LEGO says its adult market is still growing in ‘a balanced way’

The LEGO Group says it’s still growing its adult market in ‘a balanced way’, as the LEGO Icons theme cements itself in the company’s best-selling product lines.

Revealed earlier today alongside the company’s financial results for the first half of 2023, its five best-selling themes in that six-month period include City, Friends, Star Wars, Icons and Technic. While the first two of those themes are aimed pretty squarely at kids, the rest all contain products designed for adults (by virtue of the 18+ label on the box).

In fact, LEGO Icons consists almost exclusively of 18+ sets, from 10316 The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell and 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle to 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine and 10311 Orchid. LEGO Group CEO Niels B. Christiansen says the strong performance of that theme is indicative of continued growth in its adult market – but not at the expense of its core demographic.

“LEGO Icons is typically a product [for] teens and adults, and also kids, but it is a very attractive product for adults,” Christiansen said. “We are growing sales with adults but we're doing it in quite a balanced way here in the first half [of 2023], so we are growing both kids and adults approximately at the same level. Right now we don't see a big share shift between the two different categories.”

The LEGO Group has never publicly shared the percentage of its sales made specifically to adults, but in 2020 announced a wider campaign branded ‘LEGO for Adults’ in an attempt to broaden its market share among older demographics. That shift saw the Creator Expert label retired and eventually replaced by LEGO Icons, along with the introduction of standardised black boxes for adult-targeted sets and the 18+ label.

Given it’s still following the same approach three years later, it’s safe to assume that strategy is paying off – even while growth overall has slowed compared to the huge jumps seen in 2021 and 2022. Revenue increased by 1% in the first half of 2023, while net profit declined by DKK 1.1 billion (£127m) compared to the same period last year, partly as a result of ‘long-term strategic initiatives’.

Check out the LEGO Group’s full financial results for the first six months of 2023, and see how its best-selling themes in that period compare to 2022.

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