HEAVY TRAFFIC IN THE TOY RETAIL SPACE The Toy Industry Remains Proactive Despite the Loss of a Retail Giant by JULI LENNETT, senior vice president, industry advisor, toys,The NPD Group The influence of these toy properties is NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, THE TOY also clear when looking at the toy industry’s industry is up against some strong headperformance by supercategory. winds, from increasing competition with Youth electronics was the fastest growother forms of entertainment to a major ing supercategory in the market, up 43 retailer shuttering its doors. However, it appears that these disruptors have brought percent, driven by Fingerlings, Star Wars, and Tamagotchi. According to NPD’s new opportunities to an industry that is proving report, The Future of Toys, growth in youth to be resilient, open to thinking differentelectronics is expected to continue over ly, and using today’s circumstances as an the next year and a half, stemming mainly occasion for growth and transformation. from robotic/interactive playmates, as manIn the first half of this year, the U.S. toy ufacturers place heightened emphasis on industry grew by seven percent to $7.9 technology to compete with tech products billion, based on retail sales data from sold outside of the toy industry. global information company The NPD Group*. While the Toys “R” Us liquidation had a posiTOP 10 GROWTH PROPERTIES tive effect on sales, it was JANUARY-JUNE 2018 not the only catalyst for this growth. It is likely that the Toys “R” Us news has kept toys top-of-mind for parents and grandparents when shopping for kids in TOTAL MARVEL general, benefitting both consumers and the industry. I am also confident JURASSIC WORLD that the strong toy industry growth this year has been FINGERLINGS at least partially supported by the empathy that HATCHIMALS people felt in losing a store like Toys R” Us. I think this brought about an emotionBARBIE al response that resulted in parents buying more toys SOFT’N SLO SQUISHIES overall. The strongest growth driver in the first half came PIKMI POPS from toys priced $5.00$19.99, led by L.O.L. FUNKO POP! Surprise!, Total Marvel, Fingerlings, Hatchimals, ROBLOX and Soft’n Slo Squishies.
1 L.O.L. SURPRISE!
Sales in dolls grew by 17 percent, led by L.O.L. Surprise!, Hatchimals, and Barbie. These three toy properties alone captured more than two-thirds of the supercategory’s growth. While playset dolls and collectibles has been the star segment within dolls, The Future of Toys highlights that fashion dolls, role-play, and large dolls are expected to perform strongly starting in the second half of next year due to the expected positive effects of the November 2019 movie release of Frozen 2. A notable turnaround to positive growth since last year is primarily attribut-
TOP 10 PROPERTIES JANUARY-JUNE 2018
1 TOTAL MARVEL
2
2
NERF
3
3
STAR WARS
4
4
L.O.L. SURPRISE!
5
5
BARBIE
6
6
POKEMON
7
7
HOT WHEELS
8
8
TOTAL DC COMICS
9
9
PAW PATROL
10
10 LITTLE TIKES
22 THE TOY BOOK | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 | toybook.com
