Traditional toys, including squishy toys, stickers and building sets, are driving a strong rebound in the UK toy market ahead of the Christmas shopping season, with sales rising 17 per cent year-on-year to October.
Research by market intelligence firm Circana shows that toy sales growth has reached a 10-year high, despite persistent cost-of-living pressures on households.
The figures come ahead of the critical Christmas shopping period, when retailers can sell as many as 23 toys every second in the UK.
Squishy toys and stickers recorded the strongest growth among the categories surveyed, with sales increasing 45 per cent year-to-date. Building sets, including Lego products, followed with a 32 per cent increase.
Action figures and accessories, as well as traditional games, each recorded 17 per cent growth. Plush toys rose 11 per cent, while outdoor and sports toys and youth electronics increased by nine per cent each. Vehicle toys recorded seven per cent growth.
Games and puzzles were the only category listed to experience a decline, falling one per cent.
Melissa Symonds, UK Toys Director at Circana, said the growing public debate about children’s screen time and the role of technology was helping to boost demand for traditional, hands-on play products.
She noted that connected toys accounted for less than one per cent of total market sales, indicating that conventional play experiences remained overwhelmingly popular.
The growing appeal of toys is not limited to children. The market for so-called “kidults”, people aged above 12 who buy toys and games for themselves, has also expanded. Sales to this group increased 22 per cent in value during the first half of the year, reflecting a growing appetite among adults for toys and games.
However, Symonds said children’s toys continued to account for the majority of overall sales and had also recorded a strong performance.
The trend towards traditional play is also being reinforced by parents’ desire to spend more time engaging with their children. Research by market intelligence company The Insights Family found that one in five parents of children aged three to nine considered the opportunity for family play when deciding which toys to buy.
Paul Reader, chairman of the Dream Toys selection panel, said parents increasingly wanted to participate in their children’s play, adding that board games and other interactive activities offered valuable opportunities for family engagement.
The Dream Toys panel, comprising retailers and industry experts, has also released its selection of toys expected to be popular this Christmas. The list includes variations of familiar products such as slime, a soft tiger that roars and grows, and a shark that breaks out of an egg.
Despite the encouraging sales figures, affordability remains an important consideration for families.
Symonds said nearly half of annual toy sales typically occurred during the run-up to Christmas, making the final weeks of the year particularly important for retailers. She also highlighted significant growth in the £5-to-£10 price category, suggesting that consumers were looking for more affordable options.
Reader advised shoppers seeking bargains to compare prices across retailers but warned them to buy from reputable sellers to ensure that products were genuine and safe.
The strong performance of traditional toys comes amid wider concerns about the suitability of some technology-enabled products for children.
A BBC investigation recently found that an artificial intelligence-powered teddy bear, marketed as suitable for children as young as three, produced an inappropriate response after apparently misunderstanding a question.
The findings have added to concerns about the growing presence of connected devices in children’s lives, alongside debates about restricting smartphone use during school hours.
For toy manufacturers and retailers, the latest figures point to a market where traditional play, affordability and family interaction remain powerful drivers of consumer demand, even as technology continues to reshape the wider retail landscape.
