Online sales of toys in Spain increased 60% in 2016

More and more Spanish consumers are purchasing toys via the internet, as the online sales of toys in Spain has increased by almost 60 percent last year. In this industry, ecommerce shows a significant higher growth rate than the physical retail.

Whereas online sales of toys increased by almost 60 percent, the traditional toy market grew almost 7 percent compared to the year before. This is shown by the latest data from market research company The NPD Group, brought to our attention by Ecommerce News (not affiliated with us).

“Although we are far away from the numbers that online sales reach in the United Kingdom, Germany or France, the growth of online sales in Spain is very strong, with a sustained increase in penetration. This brings us closer to the countries around us”, says Fernando Pérez, general manager of NPD Group in Spain.

Promotions are important reason to shop toys online

One of the findings is that promotions are a key driver for online purchases of toys in Spain. In 35 percent of online toy purchases in the Southern European country, an offer was the main reason for buying a toy, while it was just 19 percent for offline purchases of toys. Also, offline it’s the children who influence the purchase decision when buying toys, while online it’s mostly the type of product and the price influence which influence the purchase decision.

Reasons for Spanish consumers to buy toys online are “it’s comfortable”, “there’s a good offer of brands and products” and “the desired toy is cheaper online. Shopping in a physical store is preferred because “I was in the store buying something else”, “it’s comfortable” and “there’s a good offer of brands and products”.

Men tend to shop for toys online instead of offline

Another interesting difference between offline and online, is that online there are more consumers with medium to high purchasing power than in stores. And whereas almost 40 percent of online toy purchases are made by men, in stores this percentage is 30 percent.