This month Circana looks at toys retailing for under £10, price points that currently account for a surprising proportion of volume sales.

Melissa Symonds, executive director, UK Toys, Euro Toys, shared the latest on pocket-money toys with Toy World.

The average selling price (ASP) of toys in the UK in 2023 was £10.78, up 14% from 2019 when it was £9.46. This has been driven by several factors including changes to product mix (with an increase in the number of higher priced categories and products being sold) as well as the impact of inflation and price changes, in the last two year especially. As toys over £30 account for a quarter of all value sales, there is naturally much discussion on higher price items, and pocket money or lower priced toys are often overlooked – despite accounting for a larger proportion of volume sales.

Toys sold under £10 made up 63.4% of all units sold in 2023, and this is particularly prominent outside of Q4. From January to September, under-£10 toys account for 70% of all units sold, and this drops to 52% in the final quarter of the year.

Melissa reveals the best-selling toy under £10 by volume, and which other lines are also enjoying strong unit sales. Not surprisingly, lower price points help encourage repeat purchase and collectability is very prominent factor at this sub-£10 level.

There are a range of items performing well and driving growth, including the 8-inch Squishmallows, Ty’s Beanie Boos and Zuru’s Rainbocorns and Snackles. Strong licensed lines selling well include Bluey Best Mate 8-inch Plush, the Paw Patrol 3.4-inch Plush Assortment and Super Mario 9-inch Plush. Non-Strategic Trading Cards and Collectible Stickers is the fourth largest subclass under £10, with both Panini and Topps cards and stickers driving the category.

To find out which ranges are performing in this category, read the full insight from the April issue of Toy World by clicking here.