FAMILIES in Spain will be buying an average of 43% of their children's new toys online this Christmas and 'Three Kings' – a trend the pandemic started and which shows no signs of waning at present.
According to the Institute of Technology-AIJU for children's and leisure products in the 31st edition of its annual nationwide toy catalogue and shopping guide – for 2021 and 2022 – physical shops are selling less, but the toy trade is not suffering overall since online sales make up for this fall.
Interviewing 644 families with children aged from birth to 12, the AIJU study found that just over half, 51%, bought online because it was 'easier, more convenient and more comfortable' to get deliveries at their homes or workplaces.
The fact they 'waste less time' buying online than browsing in shops was cited as one of the main reasons by 42%, and the same number said items tended to be cheaper on websites than in actual high-street shops.
It seems the issue of possible Covid contagion by being out of the house is less of a worry for shoppers nowadays – 35% said buying on the internet meant they avoided crowds and did not have to concern themselves with precautions such as hand-sanitiser, social distancing, and mask-wearing.
It is likely the number would have been much higher a year ago, when vaccines were not yet available and cases were starting to spike again after a trough in summer.
Most families use a mix of internet versus high street
The survey identified four typologies when it came to families buying toys and other gifts for their children – the first of these made up 27% of the total and were those who bought practically everything from a physical shop, or 90% of goods on average.
About a third of the total, or 34%, tended to do both, but leaned more towards online buying; another 30% used both methods but were more likely to make purchases from physical shops, buying between 50% and 89% of toys on the high street.
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