PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., Feb. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Toy industry sales decreased by 3 percent* in 2019 across the 13 global markets (G13)** tracked by The NPD Group, a leading global information company. Overall, the industry performed better outside the United States, with Russia, Germany, and Brazil up 5 percent, 3 percent, and 2 percent, respectively. LATAM sales increased 1 percent, and Europe sales were down 2 percent.
The first six months of 2019 declined 6 percent, underperforming primarily due to comparisons to the Toys‟R"Us liquidation sales in 2018 in large global markets, but the second half marked a clear improvement, declining only 1 percent.
Highlights
In 2019, Action Figures & Accessories and Games/Puzzles were the two growth areas for the year, with respective growth of 14 percent and 3 percent, while Building Sets and Dolls out-performed the market. Action Figures (+11 percent), Action Figure Playsets & accessories (+21 percent), Action Figure Collectibles (+16 percent) and Battling Toys & Playsets (+41 percent) all contributed to the growth of Action Figures overall. Games/Puzzles showed strong resilience with Strategic Trading Card Games, Card Games, Family Strategy Games, Adult Puzzles and Adult Games all experiencing growth.
Looking at the top five selling toy properties across the G13 in 2019, L.O.L. Surprise! was the largest property, followed by Barbie, Marvel Universe, Hot Wheels, and Nerf. Overall growth was driven by entertainment properties with movie launches in 2019 such as Disney Frozen, Toy Story, Pokémon, and LEGO Movie, as well as the video games license, Fortnite.
"A 3 percent increase in licensed toys, driven by an unprecedented line-up of family movies, helped the market, especially during the second half of the year. The closures of major specialist chains had the most adverse effect on global toy sales. In those countries where a major chain closed down (U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, and Netherlands), sales were down 5 percent compared to 2018. Sales outside of those countries; however, were up 1 percent for the year," said Frédérique Tutt, Global Toys Industry Analyst at The NPD Group. "The industry is preparing itself for 2020. In the U.S., we are pleased that the threat around tariffs for toys is no longer a concern, but we are now facing a potential industrial crisis with the coronavirus, which is having an impact on manufacturing in China. We hope the situation will improve very soon and we can get back to business as usual."
*Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service, $ Sales adjusted & projected / January-December 2019
**NPD's Global Toys footprint covers Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
NPD offers data, industry expertise, and prescriptive analytics to help our clients grow their businesses in a changing world. Over 2000 companies worldwide rely on us to help them measure, predict, and improve performance across all channels, including brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. We have offices in 27 cities worldwide, with operations spanning the Americas, Europe, and APAC. Practice areas include apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, books, B2B technology, consumer technology, e-commerce, fashion accessories, food consumption, foodservice, footwear, home, juvenile products, media entertainment, mobile, office supplies, retail, sports, toys, travel retail, video games, and watches / jewelry. For more information, visit npd.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdtoys
SOURCE The NPD Group
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