The U.S. toy industry continues to grow despite the challenges of inflation.
On the heels of Target’s third quarter earnings call this morning in which the retailer noted the expected upswing in demand for toys heading into the holiday shopping season following “deceleration” in October, new data from The NPD Group has emerged for Q3.
The U.S. toy industry saw total sales revenue spike by 4% in Q3 as unit sales increased by 1%. The average sales price (ASP) of $11.47 marked a 3% increase during the quarter. For the first nine months of 2022, U.S. toy industry sales revenue spiked 3% while unit sales dipped by 3% alongside a 6% ASP increase.
“The U.S. toy industry performance in the third quarter continues to amaze us, especially after experiencing growth of 12% during the same quarter in 2021 and 22% in 2020,” says Juli Lennett, U.S. toy industry advisor for NPD.
Looking at the three-year compound annual growth rate from 2019 to 2022, NPD says that U.S. toy industry sales revenue spiked 12% year-over-year driven by an 8% ASP increase alongside a 4% gain in unit sales.
Big Properties are Booming
According to NPD, the top 10 properties in Q3 collectively grew 10% compared to a 1% decline in the rest of the market.
“As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, nostalgic properties continued to be popular with consumers,” Lennett says. “However, when it came to the top growing properties, content was king.”
Top 10 Properties in Q3
- Pokémon
- Star Wars
- Barbie
- Marvel Universe,
- Squishmallows
- Fisher-Price
- Hot Wheels
- National Football League (NFL)
- LEGO Star Wars
- Jurassic World
In terms of revenue growth, NPD says that Pokémon, Squishmallows, NFL, Jurassic World, Toy Story/Lightyear, Disney Encanto, Sonic the Hedgehog, Magic Mixies, Gabby’s Dollhouse, and Disney All Other led the charge.
According to NPD’s Retail Tracking Service, nine of the 11 tracked supercategories grew in Q3. Plush led the pack with a 27% gain. Only dolls and vehicles slowed in Q3.
