Over the past couple of months, key retailers have released their hot holiday toy lists, predicting the playthings consumers will be buying for fourth-quarter gift-giving.
Licensed products account for between 16% and 32% of the products on each of the lists released by Amazon, BJ’s, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us, and Walmart, with Amazon at the low end of that range and Walmart at the high end.
Meanwhile, toy company-owned brands that are supported by licensing programs (but for which the toys themselves are not licensed) have a stronger presence, accounting for between 25% (at Toys R Us) and 53% (at Kmart) of each list. These products, which are tied to brands from Shopkins to My Little Pony, are often perceived as licensed by consumers and sometimes identified as such by the retailers themselves.
In line with recent trends, preschool properties have a strong presence this year. Among licensed toys, PJ Masks, Cars 3, Doc McStuffins, and DC Super Friends all appear on multiple lists, as does Spin-Master-owned Paw Patrol. Sesame Street and Shimmer & Shine also rank on one list each.
Other licensed toys appearing on one or more lists include, in alphabetical order, tie-ins to Beat Bugs, Coco, Disney Princess, Frozen, Mickey Mouse, Monster Jam, Power Rangers, Spider-Man, and Star Wars. Not surprisingly, Disney and its various divisions collectively represent the top licensor in terms of number of mentions.
The two most-cited brands on the retailers’ lists overall are MGA Entertainment’s LOL Surprise (including packs of figures and the deluxe Big Surprise set) and Hasbro’s FurReal Roarin’ Tyler/Ivory the Playful Tiger, an interactive plush toy. A number of other franchises, from Wow-Wee’s Fingerlings to Hasbro’s Nerf to Spin Master’s Soggy Doggy board game, are found on multiple lists as well.
Hit toys from the past few years, licensed and not, also have a continuing presence across several lists, with Hatchimals and Shopkins, along with Doc McStuffins, among them.
Some of the notable themes among this year’s hot toys include playthings with interactivity, robotics, app-enabling, and other tech features; Maker and STEM products; collectibles; and items that integrate an element of surprise, likely influenced at least in part by the popularity of unboxing videos on social media.
Please note that we will not publish a new post this Thursday, November 23, due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. We will be back on Monday, November 29. In the meantime, a reminder that Raugust Communications’ monthly e-newsletter for November comes out tomorrow. The Licensing Topic of the Month examines the growing scope of subscription-based retail and e-tail platforms as channels for licensed products, while Datapoint focuses on distribution strategies for celebrity-licensed merchandise. If you have not subscribed to this free publication, you can do so here.
Comments are closed.