‘Pocket money’ toys costing less than £10 sell well as UK parents cut costs
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Toy sales fell in 2024 but industry reports growth in ‘kidult’ collectors of expensive Lego building sets. “Pocket money” toys that actually fit in your pocket have become increasingly popular in struggling toy shops as parents seek out cheaper playsets and kidults collect mini figurines based on films and TV shows.
In 2024 UK toy sales declined 3.7% to £3.4bn, according to an annual industry report by the market research company Circana. Despite a gloomy headline picture described as “resilient”, there were bright spots as toy collecting took off among Britons of all ages.
With households still struggling with the cost of living, the latest statistics showed 80% of toys sold in the UK last year had a price tag of less than £15, with these cheaper action figures and cuddly toys adding up to about half of all industry sales.
Meanwhile, “pocket money” toys costing less than £10 were approaching 30% of sales. For a second year in a row the bestselling toy was a Squishmallows cuddly toy, costing just under £9. Melissa Symonds, the executive director for UK toys at Circana, said that consumers were “reducing their impulse purchases as they’ve been impacted by the challenging economy across the UK over the last two years”.
The fortunes of the UK toy industry are increasingly linked to a growing army of deep-pocketed kidults (buyers aged 12 and over) who account for almost 30% of toy sales. They are a key constituent of the Lego fanbase and have enough money to buy sophisticated sets that increasingly run to several hundred pounds.
