Top Ten Christmas Present

Back in August, we reported that Lego was going to be a big hit this Christmas, but we never predicted it would be this big!

High Street Stores and online shops have been unable to meet the huge demand for the famous building blocks, leading to prices being two to three times more expensive via the usual internet channels. A quick search for Lego on Amazon or Lego on eBay will show the frightening results!

Lego has enjoyed a major revival with its sales already showing an increase of up to 25% when compared to last year, as parents continue to search for the the traditional toys this Christmas.

Leading store such as Tesco and Asda have sold out of the most popular ranges of the toy including Star Wars, Power Miners and Indiana Jones sets in the lead up to christmas. Other, smaller independent retailers, selling Lego on Amazon or promoting Lego on eBay, are charging between two to three times the official listing prices of Lego.

A Lego Star Wars Clone Walker Battle Pack has an official price of £9.79 but on Lego on eBay can fetch as much as £29.95 plus £5 for delivery .

The official listing price for the Lego Indiana Jones Temple of Doom is £73.39 – the cheapest deal for Lego on Amazon is double that, and consumers are willing to pay it to ensure their child gets the must have toys.

Some people are calling the online retailers exploitative, yet it’s an all too familiar story that is mirrored by travel companies during school holidays.

In the middle of a recession who would have thought that children would turn to Lego and help push sales to an all-time high?

Lego has positively thrived during the recession, as parents revert back to longer-lasting toys. Retailers of board games and other traditional toys have also seen a renaissance in demand during the downturn. Last month, Hamleys cited Barbie and Transformers, as well as Lego, as toys it expects to do well this Christmas.

Part of the appeal of Lego during a recession is its “longevity”, said Marko Ilincic, the managing director of Lego UK. “Parents spend lots of money on plastic imported toys, but they only do what it says on the tin. But children take Lego to pieces, build them up again and add it to other Lego, and that gives it longevity.”

The first brick of the brand’s story was placed by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who started making wooden toys in his workshop in 1932 before naming the company Lego – coined from the Danish phrase “leg godt”, which means “play well” – two years later. Today, Lego is sold in more than 130 countries, and more than 400 million children and adults will play with its bricks this year. The company makes about 17.5 billion bricks each year, which compares to fewer than two billion actual bricks manufactured in Britain.

But parents don’t just buy Lego for their kids. Mr Ilincic says there are a host of website and forums for Lego adult enthusiasts around the globe. Partly with one eye on this market, Lego launched a range of new board games last month.

Article taken from the Independent