Toy sales on a sharp surge amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic thanks to online shopping service.

Online toy purchases in Qatar have surged over the past year looked to find ways to occupy their children while trying to work from home and cope with a lockdown.

With shops and malls closed for several weeks during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, online shopping became the safest and only way to purchase toys and games.

Consequently, e-commerce, in particular, toy sales have been on a continuous increase with record profits being made by retailers.

According to Yalla Toys Director Thomas Jacob, their sales gains more than doubled in 2020 compared to the previous year. 

Read also: Authorities urge people to limit their time inside malls

And with the pandemic having continued through the holiday season, the company’s festive season shopping sales witnessed an huge fourfold increase compared to 2019. 

“Online toy purchases were very high. There were days when we had over 700 deliveries per day. Previously in 2018, on an average we were having only 19 deliveries per day. Toy online purchases in previous years were very minimum because online deliveries were mostly on electronics, perfumes, and luxury watch items. But last year, our online toy sales have grown by double digit compared to 2019,” Jacob said in a local media report. 

Puzzles and board games were among the most selling items on the site during stores closure.

“There was a roaring demand for puzzles starting from April and May. People were bored and were looking for ways to interact with family members. We might have sold puzzles in two months what we would have sold in a year previously. We sold nothing less than 30,000 puzzle items in a span of just two months,” he added.

Since the pandemic continued throughout the summer season, hundreds of people rushed to buy outdoor water slides, giant inflatable pools, yard sprinklers and many more outdoor toys to replace beach trips and fun summer activities that kids wait for all year long.

“Also, we cater the largest collection of outdoor toys in Qatar. During the pandemic, portable swimming pools were also in huge demand,” he continued.

Globally, e-commerce witnessed an unprecedented rise in demand since the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, as people resorted to delivery services in the absence of in-person shopping. 

However, industry experts anticipate that with the gradual lifting of precautionary measures and reopening malls, the booming online toy sales witnessed by the industry last year, may not be the same this year. 

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