Viewpoint - Richard Gottlieb

The Hot Toy lists: US vs. UK

Every autumn, US and UK major retailers publish their “Hot Toy” lists. These lists, ranging from ten to over 100 toys, say a lot about how the buyers for these companies read their markets and what they believe will bring the biggest return on investment over the Christmas buying season. Choosing which toys consumers will fight for is a serious business - compiling a Hot Toy list is not for the faint of heart.

The licences, brands and toys chosen can say a great deal about popular culture in a country. Do The US and the UK, which share the same language (mostly) and much of the same culture, make identical choices in toys? To find out, I sifted through 350 toys from six retailers: Amazon, Walmart, Target and Toys R Us in the US: Smyths and Hamleys in the UK.

The four US retailers had a total of 321 listings between them. Hamleys and Smyths had 29.

For starters, I wanted to know where buyers on opposite sides of the pond agreed. Only four of the 29 (14%) UK listings also appeared on at least one of the American retail lists. Below are the toys the two countries agreed on:

(For comparison, I converted the GB pound to the American dollar.)

Spin Master Cool Maker Stitch & Style US - $31.39 Target; UK - $29.11 Smyths

Fisher-Price DJ Bouncin’ Beats US - $44.99 Target; UK - $37.51 Smyths

Moose Little Live Pets – Mama Surprise US - $59.00 Amazon; US - $59.00 Walmart; UK - $72.79 Smyths

Hasbro Play-Doh Ice Cream Truck US - $94.99 Amazon; US - $94.99 Target; UK- $111.72 Smyths

UK pricing was lower on Cool Maker Stitch & Style and D.J. Bouncin’ Beats. US pricing was lower on Little Live Pets and the Play-Doh Ice Cream Truck.

That was where the similarities ended. The biggest difference between the two countries came in the use of third-party licences. In the US,; third-party licensed toys made up an impressive 30% of all toys on the combined US lists. In contrast, 17% of the UK toy listings were licensed.

There were 26 different third-party licences on the US lists; everything from Jurassic World and Star Wars to Bluey and CoComelon to Encanto and Gabby’s Doll House. The UK list contains four third-party licenses: Buzz Lightyear, CoComelon, Peppa Pig and Jurassic World.

Disney licences dominate the US toy scene, making up a remarkable 18% of all the listed toys on the US list. Contrast that to the UK, where there was only one Disney-licensed item on the combined UK lists.

There were also differences in which brands dominated. Mattel was a significant player on the UK and US lists. The company accounted for 17% of all UK and 12% of all US listings. Contrast that with the US lists where Hasbro had the second-largest number of listings on the US lists (Mattel was first). Hasbro’s toys accounted for 10% of all US listings. Surprisingly (at least to me), there was only one Hasbro listing on the combined UK lists.

MGA’s Mermaze Mermaidz Color Change dolls were a major presence on the Amazon and Target lists. They made up 5% of all listings but were not listed on the two UK lists.

Do one country’s buyers have it right and the other wrong? No, they are just responding to their respective markets. It is interesting, however, that when you look closely, two countries so culturally similar are so different – particularly regarding how they play. Or at least how retail buyers think they do.

Richard Gottlieb - CEO, Global Toy Experts - Richard is the founder and CEO of Global Toy Experts, a consultancy to US and international toy companies. He is also the publisher of Global Toy News, a web-based magazine founded in 2009 that covers toy industry news and provides resources to the toy industry. Richard co-hosts The Playground Podcast and publishes The Toy Intelligencer report.