D. Tighe
Research expert covering consumer behavior, sporting goods retail, and the global toy industry.
LEGO - statistics & facts
LEGO is one of the largest and most widely recognized toy brands on planet earth. The word “LEGO” is derived from the Danish words “leg godt,” a phrase that translates to “play well.” In 1932, the Dane Ole Kirk Kristiansen founded the LEGO Group and started creating wooden toys. The famous LEGO® bricks and figurines were developed much later, namely in 1958 and 1978, respectively. The company has come along way since the early days, recently celebrating its 90th anniversary, and generating roughly 66 billion Danish Kroner (or 8.8 billion U.S. dollars) of revenue in 2023.
When comparing online stores for toys in the United States in regard to brand awareness, LEGO once again stood at the top of the list: close to 90 percent of consumers using online toy and baby stores in the U.S. said they knew the LEGO branded store. Other online stores known by many included shopDisney, Five Below, and Build-A-Bear. In similar fashion, LEGO was the best-known toy brand among online toy and baby shoppers in the United Kingdom.
LEGO’s dominance over the toy industry
In 2023, LEGO had a brand value of nearly seven and a half billion U.S. dollars, which makes it stand out from the pack by a significant margin. Bandai Namco, a prosperous video game and toy company based in Japan, ranked as the second most valuable toy brand in the world, at roughly 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.When comparing online stores for toys in the United States in regard to brand awareness, LEGO once again stood at the top of the list: close to 90 percent of consumers using online toy and baby stores in the U.S. said they knew the LEGO branded store. Other online stores known by many included shopDisney, Five Below, and Build-A-Bear. In similar fashion, LEGO was the best-known toy brand among online toy and baby shoppers in the United Kingdom.
LEGO’s sustainability efforts
In recent years, the LEGO Group has made strides in fighting climate change by adapting their businesses practices. For instance, the annual amount of waste produced by LEGO’s factories that goes directly to landfill has been drastically reduced (by more than 95 percent) between 2018 and 2023. Moreover, the company has made a point of using as much sustainable material in its packaging as possible, keeping the need for single-use plastic to an absolute minimum.
