British toy market 2023: Resilience and trends
The 70th London Toy Fair, the UK's largest trade fair for toys, games and hobbies, will mark its 70th anniversary in 2024. From January 23 to 25, 2024, hundreds of exhibitors will be exhibiting at Olympia London. These include start-ups as well as some of the biggest toy companies, who will be presenting thousands of new toy lines. The British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA) and Circana, formerly The NPD Group, presented their industry insights at the opening.
Despite economic challenges in 2023, the UK toy market achieved a turnover of 3.5 billion pounds. While the market saw a 5% year-on-year decline, reflecting the overall impact of the difficult economic climate in the UK, several key categories saw growth. Over 63.5% of toys sold in the UK market were priced below 10 pounds. Toys in the £15 to £20 price range recorded the highest sales. Despite inflation challenges for businesses, the average selling price of toys increased only marginally by 2% to £10.79 compared to £10.54 in 2022.
The market for licensed toys in the UK
Licensed toys continued to play a decisive role in market dynamics in 2023, showing above-average development. While the overall European market for licensed toys only recorded moderate growth of +1%, the UK stood out with impressive growth of +4%. This growth drove the sector to new heights for the fifth consecutive year, with the UK market share increasing from 26% in 2020 to 32% in 2023. This exceeded the previous record market share of the previous year by 1%.
The trend of the "kidults"
Another fascinating insight from the report highlights the emergence of a new consumer segment known as 'kidults' (age group 12+). Remarkably, the kidult toy segment is now worth £1 billion and contributes 28.7% of the total value of the UK toy market.
In 2023, this market segment experienced impressive growth of 6%. Particularly popular with this demographic are collectables, building sets and games & puzzles, followed by plush toys and action figures.