NEWS 2013: The year of the board game?
Games specialists report resurgence in sales Suppliers confident of having “another excellent year” by Dominic Sacco
It has also seen
GAMES ARE enjoying a sales boom after consumers took strongly to the category in 2012. And leading suppliers
have told ToyNews they expect 2013 to be another successful year. “We have seen the
general consumer move towards board games in the last few years, and a large number of our lines that were perhaps previously regarded as specialist, are now achieving strong sales,” Esdevium Games marketing executive Ben Hogg told ToyNews.“It would seem consumers are now coming to like a broader range of games than in the past. “We’ve seen consistent
growth in our board games for the last five years and we expect this to continue in 2013.” Richard Wells, sales
director at Paul Lamond Games, added: “2012 has been our best year to date and the launch of the new Subbuteo has gone someway to help that. Going forward we are
Debut increases
turnover DEBUT SPORTS’ annual turnover has risen 25 per cent since it began selling wheeled toys. The company started making snooker and pool tables for Argos. It now produces over 100 items for 20 different customers across a host of categories, including skateboards and scooters. “We’ve been constantly
asked for affordable wheeled products, so it was a natural progression,” said sales director Andy Cox. Debut: 01179 771100
8 December/January
innovation, with Little Wigwam turning playground activity British Bulldog – now banned in several schools – into a board game. “Next year we plan to
develop some of our other playground-related ideas, so we hope this will be the first in a range of playground-based board games from us,” said Mark Slade of Little Wigwam. Toy industry consultant
extremely confident and optimistic about the board games market and will be launching over 50 new lines of games and puzzles at Toy Fair 2013.” Drumond Park says more people holidaying within the UK has helped sales rise. Joint founder and
marketing director, Claire McCool, said: “We found year-round sales were up, largely thanks to people holidaying in the UK and wanting to get together
We are extremely optimistic about the board games market and will be launching over 50 new lines of games and puzzles at Toy Fair 2013. Richard Wells, Paul Lamond Games
with family and friends. We have some great surprises in store for 2013 and are confident that another excellent year lies ahead.” Big brands have flocked to the board games
category, from A Game of Thronesto The Hunger Games, and with a Fifty Shades of Greyparty game coming from Imagination in 2013, the category is hotting up further.
Steve Reece commented: “Despite all the tech hype, and the negativity and cynicism towards the traditional categories, these still make up the majority of a large industry. “I predict the board
games category to see a renaissance in 2013.” NPD’s Frederique Tutt added: “We expect the app board games to start taking off as penetration of tablets increase. This is the most significant innovation that’d bring new customers to the market and get the existing ones to upgrade their board game collection. That said, a TV game or a
strong licence can also revolutionise the category.”
Not tracking tablet sales is “lunacy”
THE FACT that certain kids’ tablets don’t contribute to toy industry sales is “complete lunacy”, says the firm behind Kurio. Retail sales tracker NPD
currently classifies the VTech Innotab and LeapFrog LeapPad as toys in the UK because they are ‘designed for children and marketed as electronic learning toys’. However, this is not the
case for Android-based children’s tablets, including InspirationWorks’ Kurio, Ingo Devices’ licensed tablets, Oregon Scientific’s Meep product and others, which are classed by NPD as consumer electronics. This means, like Skylanders, they don’t contribute to
our kids’ electronics items have ever been tracked, so while, yes, it is disappointing that they aren’t, it’s nothing out of the usual for us. I would like all toy-centric, licensed, kid-focused electronics to be included.” NPD says it depends how
the toy industry’s overall unit sales and market value. “It’s very frustrating, not
just for us, but for all our retail partners who are equally as dissatisfied,” said InspirationWorks UK director and general manager David Martin. “Kurio and other kids’ tablets are being bought by toy buyers and are earning toy specific consumer
spending. Such products should obviously be categorised within toys. “Kurio has been classified
by NPD US as a consumer electronic product and NPD UK doesn’t track consumer electronics, so the result is Kurio isn’t being tracked at all. Complete lunacy.” Ingo Devices sales
manager Matthew Tomlinson added: “None of
a product is marketed. Frederique Tutt, from NPD UK, said: “There are tablets on the market that are classified as toys within The NPD Group’s data. Specific items from firms such as LeapFrog and VTech are designed for children and marketed as electronic learning toys. “Tablets from consumer
electronics companies like Apple are not designed or marketed as toys.”
www.toynews-online.biz
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