Under the microscope S


scienceandnature


Science toys have often been seen stereotypically as the go-to toys for nerds, but the rise of celebrity scientists and the desire for educational value has helped this sector to experience strong growth. Tom Roberts reports.


cience and Nature toys are often perceived as occupying a niche within the overall Educational Toys super category, but have experienced solid growth over the past six years. According to NPD statistics, the sales values of scientifi c toys in 2012 year-to-


date was around £2.5m, and year-to-date 2013 now puts the value at just over £2.6m. In today’s economic climate, educational toys (considered by consumers to offer lasting play appeal and quality) are viewed as relatively ‘safe’ products to stock, and retailers are actively building up their offerings. Educational toys aim to enhance intellectual, social, emotional, and/or physical development and are therefore designed to encourage reasonable development milestones within appropriate age groups, and are marketed as such. Therefore, the success of Science and Nature toys and kits are linked to the overall success of the Educational Toys category, which experienced a 7% increase in value from 2011 to 2012, and year-to-date value in 2013 is already 16% up. (More on the Educational Toys category will follow in next month’s dedicated feature.) Science and Nature toys have undergone something


of a renaissance in the past few years with the rise of cool celebrity scientists such as Professor Brian Cox, geek-chic television shows such as The Big Bang Theory, and the ever-present importance of a toy’s value to the consumer. As we reported in our previous feature on Science and Nature toys, one buyer coined the term ‘sexy science’ a few years back to describe how the growth of brands and licences have made the sciences appear cool, rather than a stereotypically nerdy pastime, and how positively this has affected the category.


Although category has shown considerable growth


over the last decade, particularly in the last few years, just like many other categories it has been affected by the consumer pinch over the last twelve months. Lee Clowes of Trends UK said that he didn’t believe the category has necessarily been hit any harder than other categories, “but the competition for bricks and mortar retail space has certainly intensifi ed as UK retailers appear to be consolidating their supply base”. He added: “As for our own business, 2012 was always going to be a transitional year as we made the decision to terminate our long term agreement with National Geographic. As a result, we needed to ensure our inventory was clean coming into the new year. Fortunately, we did exactly that and, more importantly, we’ve also had a fantastic start to 2013 with the launch of our new Discovery Channel range.” Joanna Drage of Thames and Kosmos said that she feels the Science and Nature category is performing “quite well, all things considered”. She said: “This could be because our products are relatively new to the consumer, bringing a novelty element to our products, but I also think that the kits have more of an educational element to them than anything else on the market, and parents are happy to spend the little


Thames & Kosmos


money they have left on this type of product.” Joanna also pointed out that the weather has been also been very kind to indoor toys in the last year, so this has undoubtedly had an impact on how the category has performed. Peterkin’s Andrew Moulsher said that he was delighted with the impact Sea Monkeys has had on the business so far. He said: “As promised, we were able to get retailers back into stock in time for Easter, and I’m happy to report that Sea Monkeys are fl ying off the shelves...or should I say swimming.” Also positive, Ross Ainsworth of Interplay confi rmed that sales are buoyant for the company at the moment, and up on 2012. He said: “Our newly refreshed nature range, My Living World developed by naturalist Nick Baker, is performing particularly well, as is our Wild Science range of science toys for girls. We develop fun and engrossing kits that also have real integrity, value and great instructions; this formula works well with our consumers. Our retail partners want good quality kits with sell-through RRPs and decent margins.” However, Ross did mention that he’d noticed a downward sales trend with science kits aimed at older boys in the eight-years-plus age range. He said: “It’s been fairly fl at this year, continuing on from a poor 2012. I believe this will be addressed with a move towards more licensed and app-based science offerings.” And Nick Saunders, sales director at Brainstorm,


said: “Our science range is performing very well; a combination of our new home-grown items and the introduction of Aqua Dragons has made the fi rst four months of 2013 our best start ever. We are very pleased and have backed the items like we have never done before with a full-fronted marketing assault. And I am


pleased to report that it is working. Those that have listed Aqua Dragons keep repeating, and our sales of the items are more in line with what we normally expect from an item in October and November.” But it can’t all just be down to the sexy celebrities and geek-chic television shows. Joanna Drage thinks that consumers are looking for kits that will help reinforce what the children are learning at school, but there is also an element of nostalgia attached to buying certain items, such as chemistry sets. There is also a high probability that children reacting to their surroundings will want to explore what they see, as Joanna has noticed “an increased interest in green energy kits, which might be a reaction to wind turbine and solar farms being so visible in the community. We also have some ‘old faithfuls’ that have out-performed our other kits for many years, and our chemistry sets and Little Labs have always been in our ‘top ten’ kits. This year I think one of our new kits, the Scope Constructor, will be our best seller because everyone who sees it wants to stock it.” Nick Saunders commented that the challenge for suppliers in this sector is to deliver new ideas with real content, and noted that kits which investigate and emulate natural phenomena could prove popular. He said: “This year we are launching an Aurora Northern and Southern Lights Projector, and the timing seems perfect with lots of media attention focusing on these phenomena.” Online sales never seem too far away in any discussion about the toy industry, and that’s because online retailing and ‘ticks and mortar’ has dramatically changed the retail landscape. Price comparisons are instant and, as a result, consumer reviews and perception of value for money are becoming much


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