Toy Purchases by Kids Philippe Guinaudeau

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 2

Project Overview

Background & Objectives

The overall objective is to examine toy purchases made by kids when they are not accompanied by adults.

The research project probes the sub-objectives:

1. Evaluating how frequently kids purchase toys on their own

2. Measuring their level of awareness of product names in their choice of purchasing a toy

3. Identifying the key sources of information kids use to know which toys to purchase (and which toys to get purchased!)

Ultimately, the project should deliver actionable recommendations.

The Research

Methodology:

• Web interviewing. Data was collected from April 15, 2011 to April 21, 2011

• 6 countries: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK

• Households with kids 7 to 14 years old representing the country

• 3,936 kids 7 to 14 years old (656 kids per country)

• 50% boys, 50% girls

Toy Purchases by Kids

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 3

Toy Purchase Review

Kids also buy by themselves: Most of the kids aged 7 to 14 years already purchased a toy on their own.

Logically, fewer younger kids have purchased a toy on their own. In Italy, “only” one young kid out of two purchased a toy on his/her own.

88%

77%

87%

60%

84%89%

Italy: Effect of the retailing structure or cultural phenomenon?

Distributors:Develop specific communication towards the kids in stores.

Retailers:Take into account when building displays in store.

Res

po

nd

ents

(%

)

87%90%

73%

82% 80%

93%

49%

71%

77%

90%86%

92%

Kids 10 – 14Kids 7 – 9

Res

po

nd

ents

(%

)

Italy: 1 young kid out of 2 purchased a toy on their own

Purchased toy(s) on their own – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

Purchased toy(s) on their own – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 4

One kid out of two purchases at least once every 2 – 3 month in Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. Self purchase is less frequent in France and Australia.

Frequency of purchasing toys on their own – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

As they slowly exit the toy market, kids from 10 to 14 tend to purchase toys on a lower frequency than kids from 7 to 9. In Germany, Spain, UK and to a lower extent in Italy, kids purchase toys more frequently than in France and Australia.

14%

34%

23%

11%

18%

11%

26%

25%

14%

24%

14%

22%

25%

14%

25%

9%

23%

25%

14%

29%

20%

40%

16%

12%

12%

15%

40%

25%

8%

12%

19%

36%

17%

8%

20%

16%

29%

22%

9%

24%

17%

42%

26%

9%

6%

15%

37%

25%

9%

14%

13%

38%

25%

6%

18%

14%

32%

28%

14%

12%

7 – 9 10 – 14

Once a month or more often

Once every 2 – 3 months

Once every 4 – 6 months

Once every 7 – 11 months

Once a year or less often

7 – 9 10 – 14 7 – 9 10 – 14 7 – 9 10 – 14 7 – 9 10 – 14 7 – 9 10 – 14

Res

po

nd

ents

wh

o p

urc

has

ed (

%)

13%

30%

24%

12%

21%

11%

23%

25%

14%

27%

17%

40%

21%

10%

12%

17%

32%

20%

9%

22%

13%

35%

27%

10%

15%

15%

40%

25%

9%

11%

Once a month or more often

Once every 2 – 3 months

Once every 4 – 6 months

Once every 7 – 11 months

Once a year or less often

Res

po

nd

ents

wh

o p

urc

has

ed (

%)

Frequency of purchasing toys on their own – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 5

Kids are extremely aware of what toys they want to purchase: in over 80% of the cases, they know which toys to buy before entering the store.

Boys are more aware of which toys they will purchase than girls.

84% 84%90% 91%

80%79%

Res

po

nd

ents

wh

o p

urc

has

ed (

%)

Australia: 1/5th of the kids do not know what they will purchase, leaving a spot for sales derivated from the shelve-space

UK: 1/5th of the kids do not know what they will purchase, leaving a spot for sales derivated from the shelve-space

75%

84%

91%

78%

86%82%

91% 90%94%

88%

82%77%

GirlsBoys

Res

po

nd

ents

wh

o p

urc

has

ed (

%)

Retailers:Importance of displays in store, especially targeting specific messaging girls

Knows which toy he/she will purchase – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

Knows which toy he/she will purchase – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 6

And when kids know what toys they want to purchase, most of them exactly know the specific name of the toy: before entering the store, six kids out of ten know the toy by name.

