Port Washington, NY, August 3, 2020 – The U.S. juvenile products industry has recaptured the losses from the initial wave of COVID-19 infections, which led to widespread store and school closures across the country in March. Looking at performance by week, sales declined by -20% during the four weeks directly after the closures were announced. However, during the twelve weeks that followed sales increased by 16%. The dollar decline for the four weeks during the initial phases of the crisis was more than made up for in the twelve weeks ending July 4 with an overall gain of $136MM.

Juvenile Products Weekly Sales Trend



Looking at performance from a year-over-year perspective, the U.S. Juvenile Products industry reached $3.5 billion and grew +4% or +$130MM in the 6 months ending June 2020. Furniture was the fastest growing category with an increase of 21%, followed by Safety at 20%, Entertainment at 9%, and Mobility Furniture at 9%. Five of the seven categories tracked by The NPD Group grew faster than the overall industry, which posted a gain of +4%.

YTD June 2020 Category Performance

“It is extremely encouraging to see that the industry has stabilized and is continuing to see positive momentum as we move into the summer months,” said Juli Lennett, NPD’s Juvenile Products industry advisor, “While the recent growth has been substantial, we expect that as consumers start to leave their homes and engage in other activities that impact their weekly spending power we will start to see sales back-off and stabilize at a more normalized level.”

Looking at performance across subcategories, seven out of the top ten subcategories tracked by The NPD Group saw growth in the 6 months ending June 2020. However, the two largest subcategories (car seats and strollers) experienced declines as COVID kept many people in their homes and vehicles parked. Cribs & Toddler Beds had the strongest growth among these top ten categories with $24MM in growth. It also had the second largest subcategory growth among all 44 subcategories behind Children’s Furniture. 

*Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service/Juvenile Products/YTD May 2020

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