Puzzle makers overlook the accessories market which is large and growing

Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/kid-playing-puzzle-6275029/

A recurring theme in toys is that the accessories to toys is a large segment by itself. Accessories for action figurines, doll houses, dress-up for dolls are some popular examples. An often overlooked category in this space is accessories for puzzles. The category includes boards to assemble puzzles, glue to keep the pieces together after assembly, and puzzle sorting trays.

Puzzle accessories which enable players to store the puzzles before and after assembly is a vast segment by itself (Screenshot from Ongil.ai’s platform).

From Ongil.ai’s sales estimator for e-commerce, we find that puzzle accessories is the second most popular class of puzzles.

3 of the top 5 SKUs in the Puzzles section are puzzle accessories (Screenshot from Ongil.ai’s platform).

The top brands don’t top the list despite having SKUs in the space. For example, two important manufacturers in the Puzzles segment are Ravensburger and Buffalo Games, yet they don’t figure in the top 5 manufacturers in the Puzzles accessories. Analyzing the SKUs, it is clear that they don’t focus on the top-selling segment in the space – which is puzzle board.

Given that puzzle tables, glues and sorting trays will be used along with other brands, it is a branding opportunity that the leading puzzle makers are missing out on.

There are a few shortcomings expressed by users in Puzzle accessories that pop-up again and again in consumer reviews. Ongil.ai’s review analysis module picked up the top 3 issues with attribute level sentiment analysis. If brands can produce puzzle accessories that overcome the top 3 (in the figure) issues voiced by the consumer they have a winner. The issues are (1) The boards are not flat (2) The puzzle fell apart in the board (3) The product arrived broken.

Here is a parting tip to Puzzle makers who want to get into the Puzzle Accessories space. At Ongil.ai, we compared consumer needs (as they express on search engines and marketplace searches) vs opportunity (how saturated the market for the need is). We found that “Wooden puzzle sorting boxes” is something that consumers are interested in, but there are not enough sellers. If a manufacturer is willing to make a quality product and promote it in the space, they have a clear bestseller.