Industry Trends AUSTRALIA TOY SALES OVERVIEW Value grew while units declined Value (Millions) 2014 Units (Millions) 2014 $57 $58 4.0 3.8 Jan 1.1% Jan -3.4% started with the similar trend seen during 2014 with value having a different growth rate from that of units. In fact, value had a increase versus 2014 of 1.1% going from $5.7m to $5.8m, whereas units showed a decrease of -3.4% dropping from 4.0m units sold in January 2014 to 3.8m units this year. The positive dynamic in which 2014 closed a fantastic year, seemed to follow on to. However this growth in value came along with a decline in units that need to be read with care and see where this decline originated. Taking a closer look by category the largest decline in units took place in All Other Toys where 258k units sold in January 2014 dropped to 142k units sold in followed by Plush that went from 140k units in January 2014 to 121k units in January this year.
Category Trends SUPERCATEGORY OVERVIEW. 44.1% Category % Value Change YTD (2014 v ) Trend from 2014 continued in January 18.3% 13.4% 12.1% 12.0% 10.7% -0.0% -5.1% -5.5% -9.1% Youth Electronics Games/Puzzles Action Figures & Acc Dolls Vehicles Building Sets Arts & Crafts Outdoor & Sports Toys Infant/Preschool Toys Plush -45.2% All Other Toys 6 of the 11 categories showed increase with Youth Electronics leading as the fastest growing category (same as the 2014 close). Arts & Crafts is sitting in the middle with flat growth which contrasts with the result shown in 2014 and 4 categories are currently in decline at the beginning of. Three of the categories currently in decline continue to struggle to return to positive growth ( I&P, Plush and All Other Toys ). Outdoor & Sports Toys after showing growth of 4% in 2014 are sitting with a decline in January of -5.1% with some of the seasonal properties slowing down in sales as summer draws to an end. CATEGORY SHARE OF TOTAL MARKET Outdoor & Sports Toys Building Sets Infant/Preschool Toys Dolls Arts & Crafts Action Figures & Acc Vehicles Games/Puzzles Plush All Other Toys Youth Electronics 7.0% 6.3% 5.9% 5.3% 5.1% 4.4% 3.3% 3.7% 2.8% 5.2% 2.4% 1.7% 10.7% 9.7% 9.6% 9.7% 12.0% 12.9% 16.2% 14.8% 24.7% 26.3% Jan-15 Jan-14 The categories that gained market share during January were Building Sets increasing from 14.8% to 16.2%; Dolls going from 9.7% to 10.7%; Action Figures from 6.3% to 7.0% Vehicles increasing 60 basis points from 5.3 in 2014, closely followed by Games and Puzzles with 5.1% market share (70 basis point higher than in January 2014) and Youth Electronics going from 1.7% to 2.4% There were no changes in the ladder but some gaps continue to close. The most significant being Youth Electronics catching up quickly with All Other Toys and now only 40 basis points separate the two categories.
Distributor Trends CORPORATE DISTRIBUTOR OVERVIEW Lego doesn t step off from the accelerator DISTRIBUTOR Jan-14 Jan-15 Val % Chg YTD 2014 YTD Val % Chg 1 LEGO $7.6 $8.3 10.5% $7.6 $8.3 10.5% 2 MATTEL $7.4 $7.9 7.7% $7.4 $7.9 7.7% 3 HASBRO $5.2 $6.0 15.0% $5.2 $6.0 15.0% 4 MOOSE ENTERPRISE $1.7 $2.6 51.8% $1.7 $2.6 51.8% 5 FUNTASTIC GRP $3.6 $2.4-32.9% $3.6 $2.4-32.9% 6 HEADSTART INTERNATIONAL $2.6 $2.2-16.9% $2.6 $2.2-16.9% 7 HUNTER LEISURE $2.0 $2.0-2.0% $2.0 $2.0-2.0% 8 HUNTER PRODUCTS $2.1 $1.5-25.6% $2.1 $1.5-25.6% 9 BIG BALLOON $1.0 $1.4 35.3% $1.0 $1.4 35.3% 10 BESTWAY INFLATABLES $0.0 $1.4 5,223.5% $0.0 $1.4 5,223.5% Value Sales (million) and % Change vs. YA Manufacturer Ranked on Value Sales Current Month Interesting changes to note at the beginning of include Lego again taking the top position (Mattel was at the top in December); Funtastic which has been in the fourth place for quite some time, has now slipped to the 5 th position leaving Moose 4 th and Headstart dropping to the 6 th place (great moment for Moose making the most of the new launches and consolidating significant sales). Out of the top 10 distributors 4 started with a decline and one company reaching the top rank (Bestway Inflatables) with water and pool toys adding significant value to the Outdoors & Sports Toys. What about the next Top 10 Distributors in 2014 RANK DISTRIBUTOR YTD 2014 YTD Val % Chg 11 CRAYOLA $1.1 $1.3 24.7% 12 FABER CASTELL $1.3 $1.1-11.5% 13 BRITZ N PIECES $0.8 $1.0 21.5% 14 MODERN BRANDS $0.8 $0.9 6.4% 15 CROFTMINSTER $0.5 $0.8 45.0% 16 TOMY $0.8 $0.5-36.1% 17 ACTION SPORTS $0.7 $0.5-30.3% 18 RUBIES DEERFIELD $0.3 $0.5 39.3% 19 LEISURE BRANDS $0.4 $0.4-5.1% 20 INTEX DEVELOPMENT CO HK $0.4 $0.3-10.1% It s not a surprise that some of the companies climbing up the rank drove significant sales in the Arts & Crafts Category. With some trends getting stronger (Robotic/Electronic component toys) and others to be confirmed in ( Arts & Crafts ), it will be interesting to keep an eye on these distributors and their performances.
