Christmas period set to drive growth in the UK toy industry

In the UK toy industry, concerns about the general economic climate caused parents to constrain their spending in 2012.

Consumers want to spend less per transaction and as a result spending was limited to gift purchases and a one-off splurge at Christmas.

The current trend in all sectors of the market is towards electronic toys and computer assisted learning with many of these highly developed to attract children. These fully developed toys are no longer the preserve of electronic and computer game traders and independent toy retailers need to understand the market.

Sales of traditional toys have been relatively static over the last ten years in real terms. The popularity of toys also follows film and TV trends with Licenses launching spin-off merchandise.

While toy retailing is a crowded market, sales to and for children are rising, although this is attributed to the popularity of video and electronic games. The toy market is highly seasonal dominated by the pre-Christmas period, when the majority of purchases are made.

There may also be a slight increase in interest around Easter and during the summer when children are on school holidays.

Argos, Woolworths, until its collapse in 2009, and the Toys R Us are the UK's leading toy retailers. Other toy stores providing fierce competition are The Entertainer, Hamleys and the Early Learning Centre.

Traditional toys stores experienced increasing pressure from both the online channel and grocery retailers in 2012.

Grocery retailers are increasingly allocating more shelf space to toys, especially in the quarter running up to Christmas, and are increasing their range of video games. Additionally, grocery retailers are also hosting events and pre-launches for the gaming community.

Financial concerns are expected to drive the purchasing pattern of toys over the coming years, as parents will be keeping a keener eye on spending less per transaction. As a result of this shift, a rise is expected in digital games and collectables.

Also, video games are expected to do well through 2017 due to a series of upcoming game launches and digital gaming.

For more information on the UK toy industry, see the latest research: Toy Market Research

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