While recent reports from the National Retail Federation have suggested retailers are gearing up for a slow winter season, one product category is standing out as being particularly lucrative: Licensed children's toys.

Through the end of 2011, licensed toy sales were up in terms of dollar sales by 2 percent and represented 26 percent of total industry sales, the NPD Group reports. Retailers bank on the sales of these products, as they cost 57 percent more than toys not based on popular licenses, such as Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles.

"The overarching story for 2011 was that consumers made purchasing trade-offs. When they did buy toys, compared to last year they purchased more higher-priced toys at the expense of mid to lower-priced ones," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst at The NPD Group.

Overall, approximately $21.18 billion was spent on both licensed and non-licensed toys in 2011.

The report comes just weeks before the annual Toy Fair, an event where big-name toy manufacturers show off their product lineups for the upcoming year.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 2:42 am .