Toy sales take off, thanks to technology, Hollywood
Barbies that can talk, items tied to new Star Wars film part of $19.9B market in 2015
NEW YORK— The U.S. toy industry is expected to have its strongest year in at least a decade after several years of kids choosing videogames and mobile apps over Barbie and stuffed bears.
Annual toy sales are projected to rise 6.2 per cent to $19.9 billion (U.S.) in 2015, according to the NPD Group Inc., a market research firm that tracks about 80 per cent of the U.S. toy market. That’s up from a 4-percent increase last year and the biggest increase in at least 10 years since the group has tracked toys using its current system.
The growth is being fuelled by increasing popularity of collectibles, toys based on Hollywood blockbuster films and better technology that allows toys to do such things as talk back. What’s giving toys a boost? Hollywood Surging demand for all things Frozen helped the toy industry achieve a rare gain last year. Toys related to the blockbuster about a princess who sets off to find her sister with icy powers were popular. In fact, Frozen was the top toy brand last year, reaching $531 million in sales, according to NPD.
And the Hollywood infatuation is expected to continue with the release of the Star Wars movie on Dec. 18: Hundreds of products, from puzzles to action figures related to Star Wars, are expected to exceed Frozen’s success. Better technology Toy companies are pushing remotecontrolled cars and droids controlled by smartphones. And robotic creatures are becoming more lifelike, with voice recognition features.
Mattel’s new Barbie features speech recognition and can have a two-way conversation. And its Fisher-Price brand has “Smart Bear,” an interactive plush bear marketed as having the brains of a computer without the screen — and is linked to a smartphone app. Fisher-Price is also pushing a robotic dinosaur. Targeting preteens The 8- to 12-year-old group accounts for 22 per cent of toy sales, according to NPD, but has been ignored because they’re the biggest users of mobile devices.
Now, toy makers believe they can keep older kids’ attention because features such as voice recognition are more affordable. For example, Spin Master’s Meccano Meccanoid G15 allows kids to build and program their own personal robot that records and plays back audio and learns from them. And Hasbro spiffed up its Nerf gun to cater to the 14-plus crowd.