The NPD Group has released toy industry stats for the first half of the year, showing overall sales are up almost 3% to US$8 billion from US$7.8 billion in the same period in 2006.
The strong performance of seven super categories helped push positive sales growth. Vehicles sales saw the biggest bump, increasing 17%, with Infant/Preschool toys experiencing a 4% hike, Youth Electronics nudging up 8% and Plush increasing its take by 9%.
Of the 11 categories, three saw sales declines and only one experienced flat sales over 2006. The two super-categories experiencing the largest declines were Action Figures & Accessories and Outdoor & Sports Toys, with both experiencing a 4% downturn.