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Now, adults are just as enthusiastic collectors of the Danish company\u2019s colorful brick sets\u2014and Lego is banking on them to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The trend started when Lego-loving kids took their fascination into adulthood, and continued to buy the brand\u2019s elaborate collections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to focus on adults because we realized that we had a much bigger opportunity than we were tapping into,\u201d Julia Goldin, Lego\u2019s chief product and marketing officer, told the Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2020, Lego launched its adult-focussed category which boasts big (and more expensive) sets. Think Harry Potter\u2019s Gringotts building<\/a>, $700 Titanic replicas, and a $500 set of a town from The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adults, who otherwise felt embarrassed to buy Lego for themselves have since gravitated towards the brand with its new \u201c18+\u201d labeling, Lego said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In about four years, Lego\u2019s collection for grown-ups has expanded to 142 sets\u2014roughly 15% of the total sets available in the U.S. It\u2019s unclear how many of Lego\u2019s consumers are adults.<\/p>\n Indeed, adult collectors have become critical to the growth of the toy industry, which faces the threat of inflation and higher interest rates curbing people\u2019s discretionary spending. The \u201ckidult\u201d segment, for those aged 12 and above, has outpaced the children\u2019s category within toys, according to data intelligence group Circana<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between 2019 and 2022, kidults\u2019 contribution to the toy segment by sales has flourished from 23.4% to 28%. Their market for toys is now valued at \u20ac4.6 billion ($4.9 billion) across the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe kidults market has been outpacing the kids core part of the industry for a very long time,\u201d said Circana\u2019s global toys industry analyst Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Tutt in a May report<\/a>. \u201cI believe there are still plenty of growth opportunities that brands, license owners and retailers can capture to grow this market much further.\u201d<\/p>\n This opportunity bodes well for Lego, which already has a strong adult fan base as the dynamics of the toy industry skew more towards older players who likely have higher purchasing power.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Denmark-based Lego\u2019s adult collectors seemed to have helped it outperform the broader toy industry in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lego\u2019s revenues grew 2%<\/a> last year, against an industry that shrunk 7%<\/a>, notching $9.7 billion. While that\u2019s the slowest sales growth the company has witnessed in seven years, it also points to how Lego was able to buck a trend that its other rivals struggled with.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Lego believes its kids are just as important, even if the scales of the toy industry may be tipping in favor of the \u201ckidults.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKids and learning through play will always be our focus and our ambition is to bring LEGO play to more children.\u00a0Adults are important because they introduce children to LEGO building and they enjoy building together,\u201d a Lego spokesperson told Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n Lego\u2019s adult-collector market could help the company even through 2024 as economic pressures continue to weigh on shopper\u2019s purchasing decisions. Maybe it\u2019s just a question of finding the right Lego Icons<\/a> for them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n