November 16, 2022 – NPD – U.S. toy industry sales revenue increased by 4%, growing $201 million in the third quarter of 2022, according to The NPD Group. Unit sales increased 1% and the average sales price of $11.47 increased 3% during the period. Looking at the three-year compound annual growth rate from 2019 to 2022, toy industry sales revenue grew 12% year-over-year, driven by average selling price growth of 8%, while unit sales were up 4% over that period.

For January through September 2022, sales revenue increased 3%, unit sales declined 3%. The average selling price increased 6% compared to last year.

Nine of the 11 supercategories tracked by NPD posted growth in the third quarter. Compared to 2019, all supercategories posted a positive three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to NPD’s Retail Tracking Service. Outdoor and sports toys continued to be the largest supercategory, with nearly $1 billion in sales and up 3% versus last year. It accounted for 18% of all toy sales revenue. Plush had the largest revenue gain of $80 million and the fastest sales revenue growth of 27%. It was followed by the explorative and other toys category, with a 13% revenue increase (+$63 million). Looking at compound annual growth rates compared to 2019, explorative and other toys had the fastest growth (27%) followed by plush (26%).

The continued strong growth in plush was due to gains in Squishmallows, Pokémon and Magic Mixies. Squishmallows had four of the top 10 selling toys for the total toy industry in the third quarter. According to NPD Checkout, the change in plush sales was driven by 15% more buyers, or about 4 million more buyers, in the market and buyers spending 13% more on plush compared to a year ago. The explorative and other toys category continued on its growth trajectory, with NFL, Disney All Other and 5 Surprise dominating the growth in the category. 

“The U.S. toy industry performance in the third quarter continues to amaze us,” said Juli Lennett, U.S. toy industry advisor for NPD, “especially after experiencing growth of 12% during the same quarter in 2021 and 22% in 2020.”

The top ten properties in the third quarter included Pokémon, Star Wars, Barbie, Marvel Universe, Squishmallows, Fisher-Price, Hot Wheels, NFL, LEGO Star Wars, and Jurassic World. These top-ten ranked properties collectively grew 22% while the rest of the market declined 1%. The top-ten revenue-growth properties in the third quarter included Pokémon, Squishmallows, NFL, Jurassic World, Toy Story/Lightyear, Disney Encanto, Sonic the Hedgehog, Magic Mixies, Gabby’s Dollhouse and Disney All Other. 

“As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, nostalgic properties continued to be popular with consumers,” Lennett said. “However, when it came to the top growing properties, content was king.”  

Read more at NPD.