Washington, November 20, 2009 – Though Nintendos and Playstations will still be placed under millions of Christmas trees, many shoppers buying toys this holiday season will focus on lower-priced items. According to NRF’s 2009 Top Toys survey, conducted by BIGresearch, old favorites like Barbie and Transformers remain popular, but new additions from Bakugan and Zhu Zhu pets have also emerged as favorites.

 

“Since retailers place holiday orders long before the hot toys emerge, some new additions to the list this year are already hard to find,” said Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, NRF. “With companies offering great prices on toys this year, shoppers may want to act fast if they have one of these items on their shopping lists.”

 

For boys, video games reign supreme the second year in a row while Transformers, at the #2 spot this year, will increase in popularity. A new addition to the list includes Bakugan, a host of products including a board and video game featuring the characters of the Bakugan animated series. 

 

Popular gifts for girls remain similar to last year, with Barbie retaining her top spot for the sixth year in a row followed by dolls and Hannah Montana toys. Dora the Explorer joins the top 10 list for girls this year, as do Zhu Zhu Pets, which are small, interactive hamsters that have already achieved tremendous holiday buzz. 

 

According to NRF’s holiday survey, released earlier this week, 42.2 percent of consumers plan to purchase toys this year, up slightly from 41.6 percent last year.

 

2009 Top Toys for Girls               

1. Barbie
2. Dolls (generic)
3. Disney Hannah Montana
4. Video Games
5. Disney Princess
6. Dora the Explorer
7. American Girl
8. Nintendo DS
9. Nintendo Wii
10. Zhu Zhu Pets

2009 Top Toys for Boys            

1. Video Games
2. Transformers
3. LEGO
4. Cars (generic)
5. Nintendo Wii
6. Trucks (generic)
7. Bakugan
8. Hot Wheels
9. Nintendo DS
10. Fisher-Price Toys

About the Survey

The NRF 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. The survey, which polled 8,692 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 3-10, 2009. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com