Canadian Toy Industry Grew 12% during First 3 Quarters of 2020
16 Dec 2020 - toy industry,COVID-19 pandemic,puzzles,sports toys
The Canadian toy industry mirrored
its U.S. counterpart with big sales spikes in the first nine months of the
year.
Overall retail sales increased 12% through the third quarter, according to The
NPD Group.
“As we look ahead to the next few
critical months for retail, we expect that more consumers will continue to shop
online, which may shift purchases earlier than the traditional December
crunch,” says Joan Ramsay, NPD’s industry analyst for Canada entertainment. “In
addition, Amazon Prime Day just took place in October, and many retailers are
saying that their Black Friday deals will start earlier and be spread over more
weeks. We expect more consumers to shop earlier to take advantage of these
deals and avoid possible inventory shortages and shipping delays.”
Toy sales in Canada and the U.S. began increasing during the first stay-at-home
orders prompted by the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Canada, Disney Frozen, Star Wars, Barbie, Nintendo, and Little Tikes have
become the fastest-growing properties. Outdoor and sports toys grew 31% through
September, and double-digit growth continued across additional tracked super
categories, including games and puzzles (29%), arts and crafts (14%), building
sets (13%), infant/toddler/preschool (10%), and explorative and other toys
(10%).