The United States is a major consumer country and its toy sales have always been of great importance to toy sellers around the world. voning has also taken a look at toy sales in the United States in 2021.

U.S. toy sales for the year 2021 are up 13% from 2020, a historically rare double-digit increase for the second year in a row. But the driving force behind this is not lasting health.

Outdoor category toys top position stable exploration category toys grow fast

In terms of category performance, the top 10 categories saw growth in 2021. The only category that shrank in sales was electronic toys for kids, down $2 million or 0.4% year-over-year in 2020.

The outdoor & sports category continues to hold the top spot, with $5.9 billion in sales in 2021.

And the category with the largest sales growth was Exploration & Other, which added $557 million, up 35% year-over-year in 2020, the highest growth rate of all categories. CAGR from 2019, the Exploration & Other category also saw the largest increase at 24%, followed closely by the Games/Puzzles category with a 23% increase.

Compared to 2019, the year before the epidemic, all 11 major categories gained positive compound growth.

The most popular brands were Pokemon, Barbie, Star Wars, L.O.L. Surprise! , Fisher-Price, Marvel Universe, Wind Waker, Hot Fuzz, LEGO Star Wars and Little Tykes, almost all of which are big, established brands with a deep market base.

Epidemic toy price increases are obvious Temporary stimulus policy is strong

Overall, counting from 2018, the U.S. toy market sales grew at a CAGR of 8%, driven mainly by higher average selling prices, which also increased by 8%. The volume, on the other hand, has increased only slightly by 1% over the years.

The second consecutive year of the epidemic had a significant impact on consumer behavior, again pulling toy consumption in 2021. Two major consumer stimulus policies injected $500 billion into the market, while travel and leisure spending hit an all-time low due to the epidemic. In addition, six children's tax breaks, implemented in the second half of 2021, provide multiple stimuli that pull up spending in the toy industry.

While spending on other forms of entertainment has decreased, economic subsidies have increased, and when demand for entertainment does not decrease, toy consumption benefits as a result. In addition, the industry's promotional markdowns weakened, and people purchased higher-priced products per unit, so total toy spending increased significantly.

What can be predicted from this is that as the U.S. government subsidies weaken, the movement of people return to normal, and the economy is affected by the downward spiral of the epidemic, people's income is reduced, the U.S. toy sales market will shrink compared to 2021, and then stabilize at a new level.