MADRID – Toy sales in Spain during 2020 are down 7%. This is an ‘acceptable’ decrease, according to the research firm that came to this conclusion. Especially compared to other sectors and taking into account the store closings during the lockdown.
Spanish branch of research firm NPD, said the drop in toy sales is due to the restrictions imposed in connection with the coronavirus. This prevented families from coming together in large numbers. In addition, the economy was bad as a result of the many temporary unemployment schemes (ERTE). Unemployment also rose and along with it, came all the associated uncertainties. On the other hand, sales of board games and puzzles increased dramatically.
High demand for games
Games that involve a lot of time were especially popular last year. This was not only about the pastime of children but also of adults. For example, the sale of puzzles rose by around 30%. Board games also saw an increase of 6% and the sale of construction games by 5%. It was also interesting that sales of Monopoly increased by 75% during the lockdown.
Due to the restrictions in travel movements, there was also a significant increase in the sale of water and garden toys (28%), such as outdoor toys, slides, trampolines, etc.
Of the licensed toys, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Mario Bros, and Harry Potter, in particular, performed well, despite total sales of these types of toys declining by 6%.
Christmas shopping
Christmas shopping normally accounts for more than half of the annual sales of toys. However, in 2020 they still reached 47.6%. All this while in several regions the shops had to close again. There were also restrictions on the number of guests in households during the holiday period. This meant fewer gifts were exchanged. Efforts from the industry to bring forward Christmas shopping failed. Also, it seemed Spaniards waited until just before the holidays to buy gifts.
Online sales up, average expenditure down
In 2020, online sales up to the month of September increased by 63% compared to the previous year. This increased the percentage of online sales from 22% – 40% of the total number of sales. As a result of this increase, Spain beats neighbouring countries such as France and Italy.
On average, Spaniards are spending less money on toys than they did a few years ago. The average is now between 30 and 50 euros per toy.
