Toy sales drop 30% in Puebla

Puebla, Pue. The sale of conventional toys has fallen by up to 30%, because children are choosing to ask for electronic devices such as tablets and cell phones, so this Christmas and for Three Wise Men, businesses are betting on these items, commented the President of the Council of Merchants in the Historic Center, José Juan Ayala Vázquez.

He explained that the businesses that only sold toys, located in the Historic Center area, have seen the need to put video game consoles and other electronic entertainment devices on their sideboards, because with bicycles, dolls, highways, among others, they cannot maintain its activity when the demand has been changing.

The leader said that families are spending up to three times more on these kinds of gifts for Christmas and Three Wise Men, but “they don’t care as long as they fulfill their children’s wishes.”

He estimated that the budget of parents went from 5,000 to 15,000 pesos in purchases of gifts for their children, when they have two, since they also ask for computers with the basics.

He indicated that the main beneficiaries are the large stores, which have lowered their stock of toys to increase those of mobile devices, since their demand rose up to 30 percent.

“At the beginning of December, self-service stores set up special areas for displaying toys, but these are getting smaller and smaller, because children are no longer interested in those items,” he recalled.

Ayala Vázquez said that a few days before Christmas, more than 70% of the products had already been sold or set aside; however, in the last three years around that date they only placed half.

He mentioned that the most battery-operated items they sold were remote control cars, trains or robots, however, the market itself forced “that we have 30% in electronic devices and the rest in traditional toys.”

Ayala Vázquez explained that the need to sell led establishments to put in this equipment, although on many occasions they do not usually place it, because they do not offer payment facilities as is the case with department or self-service stores.

He explained that if a toy store has five video game consoles, it only sells three and the rest remain behind in the warehouse for up to five months, since the owners themselves know that these devices are more sought after in large chain stores.

estados@eleconomista.mx