“I’m 43 years old and I still participate in role-playing games, reading comics, and collecting Funkos. “I don’t consider myself an adult who buys children’s toys.” Raimon is a clear example of the phenomenon called kidults, which refers to those adults who consume products that, a few years ago, were aimed exclusively at children.
And although Raimon does not identify with the definition given to the concept, he does recognize that he buys products that, for some people, could be considered “kids’ things.” “I think it has much more to do with the vintage phenomenon, with the nostalgia of being able to buy things that did not exist before and that are part of our past,” he points out.
The reason for this new phenomenon? The lack of children. And the fertility rate in Spain is at historic lows. According to the latest data collected by Eurostat – pertaining to 2021 – the average number of children born among Spanish women is 1.19. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), this can be summarized in that less than 900 babies are born per day: one of the worst records on the European continent. This decrease in boys and girls is worrying in many aspects, but there is a sector in which it has a direct impact: that of toy stores and toy manufacturing companies.
To adapt to this new situation, many companies in the sector have decided to focus their products on a new segment of the public: adults. “For three or four years, companies have launched more and more products aimed at seniors. What was previously a niche market is growing at an exponential rate,” Fernando Pérez, director of the consultancy Circana in Spain, former NPD, explains to La Vanguardia.
The growth forecasts for the Spanish toy market for 2023 are very moderate. According to the latest Circana report, growth will barely exceed 1% compared to the 2022 campaign. Of course, while in children – between 0 and 12 years old – sales will decrease by 2.7%, growth among over 18 years old will increase by 7.1%. “At this time, the kidults market – a concept formed by the union of the words kid, adult in English, and adult – represents 25% of total sales,” indicates Fernando Pérez.
But what exactly is meant by kidult? According to the analyst, the concept refers to all those people who continue consuming all types of gaming products – toys, collectibles, board games… – once they are over 13 years of age. “Today’s adult world has become an extension of youth to almost old age. It has been proven that play is beneficial at all stages of adult life, even at very advanced ages,” says Pablo Busó, coordinator of the research area of ??Aiju, the Technological Institute of Children’s Products and Leisure.
This is a consolidated cultural change, says the expert. “Before, the conception of adulthood was that of a very serious stage, in which there were hardly any moments of leisure. Now we live in a much more hedonistic time, with a greater need to entertain ourselves than in the past.”
This transformation is explained by the fine line that separates youth and entering adulthood. “There is an abbreviation of the times of childhood. Children stop being children earlier, but adolescence has suffered the opposite effect: it lasts much longer than before,” says Maite Francés, marketing director of the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (AEFJ).
Pau is another clear example. Among the products he collects are “fish candy dispensers.” At 34 years old, he says, his mother still gives them to him every year, like when he was little. In addition, he also buys all the children’s plastic strips he can find. “They take me back to childhood. Furthermore, it is a unique collection that few people practice,” he says.
The emergence of the pandemic, according to the experts contacted, has also played a fundamental role in the emergence of this growth in the consumption of leisure products. “People started buying board games, puzzles and other leisure products. The families found there a bond of unity that until then had been decreasing,” explains Pérez. This trend, according to the latest data, has been maintained since 2020.
According to the consulting firm Circana, some of the most popular products among kidults are puzzles for adults, strategy board games – such as Estratego, Catan, Exit, Trivial or Risk –, Star Wars and Harry Potter action figures or Funko and Banpresto collectibles – Japanese manga and anime dolls with high prices. In addition, Magic cards, construction sets such as Lego Architecture, Lego Technic and Lego Icons and hyper-realistic babies, which due to their high price are usually purchased by older children, also stand out. “In the case of Barbie, for example, there are some models like those who wear Pertegaz clothing that are very exclusive and are also aimed at children,” highlights Fernando Pérez.
The enormous offer of movies and series on platforms has also contributed to giving a boost to the toy sector focused on adults. According to Busó, “the merchandising associated with the television industry has grown a lot. Today you can find collectible figures of characters from massive phenomena such as Game of Thrones or Marvel, among others.”
Furthermore, the price decline has also played a crucial role. “Before, the adult market was reduced to a few figures for collectors with very high prices. Nowadays it is very easy to find the character from our favorite series at very competitive prices,” explains Francisco Pérez, the director of Circana. This must be taken into account in the world of video games, whose growth has broken historical records, which have been used to create new lines of closely related toy products.
According to Maite Francés, one of the key factors that explain the phenomenon has been the nostalgia market. “In addition to the fact that many of today’s products did not exist before, it was previously unthinkable for an adult to play. The change in mentality and the growing supply has allowed many elderly people to afford today the purchase of toys related to the television culture with which they grew up as children.”
One of the advantages of this new age group that kidults represent is their greater economic and decision-making capacity. An adult not only can decide what toys he wants: he has the power to buy them. According to the Circana member, in addition, “spending is even higher when they buy products for themselves, so the growth forecasts are very positive.” To this end, the store space dedicated to the elderly grows with the passing of the campaigns. Whereas once a small corner of the store was reserved, now entire aisles are dedicated to the entertainment of the most experienced.
The final growth forecasts are still not entirely clear. What does seem to be confirmed is that adults are the salvation of a sector that, irremediably, sees its potential customer shrink as the years go by. It will be necessary to see how far the new generations are willing to go in the consumption of toys, and if the phenomenon of kidults ends up spreading to the whole of society without distinction of ages.