UK toy industry shows resilience in face of retail struggle with 3% growth in 2011

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Construction sets, outdoor toys and dolls drive the market in 2011

Market statistics released today value the UK toy market at £2.96 billion and remains the largest in Europe.

Figures from the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor show that, while total UK retail sales grew by two per cent in 2011, non-food sales rose by a mere 0.2 per cent, which points to a relatively positive performance by the toy market.
A total of more than 384 million toys were sold during 2011. Of the ten super categories tracked by NPD, the three fastest growing in 2011 were Building Sets (+20%), Outdoor (+12%) and Dolls (+8%).

Building sets have been a strong category over the last few years and saw the largest growth during 2011. Outdoor toys enjoyed success largely due to sales of sports equipment, ride-ons and summer seasonal toys.
In the year to September 2011, sales of girls' toys (which includes arts and crafts, dolls and plush) increased in value by 4% whilst boys' toys increased by 3% over the same period. Girls toys now  account for 45% of all toy sales (YTD September 2011) compared to 55% for boys'.

A spokesperson from the British Toy & Hobby Association (BTHA) said: "2011 was an incredibly tough trading period for all areas of retail in the UK. By managing to grow in such difficult times, the UK toy industry has proved its resilience yet again. We are made of strong stuff plus creativity, innovation, imagination and the foresight to embrace opportunity.

The figures were unveiled at Toy Fair this morning by show organisers the British Toy & Hobby Association. Toy Fair is the industry's annual trade event currently taking place at Olympia in London and is open to the trade until Thursday.

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