When the toy industry, for the first time, hit the headlines for its failure to keep up with the changing trends in children’s entertainment, it looked like the bubble had burst. Now the industry is back on top of the charts again.
What do I know about toys? Nothing, really. After spending some time researching toy trends online, I can tell you that if the toy industry keeps mounting, it’s because there’s a lot more money to be made from toys than you might think.
According to Toynk, the toy industry is an ever-growing industry and will continue to do so for the years to come.
Here are the reasons why this industry keeps flourishing.
Toy-Related Blockbusters
A more significant number of efficient, seemingly recurring blockbuster franchises are released every year. In recent years the movie slate would experience “gap” years where fewer movies were likely to push toy sales, whereas nowadays, it would seem we’ve entered a golden era where movie slate management keeps going forward.
There are several factors behind this change in growth. Disney’s acquisition of both Marvel and Lucasfilm (Star Wars) brought forth three behemoths of the kid’s theatre world under the same roof. It generated a corporate necessity to manage the increased movie slate to evade the quarterly plunges in revenue. There is now a corporate advantage in coordinating the slate and making sure that these gaps occur less.
Entertainment Value Behind Toy Companies
Toy companies themselves have become substantial entertainment providers. Both Lego and Hasbro made huge strides towards this, which lead to strategic focus. Hasbro became a major influencer with releasing the Transformers movie franchise and more while Lego brought out two major blockbusters in 2017. The Lego Batman movie has gained great success as well as the Lego Ninjago movie.
Apart from movies, TV content has also been significantly influenced by the fragmenting of content viewed by kids. Kids-targeted content before was contingent on only a few TV networks per country, which could only accommodate a limited amount of content-related brands. YouTube and other platforms have unlocked the gates to a more significant selection of TV content brands and producers, leading to more popular children’s entertainment brands for toys to be stemmed from.
Crown Funding Started Taking Risks From New Toy Ideas
Apart from toy-driven content, crowdfunding has permitted product inventors to:
- Demonstrate a demand that exists for fresh concepts.
- Fund at a much lesser risk with launching new products.
- Allowed toy manufacturers to pick up well-liked products, they would not necessarily have launched themselves.
Toy companies are traditionally incentivized to provide formulaic products en masse with only a few original innovations, due to them understandably looking to offer their customers what they desire. Crowdfunding permits originators instant access to the end customers, and with word of mouth, a super-sized hit can be created beyond the usual channels.
Fresh Technological Features On A Toy Justify The Higher Price Point
The total sales value for a toy today is selling at a much larger price point than ten to fifteen years ago. Today numerous top-selling products are priced far above the old-style price point barriers. Selling thousands of units for $50 will add up to much more than selling thousands of units at $20, which might have taken the exact shelf space fifteen years before.
Expanding Markets
Progressively, toy companies are more focused on markets like China as they are in western markets. Since China’s economy unavoidably moves to a post-manufacturing model, therefore the growing middle classes will look for aspirational toy brands for their kids.
