Its that time of the month when we are glad to report the UK retail sales charts for August 2009.

Top Properties

1. Transformers
2. Ben 10
3. Star Wars
4. Thomas and Friends
5. Peppa Pig

August 2009 - Sales (Value)

1. Transformers Movie - Deluxe - HASBRO
2. First Steps Babywalker - VTECH
3. Hot Wheels Basic Car Assortment - MATTEL
4. Kidizoom Camera - VTECH
5. Cars Vehicle Assortment - MATTEL
6. Bakugan starter pack - SPIN MASTER
7. Smart Trike Plus Girls - MOOKIE
8. Ben 10 Alien Force 10cm Figures - BANDAI
9. Transformers Movie Legends Assortment - HASBRO
10. Ben 10 Alien Force 15cm DNA Figures - BANDAI
    

August 2009 - Sales (Unit)

1. Hot Wheel Basic Car Assortment - MATTEL
2. Gogo's Crazy Bones Evolution Booster - MAGIC BOX
3. Cars Vehicle Assortment - MATTEL
4. Crayola Super Tips Bright 12 - VIVID
5. Transformers Movie Legends Assortment - HASBRO
6. Play Doh Single Tub Assortment - HASBRO
7. Transformers 2 Robot Heroes - HASBRO
8. Ben 10 Alien Force 10 cm Figures - BANDAI
   
9. Gogo's Crazy Bones III Explorer Pack - MAGIC BOX
10. Bakugan Booster Pack - SPINMASTER

According to figures released by the British Retail Consortium annual like-for-like sales fell in five of the last six months, the first time that this has happened since 2005.  In the boys toys market, however, the Year-To-Date figures are up 6%, even though sales for July and August were not able to match the sales of Transformers in the same months last year.

Overall this year Transformers sales have remained fairly strong due to the continued success of the Movie Legends figures. Sales of Transformers did drop heavily at the start of the year, though July and the start of August did see the line return to strength, with increased sales and actually regain the joint number 2 slot of movie tie-in toys along side Batman. Since the start of August however, sales have slowly declined though the Movie Legends are still looking like they may hold on to a top 10 spot for the second year running.

Below you will find the NPD charts for August 2008 as well as the Year-To-Date figures
UK August 2008 - £ Sales - Value
1 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
2 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
3 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
4 CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURE 3.75" - HASBRO
5 ALL SURFACE SWINGBALL - MOOKIE TOYS
6 FIRST STEPS BABYWALKER - VTECH
7 WALL-E DELUXE ACTION FIGURE - VIVID IMAGINATIONS
8 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
9 DOCTOR WHO 5" FIGURES - CHARACTER OPTIONS
10 ITNG 12" TALKING PLUSH - HASBRO


UK August 2008 - Unit Sales (Volume)
1 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
2 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
3 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
4 SUPER TIPS BRIGHT 12 - VIVID
5 12 COLOURED PENCILS - VIVID
6 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
7 CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURES 3.75" - HASBRO
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 ZEEBEEZ - RE:CREATION
10 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO


UK YEar To Date - £ Sales (Value)
1 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
2 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
3 BEN 10 OMNITRIX FX WATCH - BANDAI
4 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO
5 ITNG 12" TALKING PLUSH - HASBRO
6 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
7 POWER RANGERS OOD 12.5CM FIGURES - BANDAI
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
10 HSM COUNTRY CLUB FRIENDS - MATTEL


UK Year To Date - Unit Sales (Volume)
1 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
2 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
3 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
4 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
5 POWER RANGERS OOD 12.5CM FIGURES - BANDAI
6 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO
7 WWE RUTHLESS AGGRESSION - VIVID
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 DOCTOR WHO 5" FIGURES - CHARACTER OPTIONS
10 SUPER TIPS BRIGHT 12 - VIVID


As an additional feature this month, we're going to take a quick look at the relationship between film-licensed toy sales for this year as well as the potential for some of next years big releases.

