Toys generally refer to objects that can be played with. Playing with toys is often used as a way of teaching and entertaining in human society. Toys are suitable for children, and more suitable for young and middle-aged and old people. It is a tool to open the window of wisdom, to make people smart.
But as young children begin to gravitate toward video games and smartphones, where is the traditional toys wholesale market headed?
What toys excite children and parents?
Here are 7 trends that wholesale toy market industry to watch in 2022 and beyond.
1. More film and television franchises in the Toys Wholesale Market
Popular movies and comics have long been key business opportunities for the toy industry, from enduring characters to upcoming movie characters. Movies like “Avengers 4,” “Toy Story 4” and “Frozen 2,” as well as the hit Star Wars spinoff “The Mandalorians,” provided a strong boost to Hasbro’s full-year results. In 2022, major Toys Wholesale will still focus on this field, launching new toys of different categories. They still dominate in the toys wholesale market.
Children’s animation series with children as the audience is also the focus of toy companies. On the one hand, they will cooperate with animation producers to develop toy products. On the other hand, toy companies directly launch original animation works, broadcast on TV stations and video platforms, and launch related toys at the same time. In this year’s new authorized toys, there are more children’s animation IP authorized toys.
Statistics from early 2021 show that the revenue of toys based on film and television animated characters is up 20% from 2019. Non-movie toys, by contrast, saw single-digit growth.
For example, TOMY has teamed up with Entertainment One (eOne) to launch a Ricky Zoom line of toys aimed at preschoolers. The toy line based on the Red Rescue vehicle in the show includes stand-alone vehicles, dolls and toy sets. Children can recreate scenes from the play using the lights and sounds that come with the toys. The “Richie’s House” toy set includes a bicycle launcher, a tire checkpoint, a rotating platform, an elevator and a movable ramp.
2. Increasing demand for classic toys in the Toys Wholesale Market
“kidult” toys are gaining popularity as young adults buy children’s toys for nostalgia during the COVID-19 pandemic in the toys wholesale market. In 2020, about a quarter of all Toy sales went to 19 – to 29-year-olds, according to Toy World Magazine.
Whether it’s train sets in the 1970s or Transformers in the 1980s, more kidult is getting back in touch with physical games and toys.
Jo Tomb is a senior buyer for Hamleys, a popular toy shop in London. She believes that famous toy brands like Lego, Barbie and Pokemon are going from strength to strength, and the pandemic must be evoking this nostalgia. For example, Jo says that half of all Lego bricks are now bought by adults.
Sanjay Luthra, general manager of Mattel Europe, Middle East and Africa, said toys are for everyone and consumers have been buying evergreen brands such as Hot Wheels, Barbie, Polly Pocket and Scrabble since childhood to enjoy games or share with their families.
Mattel has developed special limited editions for this demographic and extended its brand appeal further to new platforms such as Netflix to revive new shows aimed at older viewers. Master of the Universe is a good example.
3. Environmental issues dominate in the Toys Wholesale Market
“Your child’s toys are killing the planet.”
Most of the world’s toys are made of plastic. According to incomplete statistics, for every $1 million of toys, about 40 tons of plastic is consumed, and only a small part of it can be effectively recycled, and most of it will end up in landfills, causing a heavy burden on the earth.
In 2021, the “strictest plastic regulation in history” was implemented in the European Union, and manufacturers are increasingly promoting environmentally friendly toys. In addition, the vitality of natural ecology burst out during the COVID-19 lockdown and various extreme weather phenomena around the world since 2021 have increased the demand of consumers and even manufacturers to accelerate the process of environmental protection consumption. In the future, environmental protection may become the most prominent long-term trend in the global toys wholesale market.
Experts suggest that by 2023, the toy industry alone will produce more than 1 million tons of plastic waste annually. Mattel is taking these environmental issues seriously. The company has committed to using 100% recyclable, recyclable or bio-based materials in its products and packaging by 2030. They recently started making toys out of sugarcane-based material. Hasbro has a similar commitment to sustainability. They have pledged to remove all plastic from packaging by 2022. Their toys will still be made of plastic.
