LEGO is planning to invest heavily in digitalisation in 2021

The LEGO Group has pledged to ramp up the digitalisation of its entire business in 2021, expanding its digital and technology teams in the process.

With retail stores around the world closing due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, shoppers shifted rapidly to e-commerce platforms – something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the LEGO Group, with its own website’s traffic almost doubling to 269 million views.

As a result, it’s now committed (as part of its annual financial results) to accelerating its digitalisation efforts this year, both in its online retail services and in its wider portfolio, which means we’re likely to see more products along the lines of LEGO Super Mario and LEGO VIDIYO.

“We have a solid digital foundation, but must move faster,” said CEO Niels B. Christiansen. “The past year has shown the importance of having an agile, responsive business built on strong digital foundations. We will further develop our capabilities in this area so we are well positioned to meet the evolving needs of our retail partners and consumers now, and in the long term.”

That mostly means pouring more money into research and development, which in 2020 accounted for 937 million DKK (£108 million) of the company’s expenses. However, the annual report also goes into further detail around how the LEGO Group is planning to increase its investment in the digital arena in 2021.

“Digitalisation is influencing how children play and the LEGO Group has stepped up investment to understand the intersection between digital and physical play and create new products to meet these changing needs,” the full report reads.

“[Research and development] activities include developing new technologies to enable Learning through Play; trend spotting; anthropological studies; and collaborating with educational institutions to deepen the understanding of children’s development.”

For a deeper insight into how the LEGO Group performed in 2020, check out all the key numbers from its annual financial results.

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