Outdoors
Simon Booth, Kiddimoto
Photo (center) by mikael-kristenson on Unsplash
“Demand for children's balance bikes is currently very strong, with 2019 and 2020 tipped to be boom years for the category.“
ily gaming space has seen a renaissance - or a resurgence - over the past couple of years - there’s nothing to say the same could not be seen in the outdoor play area, either especially when it comes to that interstice of outdoor play and STEM learning. Discovery - as well as National Geographic - is a big name brand in exploration and education that is also stamping its presence on the STEM toy market, and with a Discovery Adventure line of products that, says Hardy, “are encouraging children to go outside and explore.” Products in the line include the likes of the Discovery Digital Metal Detector, Discovery Night Mission Goggles, Walky Talkies and more. “It’s a range that provides the tools for children to go out and engage with the world around them,” says Hardy. “The hurdles are that you do see more sales being lost to video games, which is why having a name like Discovery attached to these toys, ones that evoke a yearning to explore the outside world and the science around us, carries a prestige in this area, with the ability to inspire children back outdoors.” The same can be applied to The National Geographic, too, a brand with a 131 history in exploration and discovery that through a number of partnerships with the likes of Bandai and its range of digging and science kits, and its major collaboration with Mattel on a National Geographic themed Barbie range, is “inspiring children back outside.” “This is hopefully just the start for us, too,”
adds Helena Mansell-Stopher, director of UK licensing at The National Geographic. “We totally see more partnerships like this coming, and as we go into 2020 there will be many more partners in the toy space, all with this very same mission and message at their heart.” But while the need to continue to encourage kids to actually explore the world around is understood and gaining greater prominence in the mindset of today’s consumer, is the desire among children to actually get outside something of true concern? Let’s take a look at a breakdown of 2018’s toy categories by market share to see. According to the NPD Group, outdoor and sports toys took home the lion’s share of the market last year, with 25 per cent, dolls took 13 per cent and youth electronics fell in at the bottom of the league with a two per cent share. Yes, this is primed for some serious growth over the next five years, to contribute to a consumer tech sector that will be looking at $23bn a year by 2022, but there’s actually little worry among some of the industry’s elite that it will impact on the sale of outdoor toys. Phil Ratcliffe has become a name synonymous with the outdoor toys sector, presiding over the MV Sports business that has become a staple of the space for many a year. It’s on the topic of the strength of this market - in which Ratcliffe is not only known for his portfolio of licensed scooters and ride-ons, but also a line-up of own branded IP that includes Umove, Stunted, Hedstrom and more - that he tells us that over the last ten years, MV Sports has “seen a massive upward curve." “If you go back eight or nine years, we have been charging ahead and beating
38 | toy news | March 2019
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04/03/2019 18:07