Star Wars merchandise expansion is the way, thanks to 'The Mandalorian'

May 4 marks the annual "Star Wars Day." From a supply chain perspective, that means it is time to take another look at supplies of movie merchandise tie-ins to the franchise.

With the main sequence of films now completed, attention has turned to The Walt Disney Co.'s Disney+ serialized shows, including the recently completed second series of "The Mandalorian" and the forthcoming "Obi Wan Kenobi" series that will start production shortly.

The end of the main sequence has not meant a dwindling of U.S. imports of Star Wars merchandise, however. Panjiva's data shows U.S. seaborne imports linked to the franchise in 2020 rose 13.6% year over year, while in 2021 through April 25, imports increased 94.6%.

The increase may reflect the more "toy-friendly" nature of "The Mandalorian" than the last of the main sequence films, as well as increased consumer spending on toys during the pandemic lockdown, as discussed in Panjiva's research of April 27. There has also been a shift in the mix of products between the end of the main sequence and the beginning of the TV shows.

Most of the expansion in imports of toys was accounted for by merchandise associated with the character of "The Child," which represented 48.7% of shipments in the past 12 months. Imports of all other toys increased by a more modest 18.8% in the first four months of 2021 after dropping in 2020.

Imports of games, outfits and other merchandise also outpaced toys, with growth of 123.1% in 2020 versus a year earlier. The latter may also pick up as Halloween approaches, assuming the pandemic allows a return to outdoor activities.

Christopher Rogers is a senior researcher at Panjiva, which is a business line of S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. This content does not constitute investment advice, and the views and opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Links are current at the time of publication. S&P Global Market Intelligence is not responsible if those links are unavailable later.