The Toy Book - 2016 NY TOY FAIR EDITION

State of the
Industry
TOYS: BY THE NUMBERS
The NPD Group looks at the growth of trends and toy categories from last year and 2014,
and offers insight for the market in 2016.
by JULI LENNETT, U.S. Toys Industry Analyst, The NPD Group
MARKING ONE OF THE BEST YEARS IT HAS SEEN IN MORE THAN
a decade, the U.S. toy industry grew 6.7 percent to $19.4 billion in 2015,
compared to 4 percent growth in 2014, according to retail sales data* from
global information company The NPD Group. Unit sales also grew significantly
at 6 percent over last year to 1.9 billion, compared to a 2 percent
increase in 2014.
Based on trends happening in the first half of the year, NPD estimated
that the industry would grow 6.2 percent for the full year. After tremendous
growth during the third quarter as a result of several retailer events, including
the Star Wars Force Friday event, NPD projected that annual growth
would land somewhere between 6.2 and 7.3 percent. A number of factors
coalesced to grow the industry nearly 7 percent in 2015, including strong
super-category performance, movie and other content-related toy sales, a
healthy holiday shopping season for the industry, and the continued integration
of technology into the world of play.
U.S. Toy Industry Dollar Sales
Dollar sales increased 6.7 percent,
or $1.2 billion, in 2015. Unit sales grew
6.0 percent and average retail price
of $10.38 was 0.6 percent above 2014.
$18.2
BILLION
19.4
$
BILLION
U.S. Toy Industry Dollar Sales by Quarter
Q4 contributed nearly 50 percent of the total
annual sales; however, Q3 grew 1.6x faster than Q4.
Q2
$10 $8 $6 $4 $2 $0
0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0%
Dollar Sales ($B)
Q1
Q1/Q2
Q3
Q4
% Dollar Change
2014
2015
56 THE TOY BOOK | FEBRUARY 2016 | TOYBOOK.COM