The European Toy Market represents one of the largest Toy regions in the world.
The three biggest Toy markets in Europe are: Germany, France and the UK. Over the decades, these 3 big players in the Euro Toy trade have swapped positions in terms of the pecking order, but between them they represent a sizable chunk of the Toy & Game opportunity in Europe.
Germany has a very distinct, and in some ways, unusual Toy market. With several thousand independent Toy stores across Germany, with several major chain stores buying locally on a store by store basis and with a long-term trend of being quick to adopt the internet and other technologies (meaning that Amazon has a comparatively high market share), Germany offers a distinct opportunity. The caveat though is that you will need to be aware of German Toy culture, which is more focused on high quality products and materials, and more focused on facilitating child development with high levels of parental interaction.
The UK on the other hand has far fewer independent Toy stores, a few hundred stalwarts in fact, and market share is heavily biased in terms of Smyths Toys, Argos/Sainsburys and Amazon. Toy culture is far less high brow generally speaking - the UK usually has the highest percentage of Licensed Toys across developed economies. There are some local media and cultural sources, but entertainment content and culture from the USA is also eminent.
France is a strong, if a little quirky, Toy market. Whereas the mighty hypermarché Retailers like Carrefour, Leclerc and Auchan were once the major players in the market, their share has eroded somewhat over the years due to the rise of Amazon, but also due to the presence in the French Toy market of much revered Toy specialist chains including King Jouet and Jouet Club (incorporating La Grand Récre). France has her own entertainment content industry, but is also strongly influenced by Hollywood, just like the UK.
Before we end, we should also consider the fact that there are of course other countries in Europe. Bizarrely, there is some debate over how many countries can be counted in Europe, but most agree the number is at least 44. Not all of these represent large Toy markets, but there are a number of mid-sized Toy markets in Europe that you would likely not want to miss. Spain, Italy, the countries of Scandinavia, Benelux, Poland and more all offer significant Toy opportunities.
Our business is a Europe Toy Expert Consultancy. Do find out more about how to access the Toy business in Europe, check out our Consultancy services here: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/services
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