The main toy tie-in movies this year, according to retailers, were going to be The Dark Night and Clone Wars. Due to the success of The Dark Night at the box office, it was expected that toy sales for this line would be extremely high. Clone Wars, on the other hand, had a terrible time at the Box Office and so sales of the tie-in toys were expected to be poor. Neither of these predictions came true. According to figures in the October issue of Toy News Magazine, store managers rated Star Wars as the number one product with Transformers and The Dark Knight both in second position. Sales of Batman toys rose sharply when the Movie was released but they declined equally as quickly. Star Wars and Transformers, however, both continued to perform strongly even after their respective movies had finished. Looking at the charts which the magazine produce, Transformers was the top selling toy from late May 2007 until early October 2007, at which point Spiderman 3 toys re-took the number one spot. As 2007 ended, Transformrs dropped out of the chart which compares sales of Spiderman 3, Transformers, Star Wars, Iron Man, Hulk, Indiana Jones and Batman from April 2007 until August 2008. Transformers re-entered the chart in early June, peaking in July as the joint 2nd best line with Batman behine Starwars which out sold both lines by 3 times. Since then Batman sales have dropped back by two thirds, sales of Transformers have halved, whilst sales of Star Wars toys have almost quadrupled.

Looking towards 2009, both Transformers 2 and G.I-Joe are expected to shift some seriou figures within the UK with G.I Joe expected to be the suprise package. "G I Joe could be a surprise. It is a brand with a lot of staying power, similar to the Transformers leading up to the movie. I ran the Blog metrics against Bakugan of Spin Master – an action figure which, similar to G I Joe, has never had a movie and which nevertheless is selling at the rate of $100 million at retail" writes Lutz Muller. Lutz gones on to say "This graph (Edtitor: which shows G.I-Joe blog posts as between 3 and 7 times that of Bakugan) demonstrates very clearly the strong underlying consumer interest in the GI Joe brand – which I expect will result in above-expectation box office and toy sales results.". Looking further ahead, 2010 looks like another strong year for Hasbro with both Ironman 2 and Spider-man 4 due for release, though the close timing of the release of both films is expected to cause problems with conflicting toy sales. Here is a short list of some of the upcoming movie tie-in lines that have the most potential to be big sellers (according to Lutz Muller). All potential figures are marked out of 10.

Star Trek - 8 - Released May 2009
Terminator: Salvation - 8 - May 2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 9 - June 2009
Ice Age 3 - 8 - July 2009
Harry Potter: Half BLood Prince - 10 - July 2009
He-man - 8 - August 2009
G.I-Joe - 9 - August 2009
Toy Story 3 - 9 - Jan 2010
Teengage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 8 - March 2010
Iron Man 2 - 8 - April 2010
Spiderman 4 - 10 - May 2010
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows - 10 - November 2010

About Lutz Muller is a Swiss who has lived on five continents. In the US, he was the CEO for four manufacturing companies, including two in the toy industry. Since 2002, he has provided competitive intelligence on the toy and video games market to manufacturers and financial institutions coast-to-coast

Though the final official figures have not yet been published The British Retail Consortium's most recent retail figures have shown that June's retail sales values fell 0.4 per cent on a like-for-like basis compared with June 2007. That means that sales have now been lower than a year ago in three of the past four months making it the worst summer since 2005. Last month's fall has been blamed on changeable weather after May's warm sun. The increasing demands on household budgets and weakness of the housing market, shoppers are becoming increasingly price-conscious and reluctant to spend on big-ticket items. This coupled with the increase in toy prizes in the 2nd half of the year mean that the trend is likely to continue.

Stephen Robertson, Director General of the BRC explained to us that "The negative result confirms fears May's modest like-for-like growth was a start-of-summer blip. While total retail sales frew in June, that was by less than half last month's figure. Retailers are doing all they can to reassure customers, offering some of the strongest discounts and promotions in decades and keeping a lid on inflation"

He continued, "Retailers are doing all they can to reassure customers, offering some of the strongest discounts and promotions in decades and keeping a lid on inflation."