Industry marketing
Toys and Games marketing
How can Amazon Advertising fit into the marketing strategy for your toys and games business? Whether you are seeking to drive brand awareness or conversion, learn about the advertising solutions we can offer your business, on and off Amazon.
The toys and games industry today
Marketing toys and games requires understanding the rapid evolution of the industry. Global revenue is projected to reach USD 357 billion by 2023.1 Sales increases in many categories are partially due to more adult consumers purchasing for themselves, and some toy brands are creating new products just for them. Meanwhile, sales of toys and games based on popular characters from cartoons, TV shows and movies are also helping to propel growth.
Customer attitudes are also shifting, with many toy manufacturers focusing on eco-friendly toys and packaging to address customer sustainability concerns.
Toys and games marketing trends
$357 billion projected toy industry revenue (2023).2
$35 billion worldwide sales of licensed toys (2019).3
38% of US parents say their children prefer toys featuring well-known characters.4
Challenges facing toys and games brands
Greater variety of options
Over two-thirds of toy shoppers make their toy purchases online.5 Online browsing offers shoppers more selection than brick-and-mortar, which means that product discoverability is key.
Adapting to shifting customer behaviours
As toy shoppers increasingly move to online purchases, adults are less likely to make impulse buys driven by child requests.6 Find new ways to engage shoppers and drive purchase intent by telling your brand and product story.
Thinking beyond the holiday season
Over 80% of toy purchases are gifts,7 but marketing toys should not be limited to the holiday season. Brands need to keep their products top of mind when year-round gift-giving opportunities arise.
Insights for toys and games marketing
44% of toy shoppers say they research their purchase on Amazon, regardless of where they make their purchase.8
A toy purchase on Amazon is 3x more likely than the average Amazon purchase to be a gift.9
97% of global e-commerce sessions end without a purchase,10 so it's important to treat each touch point as an opportunity to build a relationship rather than just drive an immediate sale.
A recent Amazon Advertising analysis found that brands who combined display advertising with sponsored ads for their toy advertising achieved a 33% uplift in conversion, compared to the toy brands that only ran sponsored ads.11
Toys and games marketing examples
Case study
A holiday shopping season advertising strategy that included Sponsored Brands video helped PlayShifu increase product sales during this period by nearly 4x year over year.
Case study
A full-funnel strategy on Amazon that included Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brands, as well as Amazon DSP and OTT (over-the-top), helped achieve 50% year-over-year growth for this educational gaming company.
Case study
The toy brand ThinkGizmos achieved a 23% advertising cost of sales (ACOS) across the US and five European marketplaces from April to December 2019, with 33% of its total sales attributed to advertising over this time frame.
Blog
In a recent survey of Amazon toy shoppers, respondents said that 72% of their toy purchases were for birthday gifts or everyday treats. Almost 20% of frequent toy shoppers on Amazon say they buy toys for themselves, and those purchases are happening throughout the year.12
Toys and games advertising strategies
Make data-driven decisions
Use Amazon shopping insights on Amazon DSP to reach new, relevant toys audiences, on and off Amazon, across desktop and mobile devices. Use Amazon first-party data to accurately measure your advertising’s impact on how consumers discover, research and purchase toys across touch points.
1 Statista, Consumer Market Outlook 2020
2 Statista, Consumer Market Outlook 2020
3 Global Licensing Industry Survey, 2019
4 Statista Global Survey: Toys & Games, 2020 (Numbers are 33% for UK and 27% for DE)
5 Kantar custom toy shopper study, US, April 2020
6 The Toy Association, 2020
7 Kantar custom toy shopper study, US, April 2020
8 Kantar custom toy shopper study, US, April 2020
9 Statista, benchmark for global ecommerce conversion rate, 2018
10 Amazon internal, US, June 2020
11 Amazon internal, US, June 2020
12 Kantar custom toy shopper study, US, April 2020