WASHINGTON – After losing her crown to Disney’s Frozen characters in 2014, Barbie is back on top of the National Retail Federation’s Top Toys list for the 2015 holiday season. The survey, which is conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, asks holiday shoppers what toys they plan to buy for the children in their life and among those with their shopping lists already prepared, one in five (21.2%) will purchase a Barbie for the little girls on their lists; another 13 percent of adults will buy toys related to Disney’s Frozen.
The survey also found that Star Wars mania is clearly on the minds of children everywhere as adults ranked Star Wars toys as something they would buy for both boys (11.7%) and girls (1.9%). Star Wars jumped to the No. 2 spot on the boys list from No. 15 last year.
NRF’s Holiday Spending Survey found that 41.2 percent of shoppers plan to buy toys this holiday season.
“Retailers are already offering an array of exclusive and unique toy options for parents and adults to choose from this holiday season, including high-end electronic and educational toys, board games and even the classics like LEGOs,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “We know retailers are ready with an array of toy options when it comes to finding what they want over Thanksgiving weekend and all season long.”
The survey found Monster High items, American Girl and My Little Pony products were also popular with those planning to shop for little girls this holiday season.
LEGO toys kept their hold as the most-requested item among boys this year with 12.2 percent of adults planning to buy LEGOs. Cars and trucks, video games, Hot Wheels and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a few other hot items listed on the boys’ toy list.
“Timeless brands like LEGO and Barbie will forever resonate with both children and the adults in their life who grew up playing with those same toys,” said Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow. “Given the easy access to top toys this holiday season and retailers’ hard-to-pass-up promotions, this is likely to be a big year for the toy category.”
Top 10 Toys for Boys
- LEGO
- Star Wars
- Cars & Trucks
- Video Games
- Hot Wheels
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
- Nerf
- Marvel Action Figures
Top 10 Toys for Girls
- Barbie
- Disney’s Frozen
- Dolls
- Monster High
- American Girl
- My Little Pony
- Shopkins
- LEGO
- Disney Princess
- Star Wars
About the Survey
The NRF 2015 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey polled 7,172 consumers and was conducted for NRF by Prosper Insights & Analytics November 3-10, 2015. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
Prosper Insights and Analytics delivers executives timely, consumer-centric insights from multiple sources. As a comprehensive resource of information, Prosper represents the voice of the consumer and provides knowledge to marketers regarding consumer views on the economy, personal finance, retail, lifestyle, media and domestic and world issues. www.ProsperDiscovery.com
About NRF
The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association. Based in Washington, D.C., NRF represents discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.