Toys and Games in the Netherlands

Slower growth for toys and games due to declining consumer confidence in the economy

After four consecutive years of stable current value growth, toys and games in the Netherlands noted slowing demand. Although sales remained positive for both traditional toys and games and video games driven by stable purchasing behaviour earlier in the year, consumer confidence regarding the economy began to wane towards the end of 2018, encouraging them to save more rather than spend.

Unboxing trend helps drive demand for blind collectibles

The unboxing of blind collectibles continued to be popular in traditional games and toys in 2018. Social media influencers on YouTube enhanced excitement levels of younger consumers by unboxing the latest offers from the likes of popular brand Hatchimals within plush toys and dolls and accessories in addition to LOL Surprise! in the latter, with both categories recording higher value share of blind collectibles in 2018.

Leading players lose share in highly fragmented competitive landscape

Activision Blizzard Benelux BV retained its leadership of toys and games in 2018 due to its well-known established games, such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty in video games software. However, it lost some value share in 2018 due to the high number of smaller companies present in the overall fragmented competitive landscape including Guerrilla BV (with Horizon: Zero Dawn) and PUBG Corp (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds).

Internet retailing continues to strengthen leading position in distribution as traditional channels suffer

Traditional toys and games stores continued to lose ground as a distribution channel of traditional toys and games, with internet retailing remaining a strong competitor by gaining further value share within both video games and toys and games to become the leading distribution channel overall. Pure internet retailers such as Bol.

Slow but stable current value growth predicted for forecast period

Toys and games is expected to post a slow but positive performance over the forecast period as consumers’ confidence in the local economy continues to linger. Within traditional toys and games, action figures and accessories will be a stronger performer, while dolls and accessories and dress up and role play will suffer from slowing demand as the trend towards more gender-neutral toys such as STEM-related toys, games and robotics develops, with the latter supporting sales of scientific/educational.

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