Pokemon trading cards and toys achieve record-breaking UK sales
Pokemon has achieved record-breaking sales figures at retail in the UK throughout 2016, for its Trading Card Game (TCG) and toys from master toy partner TOMY, The Pokemon Company announced today.
NPD figures reveal that the the Pokémon property earned a 285 percent increase in sales throughout 2016 against market growth of 6 percent in the UK toy market as a whole. During the last three months of the year, Pokemon increased sales by 512 percent compared to the 7.7 percent market growth.
The Pokemon TCG managed to surpass the one million pounds sterling barrier during Christmas week. It saw retail sales of £1.29 million for a 733.7 percent increase year-over-year.
“Thanks to the activities celebrating Pokémon’s 20th year, plus the huge impact of our video game releases, interest in the brand has escalated, ensuring figures for TCG and toy sales have been incredible. We fully expect that demand for the product will remain high throughout 2017 as new expansions are introduced to tie in with our new Nintendo 3DS games Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.” – Mathieu Galante, Senior Market Development Manager for The Pokémon Company International,
“We are delighted to announce these sensational figures just ahead of Toy Fair and look forward to talking to our retail partners at the show about ways that we can keep the phenomenal demand going. We are very excited about our first Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon expansion, which will be released in February.” – Steve Buckmaster Managing Director of Esdevium Games – UK distributor of the Pokémon TCG
“We’re excited to be part of Pokémon’s fantastic achievement. We’re expecting 2017 to be another huge year for Pokémon and we’re looking forward to unveiling two new product lines at Toy Fair London that will appeal to collectors of all ages.” – Camilla MacQueen, UK Brand Manager at TOMY Europe
Source: Pokemon PR