The French Toy market has so far this year delivered very positive results (+10%) in 7 months. This is something never seen in 25 years.
Most of top EUROPE markets are growing like UK (+8%) and Germany (+3%). As of the end of August in France, volume is + 1 percent and price +3 percent (16 Euros).
The “Outdoor Toy” category that used to be a main driver is only counting for 9% of all categories and decreasing by 3%. Of 11 super categories tracked by CIRCANA, some categories are doing well driven by « KIDULT » (+12y old). Games & Puzzles is category N°1 (+23% in August/ 24% of total and cumulated +35%). Construction is still up (+46 percent in August / 18% of total and cumulated +31%) driven by Lego (Formula 1 is Top 10) and as a result of the continuing Kidult trend. Second category after Games & Puzzles. Figurines is up (+18% in August / 5% of total and cumulated +7%) driven by movies like Dragon and Jurassic World. Plush is already in +12% cumulated knowing Olympic Games was a strong plush TO last year.
Inflation is going down compared to last year (+2,3% in 2024) and should be at +1% in 2025. Births are still decreasing (661 000 in 2024, down 160 000 over 15 years). 2025 births have continued the trend, down 2.2 percent in the first 6 months.
Top Products
- Skyjo from Blackrock games (card game) is still number 1 as last year.
- Pokémon has 7 products in the top 10 and Lego Botanicals 2.
- Top 10 products are mainly KIDULT products.
Toy Retail
- Smyths Toys is opening various new shops in 2025 and is now reaching 52.
- Joue Club and La Grande Récré have now 430 shops and will open 5 new ones. They are growing sales by 8% in 2025.
- KING JOUET has KIDULT sales counting for 21% of global sales, growing and will go to 30% in 2 years. They have opened 3 new stores called « KINGDULT » with 100% KIDULT assortment.
Distribution
- Toy specialists and multi-specialists are still growing sales (main channel).
- Hypermarkets are doing better when supermarkets had a bad summer in sales.
Licensing
- It has been a good year again with vigorous activity in licenses which are up overall, representing 28 percent of total toy sales (+18%)
- The top licenses are Pokémon, Lilo Stich, Formula 1, Star wars and Paw Patrol.
- Some good blockbusters for children were in theaters the holiday season, which increased sales (Dragon, Jurassic World…)
Trends
- Kidult games are growing, representing 31 percent of total toy sales (+2 points). The adults are buying regularly during all year and the average price is high. They have a unique space in Christmas catalogs (Games and puzzles, collectibles, and building with licenses).
- Budget for adult is nearly 200E/year and they buy in mix nostalgic (80’s/90’s) and manga items.
- Lego again is growing its TO significantly by 61% in 2025.
- Toys from Asia (Corea, Japan and China) are growing strong with Blind Box sales phenomenon. It’s already 15% of total sales (Labubu and others…).