TOTSY Survey Finds 85% of Moms Plan to Spend the Same or More on 2010 Holiday Toys

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- TOTSY (http://www.totsy.com), the private sale site exclusively dedicated to delivering deals on coveted must-haves for parents, babies and kids, surveyed TOTSY member moms about consumer spending plans on toys for the 2010 holiday season. The survey found that 85 percent of total respondents will spend the same (41 percent) or more (44 percent) than they did in 2009. Of those surveyed, more respondents noted the importance of a toy's capacity to inspire and require creativity than educational value.

The capacity to promote creativity, educational value and the child's desire for the toy received most votes as significant influences on the purchasing decision, while the least votes went to plastic composition, electronics integration and nostalgia toy classification.

Additional facts and figures include:

• 96 percent of respondents noted it is important for the toy to inspire and require creativity during play
• 82 percent found it important for toys to enable parent-child interaction
• 77 percent stated it is important toys to have educational value.

"Moms know best so we need to know what moms want—we're glad this survey gave us the opportunity to get to know our members better," said Christophe Garnier, CMO at TOTSY. "We also look forward to sharing this important information direct from moms with our brand partners to help them gauge what is top of mind with moms this holiday season," he adds.

Planned increases in spending bode well for the retail industry this Q4, with online properties that market to parents expected to perform well. Sites serving the parent demographic have attracted increased investor interest and numerous acquisitions in recent months, with Amazon acquiring Quidsi, the parent of Diapers.com, Soap.com and BeautyBar.com for $545 million, Federated Media acquiring BigTent.com, a site for groups that happens to be largely populated by parents, and Technorati snapping up leading mom blog, SiliconValleyMoms.com.

The complete survey results are reserved for media only. For more information or to request the complete survey results, please contact [email protected].

Source: TOTSY surveyed 4,977 members from November 24-30, 2010, offering survey participants a chance to win $500 in TOTSY credit. The survey included questions regarding planned spending and the following factors that influence spending decisions:  the child's desire for a toy, educational value, organic or green classification, creativity, electronics, physical activity, parental interaction, nostalgia toy categorization, length of engagement with toy, wood or plastic composition and gender specificity.

About TOTSY

Headquartered in New York, TOTSY is a privately held company dedicated to providing its members with access to coveted and essential products and brands designed for expecting moms, parents, babies and kids at sample sale prices. Shopping events are designer-specific and held over a 72 hour period. Membership is free of charge and by invitation only. For more information, please visit http://www.totsy.com.

SOURCE TOTSY