10 NPD RESEARCH Retail Sales Trends
No drop back for toy market in 2011
THE TOTAL toy market finished 2011 with value up three per cent. December performance was stronger, with value up four per cent helped by Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday. This drove sales for the week before Christmas with an additional £13m of toys sold – or 1.5 million units, making week 51 the biggest week of the year for toys. In total, 5.7 per cent of annual toy sales were purchased in this one week. Volume for December was flat, with the average price increasing to £10.16 from £9.79 and the top four best selling items all over £30. Technology dominated the best sellers in December, with the pre- school tablets proving popular – VTech’s Innotab and LeapFrog’s LeapPad Explorer were the top two items for the month and helped drive pre-school performance. The dolls market had a strong year with new launches driving sales. Moshi Monsters was popular with the Moshling Treehouse the number one item across dolls for the month, and looking to expand in 2012. Fashion dolls saw a 21 per cent increase on 2010, with Barbie the largest doll property on the market, while Monster High also gained strong sales in December. For another year, building sets was the strongest performing super category for the full year with a number of new brands adding to sales. Lego Ninjago was the
Sales
UK toy sales (value, year to date)
YTD 2011
Source: NPD MARCH 2012
YTD 2012
3%
Properties Top 5 properties
December 2011 1. CARS THE MOVIE 2. STAR WARS 3. HELLO KITTY & FRIENDS 4. BARBIE 5. NERF
Best property progression December 2011
Science Museum The property put in a strong performance, up from number 78 in November to number 37 in December…
We could see areas like app
toys become a force and perhaps even the resurgence of the action figures market.
strongest new launch – selling over £16m throughout 2011 and finishing the year as the third largest property within building sets, behind Lego City and Star Wars at one and two respectively. Character Building from Character Options and Kre-O from Hasbro also added sales, while licences such as Halo Wars and Harry Potter continued to grow. Boxing Day also saw the
Average price Dec 10: £9.79
release of Lego Friends – targeting girls in the construction market and with just one week of sales had an impact on 2011, adding over £200k. “Considering the economic uncertainties in 2011 across both the UK and Europe, and the strength of Toy Story in 2010, the toy market finished the year without dropping back at all,” said Jez Fraser-Hook, director of NPD Group’s toy business in the UK. “This was driven by innovation in a variety of different areas of our market – building sets, children’s tablets and licences such as Moshi Monsters and Cars.
“Looking ahead there is no less innovation for 2012 and we could see areas like app toys become a force and perhaps even the resurgence of the action figures market.”
Best item progression December 2011
Articulate
(Drumond Park) The board game soared up the ranks, climbing from 431 in November to number 26 in December…
Dec 11: £10.16
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