LEGO says it’s seen a ‘decline in the average price’ of sets being sold

The LEGO Group’s CEO says the company has seen a ‘decline in the average price’ of sets being sold in many regions, which he describes as a ‘normalisation in the market’.

It’s no secret that the average price of LEGO sets has jumped in recent years, propelled by outliers like 75192 Millennium Falcon, 75313 AT-AT, 10294 Titanic and 10307 Eiffel Tower at the very top end of the spectrum. But amidst a global cost of living crisis, consumers are apparently now looking towards the LEGO Group’s cheaper products in greater numbers than before.

“I would say in general, yes, there’s probably been a bit of a trend,” says the LEGO Group’s CEO Niels B. Christiansen, speaking during a presentation of the company’s financial results for 2023 – which saw sales and revenue grow at an incremental rate, while profits dropped as the LEGO Group ramped up investment in new factories and environmental initiatives.

“When we look at it, we’ve gotten LEGO sets to more kids, and overall we haven’t seen a decline in the number of sets sold – we’ve seen an increase. But we have in many markets seen a certain decline in the average price, which would kind of hint towards consumers maybe still buying the same amount or more LEGO sets, but maybe buying at slightly lower price points.”

That wider adjustment isn’t necessarily setting alarm bells ringing in Billund, though. Instead, Christiansen says the company is well positioned to ride out any shifts in consumer habits – and that a gradual move towards cheaper and more accessible products would simply be resetting the playing field, so to speak.

“The advantage we have in the LEGO Group is with a portfolio of 780 products, we are already well-represented at all the different price levels,” he adds. “You can have a great LEGO experience at many different prices, and I think consumers have just taken the opportunity to set that right. I’d also say that we’ve had years during the pandemic where we saw the average price increase, so maybe there’s also some kind of normalisation in the market on that level.”

For now, the LEGO Group seems content to keep churning out high-value sets, such as LEGO Star Wars 75367 Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser, which retails for a lofty £559.99 / $649.99 / €649.99, and LEGO Technic 42146 Liebherr Crawler Crane LR 13000, which is 2023’s most expensive set at £579.99 / $699.99 / €679.99. But even those mark a slight dip in RRP compared to the heights of 2021’s 75313 AT-AT, which costs a staggering £734.99 / $849.99 / €849.99.

Whether we’ll ever see anything reach that highest of LEGO price tags again is uncertain, but given Christiansen’s allusion to the pandemic – in the midst of which the UCS AT-AT debuted – we wouldn’t be surprised to see the LEGO Group reel things in slightly in the years to come. That’s also with one eye on the wider slowdown in sales growth, which the LEGO Group has attributed partly to the economic climate in China.

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Click here for more insights from the LEGO Group’s financial results in 2023.

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