The LEGO Group is increasing its focus on travel retail, intent not only on extending the number of its shops and spaces but also its product range to target all ages of travellers, including adults.
Noting strong sales this year – “well ahead of the toy market average” – the Danish construction toy company has opened several stores in key locations within the past 12 months.
A year ago, the LEGO Group opened two stores at Singapore Changi Airport, marking its debut in travel retail in the country.
As reported, Lagardère Travel Retail, in partnership with LEGO Travel Retail, opened the world’s largest LEGO airport store at Dubai International earlier this year.
LEGO Travel stores have opened at airports in Luton, Copenhagen, Houston and Washington this year, with San Francisco joining the list this month. An eye-catching space-themed activation at Melbourne Airport with Lotte Duty Free Oceania launched in September.
LEGO Travel Retail Expansion and Partner Manager Gitte Simon said: “We are very pleased with this strong growth and hope to open many more LEGO Travel stores in the years to come.
“We have a clear purpose as a company to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through playful learning experiences. With our increased presence in travel retail, we enhance the airport shopper experience for children, adults and families with our products and store experiences.
“And we encourage families to prioritise play to train important skills such as creativity, curiosity and imagination, which are essential for success in tomorrow’s world.
| ‘Play well’ – The LEGO Group is a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark, and still owned by the Kirk Kristiansen family who founded it in 1932.
The group describes itself as “the master of reinvention”, with the LEGO Brick, launched in 1958, its most iconic product. The LEGO name is an abbreviation of the two Danish words ‘leg godt’, meaning ‘play well’. |
“The LEGO assortment is booming with sets for smaller children, youngsters and adults. In travel retail, new sets are featured on a regular basis, targeting passion-points and fans, whatever their age or interest, and also gifting,” Simon added.
Exclusive LEGO sets, available only in LEGO Travel and branded stores, are part of the assortment.
LEGO Ideas Botanical Garden and LEGO Icons Santa’s post office are both exclusive lines, while recent releases include the brand’s Fortnite Supply Llama; Duplo interactive experience train; City Yellow delivery truck; Friends Castle bed and breakfast; and Art Mona Lisa. LEGO Wednesday and Wicked are two more recently launched themes.
For the grown-ups, new Botanical Sets include a Poinsettia and a Christmas Wreath, while LEGO Ideas introduces a black-and-white cat and Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
In September, LEGO built on its collaboration with McLaren to feature a 1:1 scale Lego Technic McLaren P1, celebrating the new 1:8 scale LEGO Technic McLaren P1. With fully functioning steering and a top speed of 50km/h, the vehicle is the most sophisticated and track-ready Technic car of all time, the work of 23 specialists over seven months and 342,817 LEGO Technic elements.
A new multi-year partnership with Formula 1 will launch in 2025 to include product launches, fan zone activations at Grand Prix events and engaging content across the group’s digital platforms. The extended collaboration follows a surge in the number of younger F1 followers.
“We hope to connect the worlds of LEGO building with the F1 fandom to make the sport more accessible to families around the world, promoting innovation, technology and engineering,” Simon added. “It’s also an opportunity for us to bring LEGO Play experiences to more kids and families around the world.”
A further collaboration with Nike for co-branded products is set to take off next year while another partnership, with American musician Pharrell Williams now includes an Over the Moon space shuttle LEGO model, a Piece of Piece movie biopic of Pharrell’s life as well as a new Build the Change challenge.
“We partnered with the singer and his non-profit Yellow to ignite children’s creativity in a new global challenge. Children will celebrate their individuality as they reimagine spaces to learn, dream and play,” Simon said.
“The collaborations will be highlighted in travel retail too, but details can’t be revealed just yet. We can just promise that new exciting LEGO models will be on the shelves.”
The Over the Moon set designed by Pharrell Williams is available in travel retail now.
According to Simon, travel retail is one of many important expansion priorities for the company. “The LEGO Group aims to reach as many children as possible in the world with LEGO play, and the travel retail channel and the LEGO Travel stores in airports are a way to support these ambitions.
“LEGO Travel Retail is still a small part in the international sales of the Group, but we have the ambitions and resources to continue our journey to expand in the future.”
Considering the increasing importance of sustainability in travel retail, Simon underlined the LEGO Group’s efforts and its ongoing investments. “We strive to play our part in helping build a sustainable future and make a positive impact on society and the planet, which children will inherit.”
Among other initiatives, the LEGO Group is extending its use of sustainable materials. The group has increased the amount of resin purchased from sustainable sources, targeted the elimination of single-use plastic and is rolling out paper-based pre-pack bags. Solar parks are implemented and the objective for net-zero emissions by 2050 is part of the daily business.
“Many initiatives are primarily visible inside the LEGO Group, but the travel retail shopper might have noticed redesigned box sizes, paper-based bags inside the sets, LEGO shopper paper bags and branding campaigns with a focus on sustainability,” Simon added.
Further details on the sustainability initiatives can be found here. ✈️