Friends, TV commercials and presence in shelve space are the key components to inform kids about the toys they will purchase. In Australia and France, retailer catalogues also strongly contribute to their information system.

60%

40%

67%

33%

60%

40%

57%

43%

63%

37%

61%

39%

Yes, by the name of the product Yes, by the type of the product

Res

po

nd

ents

wh

o p

urc

has

ed &

wh

o k

no

ws

(%)

Retailers:Do not forget they might know the type of toy they want; Importance of

knowing what products / features they want, and importance of self-selling displays

Knows which toy he/she will purchase – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

Source of information for purchase – kids 7 – 14 years oldSource: Kidz Global Market Research

His/her friends 72% 73% 68% 68% 66% 74%

Television commercials 69% 64% 62% 74% 69% 66%

Saw it on the shelf at retail 45% 41% 39% 39% 43% 41%

Retailer catalogue 52% 42% 24% 13% 27% 30%

Magazine advertising 21% 29% 28% 29% 29% 24%

His/her family 24% 25% 29% 24% 23% 29%

Internet surfing 14% 21% 27% 24% 19% 22%

Internet advertising/promotion 20% 15% 19% 20% 18% 26%

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 7

Summary

• Most of the kids from 7 to 14 purchase toys on their own; logically, more of the older (10-14) age group than the younger.

• However, the younger ones would purchase toys by themselves more frequently than the older ones, as the lat-er exits the toy market.

• The vast majority (over 80%) of the kids is extremely aware of what they intend to purchase. Moreover, when they know what they want, they predominantly know it by the name of the product (about 60% of them).

• Boys are slightly more aware than girls of what they will purchase. This is especially true in France, where 91% of the boys know the toy by name or by type; while this would compare to 78% of French girls.

• Friends, TV commercials and presence in shelve space are the key components to inform kids about the toys they will purchase. In Australia and France, retailer catalogues also strongly contribute to their information system.

Recommendations

For distributors:

1. Develop word of mouth strategies to get the kids to talk about your products:

• Ask them to try your product, either in a sampling programme (if makes sense), competition tours, celebri-ties of their interest using your product … This will build excitement and genuine recommendations.

• Implement communicated research to make kids feel like company insiders. If you collect their feedback and create online/mobile platforms to let them know you’re aware, you will get their attention. Use the e-world to announce coming products, special events or tours ...

• Provide a forum for influencers to have a conversation on behalf of your brand.

2. Develop specific displays for the kids in stores. Provide them with information and entry prices to allow them to purchase your toys with their own budget; and build step-ups for their parents to buy.

For retailers:

1. Engage kids in store with specific kids targeted displays:

• During off-peak periods, create specific displays targeted to kids only (not the parents).

2. Implement a loyalty marketing strategy to increase re-purchase by kids.

• Initially, get to know who the customer kids are, segment them into best-medium-light customers.

• Ultimately, create a loyalty marketing strategy to increase purchase frequency. An option could be to co-operate with a toy brand for a significant period of time (3 – 6 months max) and joint forces / effects.

RedPaper: Toy Purchases by Kids 8

Responsible for content:

Philippe Guinaudeau is the Kidz Global’s CEO, a market research & consulting firm.

Previously, Philippe Guinaudeau was Director of The NPD Group Inc, the leading global provider of consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Philippe started as a Durable Goods Consultant at AC Nielsen prior to joining NPD.

Philippe has more than 20 years of marketing and analysis expe-rience, offering expert insight in understanding the Durable Goods markets throughout the world, analyzing the retail landscape, com-petition, the consumer behaviour and the brand line architecture; and assisting his clients in planning strategies to achieve the best results on their product segments.

Philippe is the creator of the Toy Markets in The World Report, in-ternational statistics on the toy markets in the world. He has been a featured speaker at many events including the annual conference of The International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI), representing toy trade associations around the world.

Publisher RedPaper:

Spielwarenmesse eG Münchener Str. 330 90471 Nürnberg, Germany

Tel. +49 (0) 911/9 98 13-0 Fax +49 (0) 911/86 96 60