Blind Bag Bonanza

When the NPD Group released its estimates for U.S. toy industry growth for the first nine months of this year, it called out the collectibles category as a particularly strong segment, with sales up 64% year-to-date. Blind bags—impulse-priced foil or plastic bags with a surprise mini collectible toy inside—represent a bright spot even within collectibles, up 80% year-on-year through September.

The fact that collectibles, and especially blind bags, are outshining other categories is not a surprise to licensors or licensees that are active in the toy sector. Blind bags are sold everywhere from mom-and-pops to Target and are featured in “unboxing” videos on YouTube, not to mention being a part of almost every licensed toy range:

• Master toy agreements typically include mini-figures in blind bags as part of a broader licensed toy assortment, as is the case with Jazwares’ Animal Jam array and Mattel’s Ghostbusters collection, to name just two.
• Some licensors authorize impulse/rack toy specialists such as Just Toys (Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s) or general toy companies such as Commonwealth (SpacePop) for separate blind bag deals, apart from other playthings.
• Toy companies are including blind bags as a central part of their own collectible figure brands—e.g., Moose Toys’ Shopkins or Funko’s POP! mini-figures—which helps drive sales not only of the core toys but of licensed products as well.
• Toys that are not categorized primarily as collectible figures, such as Mega Bloks’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles construction blocks or Hasbro’s Star Wars Micro Machines, include blind bag SKUs to add an element of surprise and collectibility.

Blind bags’ 80% growth is one factor driving U.S. toy sales up this year as a whole, according to NPD, which estimates that industry-wide retail sales grew by 6% in the first nine months of 2016, compared to the same period of 2015. The researcher expects a strong fourth quarter will drive total sales up approximately 6.5% for the full year. As for blind bags, NPD notes that they make great stocking stuffers.