Hasbro Tops $1 Billion in Digital Sales for the First Time

Need to Know

• The toy retailer earned $1.7 billion in Q4 revenue, with more than $1 billion coming from e-commerce, a 43% year-over-year increase.
• Digital sales now account for a quarter of Hasbro’s total revenue.
• Hasbro saw a 27% increase in sales of gaming products and a 20% increase in sales of its TV and entertainment products over the quarter.

Analysis

The largest toy retailer in the world saw substantial digital gains in Q4: Hasbro reported earlier this week that it topped $1 billion in online revenue, marking a 43% year-over-year increase.

E-commerce accounted for roughly a quarter of Hasbro’s total revenue for Q4, which hit $1.7 billion. And while the company’s revenue did dip by 8% for the entirety of 2020, Hasbro posted a 4% year-over-year gain for Q4, largely driven by the sale of gaming and entertainment products. In those categories, Hasbro saw a 27% increase in sales of its gaming products, and a 20% increase in sales of TV, entertainment, and film products.

“Our teams successfully drove demand for several product categories across our portfolio, including our entire gaming portfolio,” Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “They found ways to reach the global consumer despite retail closures throughout the year… We leveraged our global supply chain capabilities and our evolving geographic manufacturing supplier base to get products made and distributed.”

Goldner noted that among its most lucrative gaming brands this year were its Wizards of the Coast franchise, as well face-to-face games; Hasbro’s gaming portfolio includes well-known brands such as Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, and The Game of Life. The company, which acquired eOne in 2019, saw limited income from TV and film production due to COVID-19 lockdowns, but saw “substantial progress developing Hasbro IP for storytelling that we believe will lead to enhanced revenues and earnings power from Hasbro brands from multiple income streams” over the course of 2020, Goldner said.

Hasbro’s other successful product franchises include Star Wars (including The Mandalorian) and Marvel, plus Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons.

The toy company introduced direct-to-consumer retail in 2019, a move that has no doubt benefitted its bottom line over the last year, as online shopping increased in popularity due to store closures and stay-at-home orders.

Additionally, Hasbro likely benefitted from entertainment dollars that might have otherwise been spent on travel or moviegoing being channeled elsewhere, particularly by parents looking to keep housebound children entertained. Other companies have looked to capitalize on the need to digitally engage children (and their parents), including Walmart, which launched its Digital Toy Box ahead of the Christmas shopping season last year, and Home Depot, which introduced Virtual Field Trips in October 2020.