Editor's note: This article appeared in the June 25, 2008, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
Parents may be pinching pennies on the whole, but children haven't gone without as more U.S. households purchased toys in 2007 than in 2006. While sales at brick-and-mortar stores within the total toys market in the U.S. declined slightly from $21.1 billion in 2006 to $20.5 billion in 2007, over 90 percent of households purchased a toy in 2007 according to findings from the Port Washington, N.Y., research company NPD Group's Toys Market Dynamics Report.
There were 107 million toy-buying households in 2007, up from 105 million in 2006. The overall decline in sales resulted from a 5 percent decrease in the average annual toy spend per buying household. The average amount spent on toys per buying household in 2007 was approximately $191 compared to an average of $201 in 2006.
A look at households that only have kids ages six-and-under present shows that 100 percent purchased a toy and spent over $485 on toys throughout the year in 2007. According to the report, 88 percent of households with no kids present under the age of 18 still purchased at least one toy last year and spent an average of $113.