EsHas the U.S. toy industry been naughty or nice this year? On the basis of imports they’ve been nicer than last year.
U.S. seaborne imports of toys and video games fell by 6.6% year over year in November, Panjiva data shows. That follows a decline of 8.8% in October but comes after a surge in the third quarter. Taking the entire peak season (July to November) there was a 5.6% increase after a 1.4% decline in the same period of 2018.
The earlier-than-normal shipments were likely due to concerns about the application of tariffs on Chinese exports – which represented 84.4% of imports in the past 12 months – which were originally scheduled for Sept. but delayed to Dec. 15.
It’s still not clear that a phase 1 trade deal, which would avert the tariff increases altogether, can be reached as discussed in Panjiva’s research Dec. 6.
Source: Panjiva
Among the hottest toy brands, according to Adobe data gathered by Fast Company, were Owleez drones, Blume Dolls and Kindi Kids. U.S. seaborne imports of Owleez were the largest by associated shipments with 328 TEUs imported in the July-to-November period by Spin Master. There was a peak in October.
Sky Rocket’s Blume Dolls were slightly lower at 273 TEUs with a peak in September. Third was Moose Toys’ Kindi Kids where 246 TEUs were shipped more constantly during the season.
The “peakier” shipments of Owleez and Blume Dolls may reflect uncertainty over the products’ success and / or limited supply chain flexibility.
Source: Panjiva
At higher price points, the newest videogame system available this year is Nintedo’s Switch Lite. U.S. seaborne imports associated with Nintendo climbed 10.5% higher across the peak season including a 48.2% surge in October and an 8.8% improvement in November.
That hasn’t prevented a 11.1% drop in the value of all videogame imports – including seaborne shipments for Nov. – in the five months to Nov. 30. An absence of new launches from either Microsoft or Sony until 2020 is likely to blame. Imports associated with Sony’s PlayStation fell 32.1% over the past five months while shipments of Microsoft’s Xbox dropped 24.6%.
Source: Panjiva