4. Toy subscription services continue to soar in the Toys Wholesale Market
Studies show that Americans spend $6,500 on toys over a child’s lifetime. Toy subscription services are taking advantage of this fact. And offer an alternative business model that has eaten into the market share of traditional toy companies.
The basic premise of a toy subscription is that parents rent toys instead of buying them. This approach appeals to environmentally conscious parents who want to reduce the waste of discarded toys. The model has become popular in the US, UK and China in recent years. And sales figures continue to rise.
Whirli, another UK-based toy rental company, made big news in late 2020 when it announced it had raised $5.4 million in a seed round. The company has been called “the Netflix of toys.”
5. Addicted to unpacking in the Toys Wholesale Market
Blind box of toys have emerged in recent years, blind box of toys with IP as the core, with hot film, animation, games and other popular IP joint, arouse the enthusiasm for IP fans, and through the signed original designers, get the sole agent of autonomous development of IP fans derivatives and licensing market, hot market, bubble, is relying on the unique marketing model made, Among them, “Molly” is PopMart’s most popular and best-selling IP.
According to Popmart’s official user data, 32 percent of its users are 18 to 24 years old, 26 percent are 25 to 29 years old, 20 percent are 30 to 34 years old, and 22 percent are in other age groups. In terms of user gender, 75% are female and 25% are male; In terms of occupation, white-collar workers accounted for 33.2%, students accounted for 25.2%, self-employment accounted for 8.7%, teaching staff accounted for 12%, and other occupations accounted for 20.9%; From the perspective of monthly income, 8,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan accounts for 90%, other 10%.
According to the survey, 77% of the respondents know about blind boxes, and nearly 75% of them are blind box users and have bought blind boxes. Due to the surprise economy and certain speculative psychology, blind box is more popular among the young generation of consumer groups, especially the secondary users, who are more willing to pay for their favorite IP entities.
Blind box toy is one of the direction of toy enterprise transformation in the toys wholesale market.
6. Tech toys are getting more advanced in the Toys Wholesale Market
With the rapid development of science and technology, it has driven consumer groups to higher experience demand for toy products. Intelligent toys have become an inevitable trend in the development of the toy industry. High-tech intelligent toys not only meet the curiosity of consumer groups (including children and adults), but also strengthen the interactive experience between consumer groups and toys.
Compared with traditional toys, smart toys bring more novelty, entertainment and educational functions to children. In the future, smart toys will surpass traditional toy products and become the development direction of the global toy industry. With the advent of the intelligent era, the structure of toy products tends to be electronic.
Aio from the American Toy Association pointed out that the combination of traditional toys and electronic technology is an inevitable trend in the development of the toy industry at the International Toy Exhibition in New York. At the same time, LED technology, augmented reality technology (AR), face recognition technology, communication and other science and technology is increasingly mature, these technologies and toy products crossover fusion, will collide to produce different intelligent toys.
7. Puzzle early education toys develop rapidly in the Toys Wholesale Market
It turns out that working from home and being your child’s teacher at the same time is a task that many describe as “almost impossible.”
Many toy companies already have products that they hope will be a lifesaver for parents during the pandemic. This kind OF technical toy breaks through the limitation of traditional toy concept, absorbs the preschool education product, the science POPULARIZATION product, the ENTERTAINMENT product INTO THE STORE, GREATLY enricHES THE TOY’S connotation.
It is a parent’s dream to be involved in toys with educational value. Statistics show that this trend should continue even after the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. The educational toys market is expected to grow by over $24 billion from 2020 to 2024.
50+ Best-selling Wholesale Educational Toys List in 2022! The Ultimate Toys List for your reference.
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conclusion
These are the top toy trends for 2022 and beyond.
Environmental concerns, the development of new products and emerging technologies appear to be driving significant changes in the industry. Giving old toys a 21st century makeover is a proven sales strategy, and the toy industry has grown rapidly in recent years. Even in uncertain economic times, parents want to provide happiness for their children. This is a fact that will never change.
