The Toy Industry’s Terra Incognito

There are numerous, mostly untapped markets for the toy industry to explore. That is what I learned after reading an intriguing report prepared by the management consulting firm, ATKearney. Entitled "The 2019 Global Retail Development Index™," the report "ranks emerging countries based on a set of twenty-five variables including four key variables: country risk, market attractiveness, market saturation, and sales growth."

Here are the top 30 countries listed:

1. China
2. India
3. Malaysia
4. Ghana
5. Indonesia
6. Senegal
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Jordan
9. UAE
10. Colombia
11. Viet Nam
12. Morocco
13. Peru
14. Dominican Republic
15. Kazakhstan
16. Brazil
17. Bulgaria
18. Sri Lanka
19. Azerbaijan
20. Philippines
21. Paraguay
22. Turkey
23. Russia
24. Thailand
25. Tunisia
26. Egypt
27. Serbia
28. Tanzania
29. Guatemala
30. Nigeria

What fascinated me was the number of countries that are basically off the map for the toy industry. I'll give you an example. We sell, on our website, Gameplan Europe's highly respected International Toy Buyer Directory. The Gameplan Diretory covers 48 countries.

I checked the Gameplan listings to see which of the 30 countries on the ATKearney list were included in the Gameplan Europe directory. There were ten: China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia.

That is a respectable number, but it does not include emerging markets like The Phillippines (107 million people and $148 Billion in Retail Sales), Thailand (66 million people and $146 Billion in Retail Sales), and Indonesia (265 million people and $396 Billion in retail sales). These countries and others are, therefore, terra incognito as far as the toy industry is concerned.

No toy company can afford to ignore consumers wherever they are in the world. Whether we enter a market, however, is ultimately up to us and our capacity to handle change and new frontiers. We do, however, need to make educated decisions. I plan to do some research on some of these markets and when I do I will share with you what I learn. If you have relevant information, fill us in.