ARLINGTON, Texas -- June 2, 2004 -- The average American child is showered with no less than $276 of toys and games (including video games) each year; that's according to survey findings just published by Decision Analyst, Inc., a marketing research and marketing consulting firm. The study's findings (compiled from a national sample of 5,366 American women with children) may sound all too familiar to many parents bombarded by the demands of their children (and the sustained marketing campaigns of manufacturers).
A breakdown of survey respondents' spending on their children's toys reveals a surprising split between "moderate" expenditure and much higher levels. The most common spending range (23 percent of respondents) was between $200 and $299 per year. Yet the next most popular range was $500 or more, selected by 21 percent of those surveyed. The ranges between these two groups ($300 to $399, and $400 to $499) were less common, with just 15 and 7 percent respectively.
"It appears that the market for children's toys and games is really several separate markets," said Decision Analyst, Inc. Senior Vice President Bonnie Kenoly. "On the one hand, almost half of households are spending less than $300 a year, yet on the other side, over one-fifth of families are willing (or able) to spend more than $500. Catering to those two quite separate groups is a significant challenge for manufacturers targeting the children and teen markets."
The study also discovered that the presence of multiple children in a household does not necessarily mean fewer toys for the kids. Even in households with four or more children, spending per child is only six percent lower (at $258 per child) than in single-child families. Moreover, households with two children actually spend more per child on toys and games than single-child families, at $286 per child, compared to $274.
"The rise in spending in two-child households is somewhat surprising," said Kenoly. "Sibling rivalry may well place extra pressure on parents to indulge their children, yet clearly only up to a point. With three or more children, the costs of just raising the children would appear to bite into toy and game budgets."
Methodology: The results are based on a nationally representative survey conducted online among 9,170 households (5,366 with children), which was referenced with census data for age and geography. The study's margin of error is plus or minus one percent. Survey respondents were members of the American Consumer Opinion(R) online panel, one of the largest consumer panels in the world, which includes over 3.5 million consumers. The survey was open to women in the U.S.
About Decision Analyst
Decision Analyst, Inc. (http://www.decisionanalyst.com) is a leading marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical and pharmaceutical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. Decision Analyst operates the American Consumer Opinion(R) online panel, one of the world's largest Internet consumer opinion panels, with more than 3.5 million participants.
