Circana

Adult Women Driving Toy Industry Growth

A Circana report shows adult consumers — particularly women — are a major driver of U.S. toy industry growth in early 2026. From January through April, women accounted for more than half of industry growth while consumers aged 18+ contributed 35% of total growth. The U.S. toy industry recorded 13% dollar growth year‑over‑year in that period, with unit sales up 5% and average selling price up 7%. Categories such as squishy/sensory toys have seen triple‑digit growth, and social commerce is amplifying demand: TikTok Shop accounted for 1% of total retail sales and 3% of e‑commerce sales, with toys/hobbies/collectibles ranking highly on the platform. Retailers like Five Below benefited from the trend, and Circana notes a shift toward mid‑tier and premium toy pricing amid continued social‑driven discovery.

Agentic Commerce Could Remove Brands From Consideration

At a Cannes Lions session reported by The Drum, Circana speakers Lindsay Pullins and Cara Pratt argued that 'agentic' AI-driven shopping systems are already reshaping commerce. Circana research cited: 10% of North American beauty e‑commerce now comes from social commerce and 70% of shoppers use AI for product discovery/search. In agentic environments, AI agents compare product attributes, price, availability and reviews before consumers engage, meaning brands with inconsistent product data, taxonomies or ambiguous claims risk being excluded from consideration. Retail media is critical because it holds the purchase signals agents need, but measurement fragmentation across retail networks and inconsistent methodologies hinder interoperability. Pullins and Pratt called for brands to test how AI evaluates their products and for industry standardization around measurement and product data to avoid lost visibility and sales.

Retail Media Evolution Starts With Smarter Questions

At an ADWEEK House Cannes Lions panel co-hosted with CVS Media Exchange (CMX), industry leaders argued retail media must move beyond raw data volume toward clearer goals and actionable measurement. Parbinder Dhariwal (CVS Media Exchange) said brands are drowning in data and need defined objectives—incrementality, category growth, new‑to‑brand acquisition, and retention—to turn signals into decisions. Cara Pratt (Circana) urged building data strategy into decision-making up front and highlighted cross‑retailer measurement: Circana’s work with CMX showed incremental ROAS that flowed to purchases at retailers outside CVS. Panelists also flagged in‑store, short‑visit shopper moments as an underused retail media opportunity and called for using end‑to‑end transaction data to inform broader marketing strategy beyond single campaigns.