Circana Insight

It’s the little things

Sales of toys at the lower end of the price scale make up a substantial proportion of the toy market year-round – and that trend continues into the peak Q4 selling period. Here, Rory examines which lines are fuelling the success of the sub £15 price point.

Looking at the UK market in 2025 and seeing the +8% trend, the picture looks quite rosy on the surface. All price points are in growth too, not something I can remember seeing before. The £0-15 (pocket money) price point makes up around 45% of all value in the market this year; indeed, this figure has been fairly consistent over the last few years, with value share between 40-45% consistently coming from this area. So with almost half of the value of all toys coming from this price bracket, let’s look at what is working in the pocket money area for 2025.

The £0-15 price point has grown by +3%, so it is behind the total market growth of +8% and is actually the slowest growth of any price point area. However, this should be taken in the context of The European Football championships taking place last summer, with sticker sales having a big impact at that time. The Non-Strategic Trading Cards/Collectible Stickers subclass is the largest declining category in this price range, representing a £4.5m drop versus this stage last year. The largest subclass is Traditional Plush, which makes up just under 10% of all sales at £0-15, though it has seen a small decline of -1%. The top performing subclasses are Strategic Trading Cards, Action Figure Collectibles and Standard Building Sets, which is actually quite similar to the total toy market as a whole. These three subclasses account for around half of all growth in the price range, although a total of 57 subclasses are showing a positive trend so far this year. Looking at the £0-3 bracket, Miscellaneous Toys and Mini Vehicles are the growth drivers and at £3-6, Strategic Trading Card Games is the clear driver with +104% growth so far this year. At £6-10, there are several areas growing: Standard Building Sets, Craft Kits and Action Figure Collectibles are the top performers. In the £10-15 price point, Strategic Trading Cards is the top growth driver, along with Traditional Plush and Playset Dolls.

There’s a good mix of existing properties growing alongside some new additions adding value to the category this year. Just under 50% of all Pokémon sales are under £15 and it is the top property here, as well as being No. 1 in the total market. We can also see current trends coming through in the pocket money segment, with the influence of movies helping Minecraft, Lilo & Stitch and Sonic the Hedgehog to become some of the top performers in this area. There are new properties too, with Sticki Rolls, Yummiland and Fuggler all appearing within the top properties at the £10-15 price point so far this year. The Fuggler Plush Keyring 5" Asst from Zuru was the No. 1 item in value in the Explorative & Other Toys supercategory for the month of July, at an average price of £4.

Another area of growth was the Craft Kits subclass for the £0-15 price range, and we’ve seen Sticki Rolls from Character have a great first year so far in this space. There are three Sticki Rolls items in the top 10 for Craft Kits so far this year, all with an average price under £10 and the top item in value at an average price of £4.77. The Craft Kits space has seen a new entrant from Moose Toys with Gui-Gui, a beauty related slime toy with surprises inside. The Gui Gui Beautify Your Slime Single Pack Asst is the No. 1 item in Craft Kits for the month of July and is the No. 1 item in the Arts & Crafts supercategory too, at an average price of £9.99.     

The £0-15 price point remains a vital segment of the toy market, making up nearly half of all value so far this year. With the innovation already highlighted, it seems that this area is in good shape going into the final quarter if the year. Something that often gets overlooked is that the £0-15 price range represents just under 40% of all sales in December and has grown in value for the last two years. Having a good range of items in this bracket can help retailers to enjoy a strong December, when stocking fillers and secondary gifts come into play. Combining the continued growth of established brands with the new ones coming into play should result in further growth within the pocket money space in Q4, hopefully exceeding the current +3%.

Licence Progression:

Following the release of the live action How To Train Your Dragon movie early in June, the property has jumped up the rankings. HTTYD Viking and Dragon Figure Assortment is the No. 1 item in Action Figures and accessories for the month while, overall, Action Figures accounts for two thirds of the property’s sales. Plush is the second largest category, accounting for 30% of HTTYD sales.

Top Growing Subclasses in Toys

Strategic Trading Card Games has been the standout subclass in 2025 so far and has gained over £43m in value over the first seven months of the year. Pokémon is the No. 1 property here and is the No. 1 property in the total toy market as well, with large value gains this year. The property is on course to have a record year in 2025, but there are also strong performances from other trading card properties such as Magic the Gathering and One Piece.

Standard Building Sets has added around £36m in 2025 and this is predominantly due to successful launches from The Lego group this year, including Lego Botanicals, Formula 1 and Harry Potter. Formula 1 has been particularly strong this year across a range of price points, starting with the Minifigures Formula 1 Collectible Race Cars at an average price of £3.49 and going up to the Technic Scuderia Ferrari HP SF 24 F1 Car at an average price of £167.31.

Action Figures subclasses take the next 2 spots, with the Action Figures Collectibles subclass adding around £8m in value and the Action Figures subclass adding just under £7.5m. Movies have had a strong impact in 2025, with some of the top performing licences related to movies released in the last few months, including Minecraft, Sonic the Hedgehog and Jurassic Park/World. The licence which is No. 1 in terms of value size is WWE, which is also the second-best performer; although this property isn’t tied to a movie, it has recently switched its broadcast platform to Netflix.