International SPIEL statistics

From ’21 to ’22, there was indeed an increase in visitors of around 75%, as was highlighted at the press conference. In fact, the number of visitors only reached the level of 2011. If it were possible to predict the number of visitors for 2022 from a trend based on history, one should have expected around a quarter of a million. The reason for this could be the increased number of private gaming events during the pandemic, so that people are currently catching up on other needs. Travel may also have been an issue shortly before the autumn holidays. The extent to which the economic situation has already made itself felt in the private and business sectors can only be seen in retrospect, which also applies to the slump in the number of exhibitors. The presentation of new games has maintained its trend, which is optimistic. But focus on today:

1800 new games or world premieres were presented at SPIEL ’22. Games dealing with nature, the environment and animals had a remarkable share at this game fair. But so-called expert games also made an appearance.
The trend is towards diversity, according to a brief summary. There was the main share of games worth between 15 and 150 EUR, but there was also a game valued at 400 EUR. Children’s games and card games are gaining a higher share again, as are party games. One-person games as well as logic games are strongly represented in customer demand. Thus, a variety of games could be played during the four days of the fair and there were platforms for diverse gaming communities, two of which will be highlighted later.
In the area of puzzles, innovations are also emerging. While many puzzles remained on the shelves at the time of the lockdown, the motifs are changing to modern art, game graphics, photos and generally variations in the design of the puzzle itself. Thus, the age distribution of the puzzlers is 60 % adults, consequently 40 % children. The environmental aspect is also evident, as sustainable or recycled materials are used. Multiple outer packaging made of foils and plastics is increasingly being dispensed with. Durable materials and the aspect that games are used for decades generally make it a sustainable product.
Gaming continues to be at a high level. Games are one of the two strongest product groups in the toy market, which itself, due to the pandemic, lost seven percentage points in 2022. There was growth in the plush product groups, while outdoor and dolls were less strong. Kidults still have a strong interest in games. Customers are asking for meaningful, creative and challenging playful leisure activities. We found it remarkable that Pokemon-Go and Pokemon collectible card games, a perennial favourite since 2016 and 2000 respectively, presented themselves with their own trade fair stand.

At the press conference for SPIEL ’22, there was also information about growth on the games market. The following diagram was shown, which we do not want to leave entirely uncommented. As a reminder, the chart shows the worldwide sales figures in the pandemic period for board games and puzzles. Strikingly, the growth at the beginning of the global lockdown in 2020 by about 30 percentage points. In the follow-up year 2021, however, sales grew by only 2 percentage points. In Germany, the figures are somewhat more slippery, 23 percentage points in 2020 and 3 percentage points increase in sales in 2021, which may be acknowledged as such given the intercepted inflation in Germany.

Turnover Board Games and Puzzles

The toy market, like many other retail sectors, finds itself in transition. Digitalization and e-commerce are forcing even the last to act. The stationary business in the dying inner cities suffers from this and other as well as widely spread problems. The pandemic drove up the share of fixed costs, the subsequent crisis the share, driven by raw material prices, energy, required decarbonization and delivery times / supply chains. Those who had to calculate sharply before now find their profitability even more threatened. As with other product sectors, Germany has so far managed to keep prices low compared to other EU countries, certainly due to the high and good domestic sales market. It is already noticeable how strongly prices have risen for many products. This will also happen with a delay in others and in the toy industry. Personnel is a sensitive issue, there is a lack of skilled workers plus a demographic change. Retailers no longer face competition from their local competitors, but from globalization, which has already moved many shops to open online shops or to offer products on electronic marketplaces. The demands in production, game development and distribution are growing, as is the request for government subsidies to mitigate the financial consequences. For some time now, attempts have been made to offer the games in bookshops, concept stores and the small shops of museums. These were the painful issues that were also addressed at Spiel’22.
There was the Educator’s Day on the first day of the fair with tailored information for educators and other teachers. Games for teaching, community work and work with seniors were presented here. The Research Day on the following day focused on board game research in Germany. An important support for educational toys and a look into the future.

