The Netflix influence on sales of related products

On the Retail Enviroments site published by *POPAI Hungary’s mother organisation Shop! HQ, Jo Rossman, publisher and editor says that couch potatoes are lauded now  for staying home.

The Queen’s Gambit

As American viewing time rose for this miniseries following its debut (40.8 million hours in nine days).  The series presents the fate of a young, addictive, genius American chess girl in 7 parts during the Cold War. It is running with great success not only in the U.S. but worldwide. It made chess fashionable again, the original novel became a bestseller, and the number of chess sets sold increased by orders of magnitude. Unit sales of chess sets jumped 87% in the U.S. and chess book sales rose 603%.

“The idea that a streaming television series can have an impact on product sales is not a new one, but we are finally able to view it through the data,” says Juli Lennett, toys industry advisor for NPD. “The sales of chess books and chess sets, which had previously been flat or declining for years, turned sharply upward as the popular new series gained viewers.”

Based on U.S. Retail Tracking Service data from NPD, week-over-week chess set sales in the U.S. had been relatively flat for 13 weeks, only to rise quickly after “The Queen’s Gambit” debuted. A similar rise in chess book sales, was revealed by NPD BookScan, which reported U.S. print book unit sales for the following titles: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer, Chess Fundamentals by Jose Capablanca, Chess for Kids by Michael Basman, and The Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques from A to Z by Jeremy Silman.

The afterlife of the series is also interesting. With a werk film, Netflix has given fans an almost new bonus section. For Christmas, Netflix posted a 3-and-a-half-minute conversation on its Twitter page with Anya Taylor-Joy (the protagonist of The Queen’s Gambit) with Hungarian female chess master Judit Polgár, the best female chess player in chess history.

Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures

The second-season Netflix release of the series in March and the movie, Barbie Princess Adventure, in September lifted the number of hours watched of all Barbie releases on Netflix. Toy sales followed suit, as sales of Barbie products have trended to the rise in viewing hours of Barbie titles, according to The NPD Group.

“Contributing to the growth in the Barbie property was the Barbie Dreamhouse, which was among the top 10 fastest-selling toys in the U.S. from March to September 2020,” Lennett says. “The latest season of Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures on Netflix also debuted on Netflix in March, right when stay-at-home orders began and families with kids started watching a lot more streaming video.”

The amount of time spent watching Barbie titles on Netflix more than doubled between February and June. “While we can’t attribute the subsequent success in toys directly to increased Netflix viewing, given that the pandemic shelter-at-home orders likely played a role, there is a correlation,” says Lennett. “It was readily apparent, once we noted the increase in time spent viewing in June and the increase in Barbie toy sales that same month.”

The Home Edit Life

Granted, this one has a book to help sales along, but the series doubtless played a strong role in the product category uplift. Authors and organizers Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin offer tips for consumers to “edit, categorize, and contain their clutter to create stunning spaces.” They have inspired consumers to invest in home organization products to beautify and tidy everything from home offices to kitchen pantries, according to The NPD Group.

Since its publication Sept. 15, The Home Edit Life has sold more than 100,000 copies and is the top-selling book in the home cleaning, caretaking, and organizing subject in 2020. According to NPD BookScan, book unit sales in the home cleaning, caretaking and organizing subject doubled on a unit basis in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter, driven by the success of The Home Edit Life.

Products tied to organization drove growth in the office supplies industry from April through September, as consumers took on home projects during lockdown and were later inspired by The Home Edit Life. The storage category was up 9% year-over-year for the 6 months ending September and 13% year-over-year for the month of September alone. Presentation boards, made of dry erase boards, chalk boards, clip boards, tack boards, and others, increased 19% in revenue from April to September and 36% in the month of September. Among the top-growing subcategories in September were filing and storage such as storage boxes and totes (up 20%), combo boards (up 73%), and shredders (up 34%).

“With many Americans forgoing their typical schedules, travel plans, and activities due to stay-at-home orders and other pandemic-related restrictions, home organization became a hobby for some and a priority for others to get the most out of their space,” says Leen Nsouli, NPD’s office supplies industry analyst. “The Home Edit philosophy has refueled the trend we saw begin at the onset of the pandemic and likely inspired parents to better organize their home for remote working and remote learning, a trend we will likely continue to see as we head into the winter and lockdowns potentially return.”

In the kitchen, sales of food storage products increased by 27% year-over-year for the 6 months ending September 2020, and by 17% year-over-year in September. All segments of food storage have been growing, with canisters/jars leading the way.

“As a result of COVID, many consumers are eating more of their meals at home, taking up hobbies like cooking and canning, thus also wanting to better organize their kitchen and pantry areas,” says Joe Derochowski, NPD’s home industry advisor. “Being able to functionally – and beautifully – store the foods consumers are buying and preparing has become more important than ever since we are spending so much time in these areas of our homes.”

* POPAI, from 2015 named Shop! is an international organization of the Marketing and Retail industry which headquarters placed in Chicago and Hollywood Florida, representing nearly 2000 local offices. Hungary joined with the POPAI Hungary Association in 2003, which has since then been a nonprofit professional, educational, research and knowledge transfer organisation active mainly in the FMCG sector. Read more: popai.hu