Among the online retailers most vulnerable to new tariffs and ongoing trade disputes, Toys & Hobbies may be poised for shakeups extending through the 2025 holiday season. New industry survey data and comments from some of the category’s top online merchants show just how serious the consequences could be.
The Toys & Hobbies category has seen slowing year-over-year growth since 2020, when online sales growth peaked at 52.9%, according to Digital Commerce 360 data analysis. Still, as other tariff-troubled categories such as Consumer Electronics and Housewares & Home Furnishings saw negative growth in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, Toys & Hobbies maintained single-digit results, with the 133 retailers in the space from Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database increasing online sales 5.5% year over year in 2024 to $17.7 billion.
Toy industry survey about tariffs
The Toy Association, which represents 900 members in its industry, conducted an April survey, soliciting their perspectives on 145% tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China. With 77% of toys imported to the United States coming from China, the increased costs attached to receiving shipments have chilled plans and could have ripple effects in the months to come.
87% of mid-size toy companies surveyed have already delayed orders, with 81% of small toy companies saying the same, according to The Toy Association.
Tariffs raise alarm in the toy industry
Meanwhile, 80% of mid-size toy companies are canceling existing orders, as are 64% of small toy companies. As that happens, 45% of mid-size respondents and 46% of small respondents expect that they could go out of business entirely within weeks or months.
Top Toys & Hobbies retailers react to tariffs
Among the leading online retailers for Toys & Hobbies, both GameStop and Disney‘s top executives have voiced displeasure with tariffs at current levels.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who has been a vocal supporter of the Trump administration, reacted on his X (formerly Twitter) account on April 3.
“These tariffs are turning me into a dem,” he stated.
GameStop, which sells toys and collectibles alongside new and used video games, was also impacted by tariffs when Nintendo delayed pre-orders for its new Switch 2 console. Originally slated for April 9, pre-orders at Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Walmart eventually opened up on April 24 after the console maker and game publisher assessed the impact that new tariffs would have. GameStop’s online pre-orders for the Switch 2, which arrives at retailers on June 5, eventually sold out.
GameStop web sales by year
GameStop ranks No. 35 in the Top 2000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. It is also No. 1 in the Toys & Hobbies category.
Meanwhile, Disney, which scheduled its fiscal second quarter’s earnings report for May 7, stands to lose as well. Bob Iger, the CEO at The Walt Disney Company, spoke about tariffs during an ABC News meeting on April 3, according to a report in the newsletter Status. There, Iger said that “speedily” relocating Asia-based manufacturing to the U.S. in the face of tariffs would not be easy and he believes most people don’t “really understand how tariffs work.”
Disney is No. 88 in the Top 2000 and No. 4 in the database’s Toys & Hobbies category.
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