Lego sales surge as housebound families play during lockdown
Lego sales surged in the first half of the year as housebound families spent more time playing games during coronavirus lockdowns.
Sales were up 14 per cent in the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period last year due to a jump in demand as more people stayed at home during the pandemic.
Revenue increased seven per cent to DKK 15.7bn (£1.87bn) and operating profit jumped 11 per cent to DKK 3.9bn.
There was a “rapid shift to e-commerce” during the first half of the year as stay-at-home orders were issued around the world, Lego said.
The Danish toy company also reported that downloads of its digital building instructions doubled to 2m, and a piece of content was shared on digital app Lego Life every two seconds.
Visitors to the Lego e-commerce platform doubled to more than 100m in the first half of 2020.
Despite the boom in online shopping the firm will continue to push ahead with its expansion plans to open 120 new physical stores this year, with 80 in China.
In the first half, Lego opened 46 stores, 30 of which were in China.
Lego Group chief executive Niels Christiansen said: “During the first hafl, we saw the benefits of our investments in long-term growth initiatives such as e-commerce and product innovation.
“Our strong portfolio appealed to builders of all ages and our recently upgraded e-commerce platform and agile global supply chain allowed us to fulfil online demand.
“We also collaborated closely with our retail partners to ensure they could continue to supply their shoppers online.”