Market Size Blog

Dolls, Games, and Toys

The Editors — Sat, 05 May 2012 13:28:05 +0000

The United States is the largest toy and game market in the world, with an estimated retail sales value in 2010 of $22 billion. This estimated value includes video game consoles but does not include the games themselves, which are categorized as software but by some estimates would add another $10 to the actual value of the dolls, games, and toys market. Of course, if we included things that somebody considered a toy while another considered a vehicle of some sort—boat, bike, snowmobile—it would be an even larger market… Yes, defining the market is key, which is part of what makes a system like the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS)—used by Canada, Mexico, and the United States—so useful.

Today’s market size post breaks the U.S. dolls, games, and toys industry down into three categories, U.S. manufacturer shipments, imports, and exorts. The fact that U.S. made product is valued by the Census Burea at less the value of exports is the result of what is called re-exportation; some of what is imported is turned right around and exported. A topic for anohter day.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2002 and 2010
Market size: Domestic production at wholesale: $4.85 and $2.86 billion
Market size: Exports F.A.S.: $1.16 and $3.77 billion
Market size: Imports C.I.F.: $12.06 and $22.30 billion
Source: “Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries: 2010 and 2009,” Annual Survey of Manufactures 2010, available from the Census Bureau web site here. and data from the U.S. International Trade Statistics database on NAICS industry 339932. The International Trade Statstics database is available online here..
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on May 5, 2012

E-Commerce Writ Large

The Editors — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:42:29 +0000

The announcement this week that two large players in the Internet world have made billion dollar plus acquisitions made us think again about e-commerce. It is a term that is used regularly but one suspects that its meaning is somewhat subjective and based on the user’s own concept of the business. E-commerce can be viewed, as it often is, as electronic shopping. Of course, that might more accurately be called e-shopping or e-retail. Commercial exchange is much bigger than that.

By taking the electronically transacted portions of each of the primarily commercial sectors of the economy, we see (in the pie chart) that e-retail makes up only a small share of the more broadly defined e-commerce. E-wholesale and e-manufacturing account for the lion’s share of the total but they are not new and shiny and so attract far less media attention or investor interest.

Even within the retail sector as a whole, e-commerce accounts for just under 5 percent of the whole. That percentage is, of course, growing, and growing rapidly. It is this fact that must be causing companies like Facebook to spend in excess of $1 billion on a company with a popular photo sharing app (Instagram). Worth noting is the fact that in some retail sectors, e-commerce does play a far larger role than the 5 percent it represents of the sector at large: electronics and books are two such.

Today’s market size numbers measure the size of the U.S. retail sector in the 4th quarter of 2011, and the size of the e-commerce portion of that total.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2011, 4th quarter
Market size: Retail, $1.072 trillion, E-commerce: $51.38 billion (4.8% of total retail)
Source: Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 4th Quareter 2011, U.S. Census Bureau, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on April 11, 2012

Pharmacy & Drug Stores

The Editors — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:24:26 +0000

The sale of drugs, whether over-the-counter or prescription drugs, has been a healthy, growing business for a long time in the United States. The sale of these products through pharmacies and drug stores is the subject of our post today. The graph presents sales of these retailers over the period 1992–2010. The annual growth rate in sales over this period was 10.3%, a third faster than the economy as a whole, which grew at 7.2% annually.

Worth noting is the fact that over this same time period, the number of retail outlets selling drugs has increased as Big Box stores, grocery stores and others have gotten into the business of selling drugs with enthusiasm. Consequently, the role of pharmacies and drug stores in total drug sales has actually declined over this period.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2010
Market size: $130.87 billion and $222.26 billion respectively

Source: Annual Retail Trade Survey 2009, and updates from the Monthly Retail Trade Reports from the same reporting series, U.S. Census Bureau, available oneline here.
Original source: U.S. Departmetn of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
Posted on April 4, 2012

Apparel Consumption

The Editors — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:39:18 +0000

Clothes, we all wear them and yet for the apparel industry what matters is fashion. It is through changing fashions that people are most often lured into buying more clothes than are strictly necessary. For many, of course, clothes buying is an entertainment.

Per capita spending on apparel in the United States peaked for the first decade of the new century in 2005 and then fell, gaining downward momentum with the onset of recession and the financial crisis that followed. Complicating the downward spiral is the fact that apparel companies were caught somewhat off guard by the sharp decline in spending which lead to excess inventories. As these were liquidated, overall apparel prices declined.

Today’s market size is a measure of hte apparel industry based on per capita spending in the United States.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2005 and 2010
Market size: Annual, per capita spending of $1,276 and $1,136 respectively
Source: “Table 3. Age of Reference Person: Average Annual Expenditures and Characteristics,” Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2005 and 2010, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, available here
Original source: U.S. Labor Department
Posted on March 21, 2012

Cable and Premium TV Market

The Editors — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:25:59 +0000

Economic data show that most industries in the United States saw declines of some sort during the recent recession and accompanying financial crisis of 2007—2009. One industry which appears to have weathered the downturn without noticable declines is the pay television broadcasting industry. It is true that the growth they’ve seen may have been larger were it not for the economic downturn. Nonetheless, as can be seen based on overall revenue the industry’s growth trajectory has shown not a blip as can be seen in the chart.