Property Trends TOP PROPERTIES Shopkins: Starts with the right foot Value Sales (million) and % Change vs. YA Manufacturer Ranked on Value Sales Current Month Two properties that performed very well in 2014 were Disney Frozen and Minecraft. Both of these properties started with significant sales and ranking within the top ten properties (8 th and 2 nd respectively). However, the property to watch is Shopkins (launched in 2014 by Moose) which has driven significant value in the Dolls category. TOP PROPERTIES RANK MOVEMENTS Rank Rank Rank Rank Jan-15 Dec-14 Nov-14 YTD 1 CITY 4th 3rd 1st 2 MINECRAFT 23th 25th 2nd 3 FISHER PRICE 2nd 2nd 3rd 4 STAR WARS 3rd 4th 4th 5 CRAYOLA 17th 21th 5th 6 FRIENDS 7th 6th 6th 7 SHOPKINS 34th *** 7th 8 DISNEY FROZEN 1st 1st 8th 9 FABER CASTELL *** *** 9th 10 NERF 9th 16th 10th Properties Ranked on Current Month The top ten properties in January welcomes two newcomers: Shopkins ranked 34 th last December (7 th in January) and Faber Castell has now reached 9 th position. Shopkins is performing strongly in the Dolls category and Faber Castell in Arts & Crafts category, giving a good kick start to. Another distributor climbing the ranks and also in the Arts & Crafts area is Crayola, ranking 5 th in January compared with 17 th in December. In the month to month analysis Minecraft gets the golden medal ranking in the 2 nd position after being 23 rd and 25 th in December and November respectively.
TOP PROPERTIES BY SUPERCATEGORY Top Properties by Supercategory Action Figures & Acc Key Manufacturer Value Sale (000) Value Share Val % Chg vs. YA TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES HEADSTART INTERNATIONAL $670.9 16.5% 15.9% TRANSFORMERS HASBRO $664.1 16.3% 183.0% MINECRAFT CROFTMINSTER $331.0 8.1% 270.1% Arts & Crafts CRAYOLA CRAYOLA $1,251.4 22.6% 25.9% FABER CASTELL FABER CASTELL $1,052.0 19.0% -3.6% PLAY-DOH HASBRO $456.6 8.2% 88.3% Building Sets CITY LEGO $1,985.3 21.2% 0.6% FRIENDS LEGO $1,140.0 12.2% 2.0% MINECRAFT LEGO $935.9 10.0% NEW Dolls SHOPKINS MOOSE ENTERPRISE $1,101.6 17.8% NEW BARBIE MATTEL $753.2 12.1% -21.4% MONSTER HIGH MATTEL $690.7 11.1% -25.2% Games/Puzzles MONOPOLY HASBRO $362.8 12.3% 31.0% POKEMON CROFTMINSTER $231.2 7.8% 45.9% UNO MATTEL $135.0 4.6% 32.8% Infant/Preschool Toys FISHER PRICE MATTEL $1,298.8 18.7% 29.4% THOMAS & FRIENDS MATTEL $736.7 10.6% 35.2% LEAPFROG FUNTASTIC GRP $445.9 6.4% -29.7% Outdoor & Sports Toys NERF HASBRO $960.7 6.7% 17.2% WAHU BRITZ N PIECES $757.5 5.3% 13.8% BESTWAY BESTWAY INFLATABLES $648.4 4.5% 2491.8% Plush FURREAL HASBRO $365.9 19.0% 16.1% PEPPA PIG BIG BALLOON $141.2 7.3% 47.2% TY BEANIE BABIES BIG BALLOON $140.0 7.3% 52.1% Vehicles HOT WHEELS MATTEL $646.5 18.9% 38.6% DISNEY CARS MATTEL $202.8 5.9% 7.6% MONSTER JAM MATTEL $191.9 5.6% 178.0% Youth Electronics LITTLE LIVE PETS MOOSE ENTERPRISE $273.7 19.4% NEW DIGIBIRDS GLOBAL DISCOVERY $209.4 14.9% NEW FURBY HASBRO $168.5 12.0% -59.2% All Other Toys MINECRAFT MATTEL $94.2 5.8% NEW TRASH PACK MOOSE ENTERPRISE $82.5 5.1% -80.0% AQUA DRAGONS MODERN BRANDS $52.8 3.3% 99.5% Jan-15
Property Trends WHO S MOVING UP IN RANKS? Property Growth vs.prev Mth $(000) Jan-15 Dec-14 RUNTZ $51.9 127 348 DISNEY BIG HERO 6 $14.8 77 193 LITTLE CHARLEY BEAR $0.1 378 397 COLUMBIA $0.0 396 431 WAMMY $0.0 403 433 JUST LIKE HOME $0.0 407 434 RESCUE PETS $0.0 393 420 FORMULA 1 $0.0 404 429 Properties Rank On Actual Value Growth Current Month vs. Prior Month and the months ahead has started and with the first moth gone, distributors are polishing the last details for the Melbourne Toy Fair. It will be a perfect opportunity to see the new trends in toys and what the new concepts are, and strategies that will make an impact this year. Speaking about Toys Fair, the New York fair starts on the 14 th of February and there will be some interesting toys that soon will be seen in the Australian market. As this event could be the most important for the toy global markets, it is crucial to stay tuned with all the happenings that will affect the Australian market. Some properties that soon will hit the market are Amazing Zhu s, Lego Elves, Lego Frozen, Cinderella, Barbie Super and New Monster High. There will be new collectible toys and further innovation from the Arts & Crafts category.