In order to find their way around the large exhibition site, visitors were provided with an app to help them navigate. Our team from Product Cluster probably felt the same way as many other participants, due to a lack of information on site or in advance, we did not have this useful tool at the start, especially since all the hall flyers were already sold out by noon on the first visitor day. Nevertheless, we find this app very useful.

Navigation App at SPIEL ’22

Map of fair SPIEL ’22

The industry is expecting growth in Europe again in the next few years, argued by cocooning and the increased stay in family surroundings during times of crisis. According to economic research, Christmas business is not influenced by the current economic situation, so that economic effects wear off. It is important to know that Christmas business accounts for about 40 to 50% of annual turnover.

If you are interested into more affordable fairs in Germany, please refer to our special post All toy fairs in Germany 2022.

The post International SPIEL ’22, A Success Story first appeared on Product Cluster Blog.

Although those events don’t take place as often as one could wish for, it doesn’t get more sustainable than buying there. On the other hand, it’s always good to go local. Please, be aware that some events may be skipped or cancelled due to the current restrictions of 2G rules and related issues. That’s why we listed each flea market name, address, website and location link on google maps.

Flea Markets in Essen for Toys & Children

• Zeche Carl Kinderflohmarkt
  Wilhelm-Nieswandt-Allee 100, 45326 Essen

• Allbau Kinderflohmarkt
  Altenessener Markt, 45329 Essen

• Kinderflohmarkt des Fördervereins am grünen Turm in Essen
  Heisinger Straße 480, 45259 Essen

• Kinderflohmarkt Spielplatz Hattingswiese
  Hattingswiese, 45277 Essen

• Flohmarkt rund ums Kind
  Pfarrheim St. Josef, Heidbergweg 18b, 45257 Essen, Ruhr

If you haven’t seen our series about local alternatives for shopping, we really recommend you to check it out too.

This post will be kept updated, let us know if something changed out of our sight! Feel free to write to us about new flea markets for toys and children, so we can update this series and others get to know about it.

Have you been to any of those flea markets listed here before? Please, share your experience.

We spent some hours researching valid options, please share this post with others so they can save some time as you just did!

The post Essen : Children Flea Market first appeared on Product Cluster Blog.

Anyway, back then it was always special for me to go shopping with my parents in the big city next door, or I would go downtown with my grandpa during a visit to my grandparents from that neighboring city. There at Corn Market 7 was the center of bliss, Roskothen, a walk-in huge department store full of toys and nothing but toys. From full-scale baby dolls for the very young to the still famous Steiff items and many more specialized products for the older and adult children. I am sure it is fair to say that all the toys for sale were here ready for the curious hands and eyes on 900 square meters. There were salesmen who spent their whole professional life there, so there were always satisfactory solutions. Since my parents often had to do their shopping, there was not always time to visit Roskothen. You had to think in advance what you wanted to look at, because to stroll through the store with its six floors was simply too big.

_{© https://www.frechdachs.de/}

At Christmas time, not surprisingly, the store was also full of customers. One needed patience in this time, until one of the many salesmen had time for one. So on the days when there was not enough time to enter the store, it remained with the enchanting view in the many shop windows of the corner building. It was so natural at that time to look at the artistic works of the trained window decorators. And they had a lot to do, because on the first floor there were six large shop windows to design, and on the second floor another eight for the larger toys that could be admired from the sidewalk above. Just now at Christmas time, the shopping streets were decorated with many light scenes, every year there was a motto for the light pictures. And so the brightly lit shop windows matched the Essen Light Weeks.

As it probably happens to many, there comes a time in life when new toys become uninteresting. Completely different interests come to the fore. But then comes with many again the phase, the reviving interest in toys. With me it was in such a way that in the meantime this world changed, the large toy shops were gone, an irretrievable loss, such Christmas, no longer experienceable, only in the memories. Today I see young people going into today’s toy stores, and I imagine I can take them for a moment into my old world….

Have you ever heard about that store? Or do you know some equivalent? What is your experience? Please feel free to leave your comments.

The post Kornmarkt 7, 43 Essen : Toy stores from the past first appeared on Product Cluster Blog.