Insights Family

Nick Richardson CEO - The Insights Family

Mums the key purchaser of toys

The Insights Family survey 6,970 children aged 3-18 and 3,400 parents every week across 17 countries, equivalent to more than 362,100 kids and 176,800 parents a year.

Nick is the Founder and CEO of The Insights Family. Our purpose is to provide kids, parents, and families with a voice to shape their world. The Insights Family are the global leader in kids, parents, and families market intelligence and have become the business-critical tool for some of the world’s biggest brands. Nick himself has become a go-toexpert, who is a regular speaker at industry events across the US, Europe, and Asia-Paci c, with the business operating its Kids Insights and Parents Insights services across 17 countries.

Nick is a Manchester Metropolitan and University of Bolton graduate, and has previously worked in senior marketing and strategy roles for companies such as Exxon Mobil, Hilton Hotels and PennWell. Nick returned to Manchester in 2017 to setup The Insights Family. Nick lives in South Manchester with his wife, one daughter and two dogs. He is a keen tennis player, United fan, and a frustrated racing driver. He is a proud Mancunian and hopes one day to drive around the world.

About Insights Family

The Insights Family has been totally refreshed for 2021 and now surveys parents of children between the ages of 1 and 16 in 13 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, UK and US). The Insights Family will now survey more than 2,600 parents every week totalling more than 130,000 per year, providing real-time data on the attitudes, behaviour and consumption patterns. Our realtime portal is continually updated to allow our clients to spot the latest trends before their competitors do. For more information on The Insights Family, and to download their Future Forecast report visit www.parentsinsights.com/ futureforecast or call 0330 159 6631. T he Millennial generation was born between the mid1980s and mid-1990s, which means they are now aged between their late 20s and late 30s. However, we are now entering a period where Gen Z are beginning parenthood - including those born in the year 2000.

The attitudes, behaviours, and consumptions of parents are therefore di erent from their predecessors and constantly changing. For example, our Toys & Games Report 2020 shows that globally, as more mothers enter the workforce, the lack of parental time requires products/services for children that can ll this gap. Since they are more likely to command higher incomes, working families are in a better position to a ord more expensive/better quality toys. Our Parents Insights data highlights that parents spend up to £23 on toys & games monthly in the UK. Within this bracket, 82.8% of purchases are made by women. Generally, they spend £30.94 on gifts and presents for kids.

Birth rates have been falling around the world - not only in more a uent countries, but also in several developing economies for a number of years, as women wait longer before having children. They often postpone childbirth, in favour of building a career, study or simply enjoying their freedom.

The latest World Bank gures put the global fertility rate at 2.43 down from 3.24 in 1990. The replacement rate - which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, without migration – is 2.1 for most countries. Out of all countries studied, only India passes that crucial threshold. Fertility rates were extremely low in Italy and Spain, at 1.3 which, again, late motherhood could well mean more spend per child.

Our data also shows that 18.4% of UK parents spend between £50 and £99 on toys and games in any given month. Women make 72.6% of these purchases. https://try.theinsightsfamily.com/nurserytoday

What this means to you…

Generally speaking, Mums are more likely to purchase licensed products than dads. The exception to this is for computer games – over twice as many dads (19%) than mums (9%) have purchased games related to favourite characters. 10% of women try to buy something that will entertain the whole family with the hope to play together in their free time. 13% of mothers invest money in toys only if they have some educational value, and 8% usually buy toys which will help develop problem solving skills. Fathers choose toys for more practical reasons – 15% base their purchase decisions on quality of product, 13.4% on value for money and 12% buy toys which can be used time and time again. Brands should keep it in mind and pay attention to the nuances and differences between marketing to mums versus dads.

In the UK, 44% of parents are additionally saying their kids are highly influential with toy purchases. At the same time, children also influence major purchasing decisions such as new cars, household items, and devices. Some kids have become the Chief Technology Officers of their own homes. As they spend more time online, they continue to use a range of digital platforms, that are frequently used for purchases.

This shows how in an everchanging landscape, brands need to understand which digital platforms their audiences and consumers are using.

Therefore, The Insights Family team of researchers, data scientists, and developers have created the latest version of our platform, Portal 4.0, which will open more possibilities for brands. The new tools will enable brands to understand the attitudes, behaviours, and consumption patterns of kids, parents, and families.

Inside Portal 4.0 will be new data from Parents Insights, from surveying 176,800 parents of kids between the age of 1 and 16 in 17 countries.

To learn more about the attitudes, behaviour, and consumption patterns of kids, parents, and families, and to get freemium access to The Insights Family® real-time data portal, please visit: www. try.theinsightsfamily.com/nurserytoday