Manufacture and Retail of Toys and Games in South Africa 2023

South Africa’s traditional toys market is dominated by international players such as Hasbro and Mattel. With the exception of handmade toys that are locally manufactured, the industry is dominated by imported plastic products, mainly from China.

Declining disposable income is putting pressure on retail sales, although toy and game revenue continues to increase steadily. Globally, demand for toys has slowed. Although overall toy sales have declined, digital gaming growth remains strong.

Key Opportunities

• Eco-friendly products
• Expansion into emerging markets
• New product development.
• The South African video games segment, which is small, is made up of a few local companies that mainly focus on premium games for niche markets in the United States and Europe.

Challenges

• Changing consumer preferences and the rapid growth of digital gaming devices can limit demand for traditional toys.
• Competition from global and local players.
• Global economic uncertainty and a poor local economy can affect sales due to reduced consumer spending on discretionary items like toys.
• Rising input costs.

Trends

• Growth through increased kidult spending
• Increasing popularity of educational toys

Outlook

Toy companies are expected to continue adapting to changing trends such as growing demand for educational toys. Global toys and games revenue is expected to be driven by higher disposable income in developing countries and population growth. Merchandising opportunities and partnerships are important growth factors for toy companies. There are opportunities for local gaming studios to attract international publishing deals. Sub-Saharan Africa’s mobile player audience is projected to be the fastest-growing globally.

Report Coverage

This report on the manufacture and retail of toys and games in South Africa includes information on the state of the industry, local manufacture of toys and local production of video games and other gaming content and services, notable players, trends, imports, enterprise development and competition.

There are profiles of 25 companies including the main local distributor Prima Toys and retailers such as Toy Kingdom, Amic Trading (Toys R Us). Gaming developer profiles include Free Lives, Nyamakop and Sea Monster .