Today’s market size post is based on industry revenues for cable services from basic and premium broadcasting as well as installation services and high speed Internet access through cable lines.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2010
Market size: $36.43 and 93.37 billion respectively
Source: “Table 1142. Cable and Premium TV—Summary: 1975 to 2010,” 2012 Statistical Abstract of the United States, December 2011, U.S. Census Bureau, page 717, available online here.
Original source: SNL Kagan, a division of SNL Financial L.C.
Posted on March 12, 2012

Waldkindergartens

The Editors — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:43:49 +0000

Waldkindergartens, or forest kindergartens, are outdoor schools for three to five year olds. As the name implies, the classes are held in forests. Although these types of schools became popular in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, the idea of outdoor classrooms began in the 1800s when Friedrich Froebel, a German educator and former forest intern introduced the concept of kindergartens, or children’s gardens. When working with young children, he would teach them in garden settings or in the countryside. Later other educators expanded on his idea with a play-based curriculum.

In the United States, kindergartens are teacher-directed indoor classrooms; however, in the mid-2000s after the book Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, was published there was a renewed interest in getting children outdoors for play and for education. While waldkindergartens are rare in the United States currently, the few programs that are in existence have waiting lists of students wanting to be part of the program. Are these programs beneficial? A study in Europe found that children who went through the waldkindergarten program had more self-confidence, a greater sense of independence, stamina, coordination, motivation and concentration. Some parents in the United States report that their children have better problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Data show the approximate number of waldkindergartens in Germany.

Geographic ref.: Germany
Year: 2012
Market Size: 450 schools
Source: Ruth A. Wilson, “Teaching Among the Trees,” American Forests, Winter 2012, pages 42-43
Posted on March 6, 2012

Cable Programming & Distribution

The Editors — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:05:01 +0000

The U.S. economy is divided into large categories for the purpose of tracking economic activity and the “Information” sector of the economy is where such things as publishing, broadcasting and telectommunications reside. The rise of the digital age is having a major impact on the activites of this sector but for some it is a very possitive impact while for others the transition is more challenging. The cable business is one of the industries in this sector that is seeing robust growth in revenue and over the last five years has shown no sign of slowdown despite the recession and subsequent finacial crisis of 2007-2009.

Today’s market size is the size of the U.S. cable program distribution and subscription programming industry in 2005 and 2010. These industries are designated with the folloiwng NAICS codes: 5152 (Cable and other subscrioion programming) and 5175 (Cable and other program distribution).

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2005 and 2010
Market size: $117.1 and $176.5 billion respectively
Source: “Table 3.0.1 Information Sector (NAICS 51)—Estimated Revenue for Employer Firms: 2005 through 2010,” Service Annual Survey, February 2, 2012, available online here.
Posted on February 27, 2012

Newspapers

The Editors — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:25:22 +0000

Annual revenue generated by the newspaper industry in the United States fell again in 2010, following a pattern seen throughout the last decade. The most recent Service Annual Survey, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows a decline in revenues from 2005 to 2010 for the newspaper publishing industry of 30 percent, and this represents a loss of revenue before inflation. The loss when adjusted for inflation was 42 percent.

Today’s market size is the size of the newspaper industry in the United States based on annual revenues in 2010.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: $34.7 billion
Source: “Table 3.0.1 Information Sector (NAICS 51)—Estimated Revenue for Employer Firms: 2005 through 2010,” Service Annual Survey, February 2, 2012, available online here.
Posted on February 20, 2012

Great Lakes’ Fishing

The Editors — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:42:24 +0000

After the Caspian Sea, the Great Lakes are the largest expanse of fresh water Earth. The five lakes that lie on the border of the United States and Canada are, in order of size, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Today’s market size is the size of the sports fishing industry on the Great Lakes.

Geographic reference: United States and Canada
Year: 2010
Market size: $7 billion
Source: Eric Sharp,”Dollars and Sense,” Detroit Free Press, Sunday, February 5, 2012, page 3C.
Posted on February 11, 2012

Spending on TV Ads During Sporting Championships

The Editors — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:02:20 +0000

As we prepare to feast upon the spectacle that is the Super Bowl there is much talk about the advertisements that will be shown during the game. Turns out, in three of the last five years baseball’s World Series actually sold more advertising during its championship series than did the Super Bowl, with far less attention to the fact. But the baseball World Series is, of course, a series and not a single, super hyped game. There is no question that Super Bowl ads have become for many part of the show.

Today’s market size is the spending on network television advertising during the broadcasting of major sporting championships in 2011.

Enjoy the spectacle!

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2011
Market size: Football – Super Bowl $228 million
Market size: Baseball – World Series $269 million (7 game series)
Market size: Basketball – NCAA Mens BB Final Four $170 (3 games)
Source: Jack Loechner, “Super Bowl Ad Stats,” a blog post on MediaPost, January 30, 2012, available here.
Original source: Kantar Media
Posted on February 4, 2012