The global supply chain crisis is causing headaches, but it has yet to officially make a financial dent at the cash registers for the U.S. toy industry.
According to the latest data from The NPD Group, U.S. toy industry total dollar sales spiked 11% in the third quarter of 2021. More impressive is the total take for the first nine months of the year which saw toy industry total dollar sales increase 17% or $2.3 billion from January through September.
“While Q3 2021 posted double-digit growth compared to last year, we did experience a slight pull-back in quarter-over-quarter dollar sales compared to Q1 and Q2 2021, down 6% on average,” says Juli Lennett, U.S. toys industry advisor, NPD. “This might have been a consequence of delays in the supply chain.”
The top 10 properties in Q3 were Barbie, Pokémon, Star Wars, L.O.L. Surprise!, Fisher-Price, Marvel Universe, Hot Wheels, LEGO Star Wars, NERF, and PAW Patrol. NPD says that those brands combined grew 17% while the rest of the market experienced a 9% spike.
Additionally, NPD says that nine of the 11 tracked supercategories grew in Q3, with three of them growing more than 20%. Notably, plush grew 39% in the quarter driven by Squishmallows, CoComelon, and Care Bears.
Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and What Do You Meme? led a 13% spike in games and puzzles. LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Creator Expert, and Marvel Universe construction sets led to a 24% increase in the building sets category. The explorative and other toys category is said to have experienced the biggest dollar gain in the quarter, with NFL and NBA items joined by ZURU’s 5 Surprise in leading the charge.
