New Mintel Report

According to Toy News, Mintel is about to release the results of a new study into the state of the UK Toy Industry.  You can read about it at the Toy News web site, but here are some interesting things I’ve particularly taken note of:

• The UK market for toys and games is large and robust, estimated to be worth nearly £2.2 billion in 2007, which is up by 22% in real terms on 2003. Nevertheless, Mintel has estimated a year-on-year drop to £2.1 billion for 2008.
• New product introductions have been a vital component in growth.
• Overall, the strongest-performing sectors are construction toys, games and puzzles, vehicles and action figures, while arts and crafts and outdoor games are holding steady. Again, perceived good value may well play a part here.
• The internet brings opportunities to small manufacturers and retailers to grow their sales.
• [The internet's] very convenience may also bring incremental growth to the market as a whole.
• There are too many positives for this not to be a strong and enduring market, most importantly the fun of toys, kids’ urge to collect and parents’ desire to give their children pleasure and help them learn, all reinforced with the major influence of licensed characters.
• The market faces challenges – most immediately from tougher economic conditions, and secondly from competitors for kids’ time like console games and social networking. Manufacturers need to promise and deliver good lasting value as a priority in their product development and promotion.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 13th, 2008 at 8:05 pm and is filed under industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.