The Force awakens the toy aisle

Star Wars merchandise is shaking up the busy fall retail season, according to a new report.

According to new research from 360pi, betweenSept. 4 and 10, Star Wars-themed toys comprised nearly two in 10 of the daily top 100 best selling toys on Amazon, dethroning bestsellers Cards Against Humanity, Crayola and Exploding Kittens, and replacing traditional Lego items with Star Wars-themed versions.

“It’s quite clear that fan excitement leading up to the release of the next Star Wars movie installments have already generated significant sales in the retail world, but many questions remain,” said Jenn Markey, vice president of marketing, 360pi. “Can the momentum be sustained, will interest wane between now and the end of the year and will the campaign impact overall holiday sales or will it be limited to mostly serious collectors? Only time will tell.”

Other key findings:

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  On Sept. 9, Toys ‘R’ Us priced the Lego Imperial Troop Transport at just 80 cents above Amazon, Target and Walmart. However, on the same day, Toys ‘R’ Us was the lowest priced marketplace seller on the same product on both Rakuten and Newegg, indicating a possible trend of retailers selling beyond their own sites to marketplaces and broadening revenue opportunities.


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  In a comparison of 82 Star Wars-themed toys in Amazon’s assortment to Walmart and Target from Sept. 8-10, Walmart’s pricing was 2% higher than Amazon’s on average while Target was 3% higher. Compared to back to school products from Aug. 10-Sept. 10, Walmart’s prices were 10% higher than Amazon on average, while Target was 16% higher.

For more key data, click here.