A brief, but insightful overview of the European Toy Market, written by a leading Toy Industry Consultancy. For more insight go to www.stevenreece.com.

1. © 2013 RG Marketing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Steve Reece
steve.reece@vicientertainment.co.uk
www.stevenreece.com

2.  Background in Toy & Game Brand & Commercial management, with Hasbro,
Activision & Imagination.
 Run Toy industry Consultancy.
 Career Toy industry Sales of $255m. Last 2 Toy Industry ventures went from $0-
50m & $0-3m .
 Last 2 Brand Portfolios worked on sold for in excess of $130m.
 Managed Hasbro Brands across 43 European markets. Set up new Distribution
company into 22 European markets. Today work across all European countries.
 Toy Industry Blog: www.stevenreece.com
 Virtual World Licensing Blog: www.VirtualWorldLicensing.com

3. N.B. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

4. The US Toy market is the
largest in the world.
The European Market is
approximately the same size.

5. The European Market is split
into 43 distinctly different
territories!

7. Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of
Ireland (Eire), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta,
Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San
Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom,
Vatican City.

8.  40 Major European Languages (!)
 Albanian, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan,
Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish,
French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Maltese, Moldovan,
Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic,
Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Welsh.
 Practically - work with 99% of distributors in English, and many
Northern European countries in English, but Southern Europe =
likely to need French, Spanish, Italian etc.
 Product wise, this makes things tricky – if you have text heavy
products i.e. board games, expect multiple language versions.
 Some Toys can have 17+ languages on (where only legal lines
needed).

9. Europe is a large, but
highly fragmented
region!

10. 1. Takes account of cultural,
commercial and language
differences.
2. Accepts that different types of
products / launch campaigns will
be successful in different
markets!

11. 1. Mattel.
2. Hasbro.
3. Lego.
4. Giochi Preziosi.
5. Simba-Dickie.
6. Spinmaster
7. Other large companies.
8. Hundreds of one market companies.

12. 1. Germany– very decentralised, thousands of
independent stores, department stores etc.
2. France – dominated by Hypermarché, followed by Toy
specialist chains/groups.
3. UK – Argos No. 1, followed by Grocery, Toy Specialists,
online.
4. Spain – Hypermarché, plus El Corte Ingles a major
department store
5. Italy – Hypermarché & Toy Specialists, with a Toy
company owning a significant %age of the Toy retail
market (GP).
6. Scandinavia – very decentralised, and varies between
countries, but Toy specialists key.

13. 1. Argos
2. Tesco
3. Toys R Us
4. Online
5. Eire.

14. 1. Carrefour
2. Auchan
3. Leclerc
4. Toys R Us
5. Le Grand Recre
6. Kiosks
7. Belgium

15. 1. Toy specialists
2. Kaufhof
3. Karstadt
4. Muller
5. Toys R Us
6. Kloppenburg
7. Hypermarkets
8. Austria/Switzerland
Etc!

16. 1. Germany –traditional i.e. Construction play
(Playmobil/Lego), higher quality, less Licensed.
2. UK – very license driven, price more important
than quality!
3. France – global products plus local media driven
products.
4. Spain – license driven. Everything TV
advertised.
5. Italy – license driven, vehicles.

17. 1. Fortunately most of Europe (in commercial
terms) uses the €uro.
2. Most notable exception is the British who
retain the £.
3. Other markets who have local currency
include: Denmark, Norway, Poland, Sweden,
Switzerland.
4. Most Toy companies will be working in $USD,
€Euro and £GBP.

18. 1. In practical, commercial terms, The European
Union regulates and harmonises so that good
can move ‘freely’ across the European Union
countries.
2. (Theoretically at least!) no import tariffs with
the European Union.
3. Still quotas & tariffs for goods entering the
EU from outside.
4. Practical commercial law = combination of
local country and EU wide.

19. Yes & No!

20. 1. Virtually impossible to
give a good understanding
of a complex market such
as EU Toy market via short
presentation.
2. For more depth, insights
and hints on how to get
things done, our published
report is available here:
http://www.toymarketing
academy.com/practical-
guide-to-doing-toy-
business-in-europe/

21. © 2013 RG Marketing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Steve Reece
steve.reece@vicientertainment.co.uk
www.stevenreece.com