LEGO Reaps Fruits of Investments in Long-Term Growth Initiatives

The COVID-19 lockdowns across the world have affected many industries, particularly the retail industry. With people spending more time at home, some toymakers are seeing a surge in their sales. LEGO is one of them. This classic Danish toymaker is performing well in today’s harsh retail landscape, as reported in its 2020 interim financial results. Targeting for 120 new outlets in 2020, it has 74 more stores to go. And the world’s favourite toy brand is on track to outpace its competitors.

The LEGO Group 1H 2020 financial results

The LEGO Group announced its first 1H 2020 financial performances in early September 2020. Compared to 1H 2019, it had achieved revenue growth of 7%. Meanwhile, its consumer sales growth was 14%, with major market groups covering the Americas, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and China. Likewise, its operating profit had gone up to 11%. Also, there was a rise in the brand’s global market share, along with strong free cash flow.

Strategic investments support these performances

The retail industry is reshaping as it shifts toward e-commerce and digitalization. The transformation gets even more intense during this pandemic era. LEGO’s investment in e-commerce since 1996 is indeed a wise move. Its e-commerce platform, Lego.com had received over 100 million visitors in 2020. This was a twofold increase as compared to last year. As for its digital services, it reported two million of its digital building instructions downloads in 1H 2020. Its app, LEGO Life, was getting popular with more than nine million users from 80 countries. It emphasizes product innovation too. In fact, it is seeing opportunities for an omnichannel model. The concept is to combine both physical toys and digital play experiences. Thus, this leads to the launching of new LEGO® Super Mario™, an app-integrated toy.

When two heads are better than one

LEGO doesn’t stop there when it comes to long-term investments. It is diving into collaboration, which is another key to growth. Many brands see this as a strategic approach to expand their popularity by bringing two fan bases together. The year 2020 turns out to be LEGO’s collaboration year. Multiple collaborations are coming in a row. On 27 Aug, LEGO and IKEA announced their collaborative BYGGLEK collection. BYGGLEK is a two-in-one product that serves as a storage system and a toy. On 10 Sept, LEGO x Levi’s teaser dropped, featuring the flexible LEGO base plate for the first time. This unique silicone brick plate allows everyone to be their own fashion designer by sticking LEGOs on it. Last week, LEGO unveiled its partnership with Adidas and introduced the Lego x Adidas ZX 8000. This brick-infused sneaker features the combination of iconic LEGO bricks with the classic Adidas A-ZX series.

Adidas ZX 8000

The journey of collaboration continues

LEGO’s collaboration covers more than just brands. It collaborates with communities as well. It had recently kick-started the LEGO Braille Bricks program in seven countries. These countries are The United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, and Norway respectively. Initiated in April 2019, this pilot project consisted of two phases. As the first phase was rolling out, it expected this project to cover 20 countries by early 2021. LEGO Braille Bricks have created an interesting learning channel for children with vision impairment. They can learn the Braille system and have fun at the same time.

Being named “Toy of The Century” twice, the way it adapts to transformation is somehow inspiring. It demonstrates the importance of being foresighted to shine and stand as a global brand. Its slogan “Only the best is good enough” says it all.