This Toy Shortage Warning Means You'll Want To Start Your Holiday Shopping Early This Year

All you procrastinators out there may want to reevaluate when you plan to do your holiday shopping this year because of a new toy shortage warning.

According to the Canadian Toy Association (CTA), Canadians will want to shop earlier for holiday toys this season due to anticipated inventory shortages that are being caused by global supply chain issues.

"There have been tremendous challenges faced by toy manufacturers shipping their products to Canada from manufacturing facilities overseas," said Andrew Wagar with the Canadian Toy Association in a press release. "These challenges include rising container and shipping costs, limited supplies of cargo ships to transport goods, rising ground transportation costs and other supply chain issues."

As for just how bad things are looking, the CTA said that some toy companies are currently facing shipping price increases ranging from 500 to 800%, which are most notably impacting hundreds of small and mid-size companies.

They also said that toy companies are facing significant delays in getting products on shelves with "increases in transit times of 75 days or more."

"Every year there are certain hot toys that sell-out quickly and are hard to find, and this year they may be even harder to find as they may sell out quickly and experience delays being replenished," Wagar said. "Consumers have also become conditioned to wait for last minute holiday season sales, but these sales may not come, or will be harder to find, this year."

The CTA anticipates that the availability of certain items will be the tightest in late November and early December, a time when the majority of toy sales during the holiday season typically takes place.

"Shop early this year and take advantage of the inventory supply when it is strong and avoid the line-ups, shortages and prices that may lie ahead," Wagar said.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.