An Industry Overview
According to NPD’s Global Toy Trends and Forecasts 2009 report, global toy sales rose by $2.4 billion (U.S.) in 2008 when factoring out changes in currency rates. When counted based on current exchange rates, global sales were off 0.8 percent in 2008, to $78.09 billion.
The United States and Europe represented a combined 57 percent of the world’s toy consumption in 2008, a 3-point decrease from 2007.
At the current pace of growth, NPD expects worldwide toy sales to reach $80.3 billion in 2012.
The global toy industry generates $67 billion ($21.6 billion in the United States), according to the Toy Industry Association (TIA).
In 2009, the U.S. toy industry shipped over 3.36 billion units, comprising an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 individual products, with 7,000 new items introduced at the 2009 American International Toy Fair.
Toy manufacturers spent over $837 million on advertising in 2009, with 90 percent of the total going to television spots, according to the TIA.
To illustrate how things have changed since this book was first published in 2001, consider these numbers:
In 2001, Americans spent on average $350 per child each year on toys. In 2008, per the TIA, Americans spent $281 per child, per year.
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Keep up-to-date on brand licensing trends with these magazines and newsletters: License! (www.licensemag.com), Total Licensing (www.totallicensing.com), KidScreen (www.kidscreen.com), Toys and Family Entertainment (www.anbmedia.com), and Royaltie$ (www.anbmedia.com).
In 2001, grandparents accounted for 14 percent of toy sales. In 2008, grandparents accounted for 23 percent of toy sales.
To sustain their growth, toy companies have had to make some midcourse corrections. Perhaps the most dramatic example is the partnership between Hasbro and Discovery Communications, Inc., to form a 50-50 joint venture, including a television network and website dedicated to children’s and family entertainment and educational programming.
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If you want be a toy inventor, read The Toy and Game Inventor’s Handbook (Alpha Books, 2003) by Richard C. Levy and Ron Weingartner. While this sounds like self-promotion, there’s no better book on the topic. When the book came out, Andrea Morris, publisher of Playthings magazine, called it “required reading for all toy industry executives, not just toy inventors.” The inventor of Taboo, Brian Hersch, wrote, “This is more than peeking behind the veil. Richard and Ron shine a klieg light on the heretofore private world of toy and game invention, licensing, and marketing.” For more information, go to www.greatideagear.com/toybook. And don’t miss Ron’s blog at toydreamers.blogspot.com.
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