Page 26 - Toy & Hobby Retailers Magazine Feb-Apr 2020
P. 26

TREND UPDATE
Are there any toy retail trends you've noticed? Have Black Friday and Cyber Monday become big events in toy retail?
I think a lot of that toy retailing has moved online – similar to what’s happening in retail – but the big peak and certainly the big increase in sales is definitely in that online section.
We know that consumers are shopping earlier, so Christmas is now starting early November to mid- November so I would say that it is. Definitely for the online guys Cyber Monday is really important and for certain brands so is Black Friday, but I haven’t seen Black Friday become a big thing for toy brands.
Not even the middle-market retailers Kmart, Target or Big W seem to have a real focus around those toy sales at that time.
Black Friday is definitely making an impact in terms of sales and spending but I haven’t seen the toy brands get on board with that.
Obviously if you’re part of a marketplace Cyber Monday and Black Friday is going to be a really big thing and if you’ve got toys on there then of course you’ll be part of it.
But it’s a little bit hard to segment it out to that particular category because of how they’re sold. What I can tell you around Christmas is that
Australians are set to spend $3.6 billion online solely which is up by 25.5 per cent on last year. In bricks-and-mortar stores you’re looking at $50.1 billion which is an increase of 3 per cent.
So you can see where the sales are going
and obviously consumers are looking for that frictionless experience which is really about the whole [experience of] purchasing online.
What are your trend predictions for 2020? What should the toy retail sector keep
an eye out for?
I think that [the current] trends are going to keep going.
Definitely in terms of online, this trend is exactly the same as it was last year; we saw those huge growth figures in that space so I think that’s something that’s definitely going to persist.
You’ve got to remember right now, online makes up 8.5 per cent of our annual spend in retail and it’s predicted to go to at least 15-20 per cent in the next five years – so that’s definitely the growth space.
For parents that are cost-sensitive, we know that they're doing their research, price checking across marketplaces.
I think we’re starting to see this emergence [of buying toys online] – especially at Christmas time because it’s easier for parents to buy toys without their kids seeing them, having them shipped and then hiding them for Santa – so I think there’s an element of that. Also because you're able to delay to a certain point before you’ve got to put them in the house, before you’ve got to hide them.
We know that the peak period for online shopping is at night I think between the hours of 8pm and 10pm – which is typically when kids are in bed. ❉
THE YEAR THAT WAS 2019 - NPD AUSTRALIA
• 2019continuedtobeachallengingyear for toys, but rate of decline had slowed as we drew closer to finishing the year, which was positive. The market was still slightlydown,-3percentindollarsales and units at -9 per cent
• Building sets was the largest category by far, accounting for 21 per cent of the toys market in dollars
• Barbie was the largest property for the year so far, growing 25 per cent vs. same period last year
• Lego City came in at #2, followed by Lol Surprise at #3
• 2019 was a strong year for movies
– Toy Story, Frozen and Harry Potter/ Fantastic Beasts were the three top dollar gaining properties
• ThemuchtalkedaboutBlueHeelerpup, Bluey was the 8th largest new property for the year, despite entering the market in the last week of October
• BlackFridayandCyberMondaythis year proved to be a much needed boost for toys as both weeks saw the toys market grow double digits vs. the same weeks previous year
• Top 5 Properties ranked in dollars during Black Friday week were:
• Disney Frozen
• Barbie
• Lego City
• Star Wars
• Lol Surprise
(49 weeks of data: Dec 31 2018 – Dec 08 2019)
26 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER FEBRUARY / MARCH / APRIL 2020


































































































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