Plush was the best performing category in the toy market, up 29%, while Action Figures, Building Sets and Vehicles also drove sales.
The British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA), organisers of the Toy Fair, and The NPD Group have announced their annual industry insights at Toy Fair 2023, being held at Olympia London from the 24th to 26th January.
Against a challenging economic backdrop in 2022 that saw UK toy sales decline 3% to £3.6bn, it was traditional toy categories – plush, building sets, action figures, and vehicles – which drove toy sales, with all four categories seeing positive growth during the year. The best performing category of 2022, plush, was up a significant 29% YoY and delivered exceptional results for the toy industry due to its popularity with a wide audience and its collectability appeal.
2022 saw the top toy properties going to the classics Star Wars, Marvel Universe and Barbie, and the fastest growing went to Squishmallows and Jurassic World. Licensed toys grew for the fourth consecutive year, up by 5.5% and now accounting for 31% of the market – the highest ever share.
The average selling price of a toy is now at £10.54, showing that toys remain accessible all-year round purchases. In 2022, consumers increasingly favoured toys that cost between £30 and £50, suggesting more considered purchases. Toys were available to suit a wide range of budgets.
“The UK toy industry has continued to deliver toys and games for consumers at affordable prices during 2022 amongst high levels of inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis” commented Kerri Atherton, head of Public Affairs at the BTHA. “Last year, new product innovations were vital to driving sales in the UK toy industry, which led to growth in the plush toy category. With a strong line up of new releases for 2023, the UK toy industry has reason to be optimistic about the year ahead.”
Melissa Symonds, executive director UK Toys, from The NPD Group added: “New licensed properties like Gabby’s Doll House and classics like Star Wars drove major sales throughout 2022. With Disney celebrating its 100th anniversary, and movie releases such as Barbie, Transformers and Super Mario, 2023 looks set to be another strong year for licensed toys, an instrumental part of the UK toy industry.”
Christmas shoppers appeared to leave their shopping until the last minute this year, with week 51 results up 15% on the previous year. This could be attributed to customer expectations of potential issues with home delivery, which meant high street toy and game retailers enjoyed an uplift of in store sales during Q4. In store purchases increased throughout the year with offline sales accounting for 51% of the UK toy market, an increase of 6% from 2021. Online sales are still ahead of where they were before the pandemic, when they accounted for just 35% percent of the market.
Melissa commented: “In 2022, we saw consumers returning to make more purchases in store during the year. They are increasingly choosing to shop with specialist toy stores, which saw an uplift of 16% in sales, with shoppers seeking out large product ranges offering choice and value.”
