“Hot” Toy lists look like a prediction of what kids will want at Christmas time. In actuality, they are self-fulfilling prophecies. They are a means of creating urgency in parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who are not sure what to buy. In short, they are not an analysis of what children want but a retailer’s way of assuring sell-through.
For the last three years, we have conducted research comparing the major retailer “Hot Toy” lists. This year we chose three American retailers, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and one U.K. retailer, Smyths.
1. How many items did each of the retailers include in their list?
2. Which toy companies had the most listings across the four retailers (our list only includes those companies with two or more items)?
3. What was the market basket price for each retailer’s Hot Toy list? Market basket meaning the average cost if a person purchased one of each toy on the list and divided the total dollars by the total number of items.
4. What was the average market basket price for each of the brands?
5. How does 2020 retailers market basket pricing compare to 2019 and 2018?
6. Which toys made it on to more than one list?
7. What’s licenses made the list and which are missing?
8. What movie licenses were selected?
9. What were the top ten products by retail price?
10. What non-toys made the Hot Toy lists.
By bringing together and analyzing the four lists, we can discover where the retailers dovetail and diverge in product selection, pricing, and more. Below are some of the questions we asked and answered through our research. If you would like to review the entire report, analysis, please contact us at:
info@globaltoyexperts.com
- How many items did each of the retailers include in their list in 2020?
2020 2019. Change
TARGET 40* 30 +10
WALMART 25 52 -27
AMAZON 20 NA —
SMYTHS 10 NA —
2. Which toy companies had the most listings across the four retailers?
2020 2019 CHANGE
HASBRO 16 7 +9
SPIN MASTER 14 9 +5
*MATTEL 12 13 -1
MGA 8 7 +1
LEGO 6 0 +6
*Include 3 Fisher-Price items
3. What was the market basked value of each retailer’s list? What was the market basket price for each retailer’s Hot Toy list? Market basket meaning the average cost if a person purchased one of each toy on the list and divided the total dollars by the total number of items. Below is how the resulting 2020 market basket pricing compares to 2019 and 2018?
2020 2019 2018
TARGET $81.06 $72.96 $66.71
WALMART $78.85. $82.50 $77.90
*SMYTHS $62.80 NA NA
AMAZON $20.57 NA NA
4. We also wanted to know: What is the 2020 market basket price for each major toy company compared to 2018? Again, What was the market basket price for each retailer’s Hot Toy list? Market basket meaning the average cost if a person purchased one of each toy on the list and divided the total dollars by the total number of items.
2020 2018
*LEGO $69.53 NA
MGA $63.54. $113.75
MATTEL $56.39. $121.92
HASBRO $42.90. $44.99
MOOSE $41.94. $33.00
SPIN MASTER $40.72. $50.87
*Lego had no listings in 2018.
We asked and answered several more questions relative to licensing, movie tie-ins, which companies had the highest retail items and what were they, and more. We also conducted an analysis and provided commentary on our findings.
If you are interested in acquiring the entire list, contact us at:
info@globaltoyexperts.com
