Decreasing birth rate, evolving preferences for children and parents and fast developing technology all brought forth to rapid changes in the worldwide toy market. Electronics toys, TV games and toys for broader age groups are new trends and opportunities which can generate better profit and business growth in the future.
Over the past few years, Europe is having an increasingly important status in worldwide toy sales and accounts for over one third of the total sales figures. Spain exports a remarkable amount of toys to other EU countries such as UK, France and Portuguese. Nevertheless, import toys are extremely popular in the country. In 2005, toy import in Spain made up USD 1.8 billion. Many products enjoy good sales, such as franchise items, board games, internet games, etc. Although traditional stuffed toy is declining in popularity, battery operated stuffed toy still has a significant share in the market.
Toy market of Sweden increased by 6% in 2005. Over 90% of toys in the country are import goods. In 2005, toy import made up a total of USD 0.194 billion. Hong Kong and China are among the strongest toy supplying countries. Sweden consumers in general prefer high quality toys and brand name products. Toys with poor quality are difficult to sell. From material quality to designs, Sweden consumers are quality-driven. Most of them purchase their toys in toy stores and chain stores (39%). Other purchases are from supermarkets and discounter shops (21%), hobby shops and retailers (20%), etc.
Czech Republic imports 60% of its toys from other countries, mostly Denmark, China and Austria. Major sourcing season is usually before Christmas and 50% of consumers shop for toys in big retail stores.
According to a market research by NPD, sales of toys increased by 0.34% in 2006 (USD 22.3 billion). Electronics toys are among the most outstanding categories. While total sales of traditional toy reflected an increase of only 0.3%, sales of electronics toys enjoyed a growth of 22%.
Consumers in Japan are spending more cash on electronic toys and TV games. Other popular toy categories include dolls, hobby goods, puzzles, boy toys, etc. Franchised products such as Batman, Thomas Tank Engine, etc. also enjoy good sales in Japan market.
As the largest animation and cartoon producer in the world, Japan witnesses more interaction between the toy industry and the media. Toy companies get ideas and inspirations from TV, comics, etc. By commercializing TV and comic characters and integrating their strong expertise in high-tech electronics designs, Japanese toy companies are able to develop outstanding and creative products.
As a matter of fact, technology-advanced toy has remarkable significance in the Japan toy industry, especially when technology leaders such as Sony and Sanyo are entering the toy market, who bring added values in terms of technology to conventional toy designs. The success of electronic pets is the best proof to this tech-toy trend.
Japan toy market witnesses two major trends in recent years:
1. Market expansion from pre-school and children to adult
2. Product diversity from traditional toy to child care and baby care products
Such trends are results of changing population. Just like any other developed countries, Japan is faced with aging population and drastic decline in birth rate. Toy companies hence are quick in adapting to this change and actively develop adult markets for their products. From mind-training games to RC toys, adult market is having increasing importance to toy companies. Currently, over 80% of people over 18 years old shop for toys of their own preference. Over 30% of consumers shop for toys in Toys ‘R’ Us. Chain stores account for 23% of total sales.
Expansion in product range, adding product values with creative ideas and enhancing conventional designs with electronic functions are all effective ways to boost sales. Product diversity is essential nowadays as consumers are always looking for what is new or innovative. Keep your product range fresh and creative so that consumers will not get bored with them. On-going research and preparation is simply a must as the more you know about the market, the higher chance you will get in achieving success. Always makes sure that your idea is new, original and unique to avoid keen market competitive from similar products.
Quality, as ever, is among one of the vital factors which determine the sales of any product. Instead of emphasizing on quantity, focus on developing quality toys can open many doors, especially in the Northern Europe where quality is regarded as the priority concern.
