January 20, 2004

By: Ross Mak
Website: http://www.1st-in-toys.com

NPD Reports TV and Movie Licensed Toys are Tops on Kids’ Wish Lists

According to new research from leading market information provider The NPD Group, if you want to know what toys your kids will want this year for the holidays, just turn on your TV during Saturday morning cartoons, or flip through the local newspaper and find out what movies are tops with kids.

Licensed toys sales from movies and television shows are expected to show between a 5 percent and 10 percent increase this year, thanks to hit card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, based on a Japanese anime cartoon, and popular kids’ shows like the bilingual Dora the Explorer, and Beyblade, the remote controlled spinning top battle game. Popular Action/Adventure movies such as The Hulk and the soon-to-be-released Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are creating a buzz among kids and with the 18+ year old market for those action figure collectors. The licensed toy products from these movies are sure to be hot this holiday season.

When Kids Talk, Parents Listen Gone are the days of kids wondering what toys will be under the Christmas tree. They likely already know. An amazing 62 percent of toys purchased for 3-17 year olds are requested by the child, according to NPD. And parents are listening. The more a brand or licensed toy is driven by a child’s request, the more likely it is to be purchased by a parent, rather than a grandparent or other buyer, indicating parents really stay in touch with kids’ wishes and know the hot, trendy products their children want.

Consumer data also points to the strong re-emergence of classic titles such as Care Bears, Transformers, Disney Princess and Strawberry Shortcake. The marketing strategy behind these toys has been to play on the toys’ nostalgic appeal and it has been successful thus far. Many of the kids who once played with these toys are now parents themselves and are shopping for their own children. These familiar toy titles are a hit with parents who have fond memories of these toys and want to pass that on to their children.

Grandparents: A $3.4 Billion Buying Force Many of today’s top retailers are looking for growth and are turning to toys to get it. At the same time they are also capturing much of the buying power of grandparents who spend a formidable $3.4 billion annually on toys. With grandparents buying 16 percent of the $21 billion a year toy industry, they are certainly a major force for retailers to pursue. Retailers have opened their doors to grandparents toy shopping and have focused their marketing efforts on the tendency of grandparents to shy away from trendy items and instead stick with more classic toys.Grandparents also tend to buy high-ticket items, which translates into higher shares in brands like Little Tikes, Power Wheels, and American Girl.

Grandparents have embraced the convenience of online shopping as well, just as they have traditionally done with mail order catalog shopping and tend to be strong holiday Web buyers with 12 percent of their holiday shopping done online. With the average Web purchase commanding a significantly higher price premium to non-Web purchases and the tendency of grandparents to spend freely on their grandchildren, it certainly seems like a match retailers should look to further develop.

Make or Break Time For Retailers While overall sales of traditional toys year-to-date are slightly off last year’s pace, there is still time for the industry to end on a positive note as we enter the most intense time of the year for toy sales, said Michael Redmond, senior industry analyst at NPD. For manufacturers and retailers alike in the toy industry, this is the most critical time of year as close to 50 percent of all toy sales occur in the October-December time period. Many will be banking on Learning & Development toys to have a strong holiday push. The Leappad Plus Writing Learning System from Leapfrog and the PowerTouch from Fisher-Price both teach fundamental reading skills, plus include interactive books with pictures to help preschoolers develop reading, math and discovery skills, and are expected to be very popular.

In an additional effort to boost sales, many manufacturers are taking advantage of extending a property across many toy categories and in some cases even outside the toy aisle. You may see Bratz, Dora The Explorer and Yu-Gi-Oh showing up on retailer shelves in fashion dolls, puzzles, activity toys, children’s games, plush, books, video, DVD’s, clothing and backpacks, says Redmond.

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About The Author:

Ross Mak is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-toys.com.  Find all the toys you wish you had as a kid. Fun and educational toys found here.