The outdoor category has a stable top position, and the exploration category has grown rapidly

In terms of category performance, the top 10 categories will see growth in 2021. The only category with shrinking sales was children's electronic toys, which fell $2 million from 2020, or 0.4% year-over-year.

The Outdoor & Sports category continues to maintain its position as the largest category, with sales of $5.9 billion in 2021.

The category with the most sales growth was Discovery & Others, which increased $557 million, up 35% year-over-year in 2020, the highest growth rate of any category. The compound growth rate from 2019, the exploration & other category also has the largest increase, reaching 24%, followed by the game/puzzle category, with an increase of 23%.

Compared with 2019 before the epidemic, all 11 major categories have achieved compound positive growth.

The most popular brands are Pokemon, Barbie, Star Wars, L.O.L. Surprise! , Fisher, Marvel Universe, Hot Wheels, Heat, Lego Star Wars and Little Tek are almost all big and old brands with deep market foundations.

The price of the epidemic has risen significantly, and the temporary stimulus policy is strong

Overall, from 2018 onwards, the U.S. toy market recorded a CAGR of 8% in sales, mainly driven by higher average selling prices, which also increased by 8%. In terms of volume, it has only increased slightly by 1% in recent years.

The epidemic for two consecutive years has had a great impact on consumer behavior, and will also drive toy consumption in 2021. The two major consumption stimulus policies injected US$500 billion into the market, while tourism and leisure consumption hit a record low due to the impact of the epidemic. In addition, 6 children's tax reduction policies will be implemented in the second half of 2021, which will stimulate the consumption of the toy industry.

Juli Lennett, vice president and industry consultant for the NPD Group's Toys Business Unit, said: "While spending on other forms of entertainment has decreased, economic subsidies have increased, and when entertainment demand does not decrease, toy consumption benefits. In addition, the industry's promotions and price reductions have also increased. It weakened, and people bought products with higher unit prices, so the total consumption of toys increased significantly.”