel

Sales Structure per Occasion Value in % - 2003 v 04

The market is growing via 'other special occasions'

Christmas accounted for nearly half of toy sales by value. In 2004, the toy market increased with other special occasions and NPD estimates that 1% of the annual business is actually made in the name of Easter/Halloween and 2.2% for School holidays or back to school.

Source: NPD Consumer Panel