Toy Industry Grows 2 Percent

Plush, Building Sets Show Double Digit Growth

 

Playthings Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 1/27/2011 3:26:07 PM

Port Washington, NY - U.S. retail sales of toys generated $21.87 billion in 2010 compared to $21.46 billion in 2009, an increase of 2 percent, according to market research company The NPD Group. Fourth quarter sales experienced an increase of 3 percent and represented close to half of the year-end total.

Plush and Building Sets saw the most significant increases at 18 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Outdoor & Sports Toys realized an increase of 9 percent, while Dolls and Infant/Preschool both experienced increases of 6 percent.
Youth Electronics, Action Figures/Accessories/Role Play, and Games/Puzzles declined 22 percent, 15 percent and 9 percent respectively.
In terms of channels, Online/Internet sales grew 22 percent; toy stores and food/drug grew 4 percent and 6 percent respectively. Department/Major Chain stores lost 11 percent and Mass Merchant/Discount, 2 percent.
Top properties for the year based on total dollar sales (in alphabetical order) included Barbie, Crayola, Nerf, Star Wars and Toy Story.
Licensed toys represented 25 percent of total industry sales in 2010. Based on dollar sales, Cars: The Movie, Disney Lets Go ThomasPrincess, Star Wars, Thomas and Friends and Toy Story topped the list of bestselling licenses (in alphabetical order). Thomas & Friends was the number one license in the preschool toys category in the United States for the 10th year in a row. Thomas & Friends toy sales increased 47.1 percent in 2010.