"Watch your thorns when eating sea cucumbers.""What flavor do you want? Do you need more salt?" The shop assistant asked the customers as she placed the stuffed sea cucumbers and scallops into the same pot of stuffed toys. "11" National Day, Fujian, Suzhou, Xi'an and other places of cultural stores have launched a"Play house"-like plush toy packaging services, causing heated discussion online. Before this, the Plush Toy Jellycat brand in Shanghai Limited Time Experience Store attracted young people from all over the country to experience and consumption, so that many businesses see a new growth point in the plush toy market.
For young consumers, plush toys are not only simple toys, but also carry their emotional expression and social interaction needs. According to the China Toys and Baby Products Association, sales of key categories of toys rose 9.3 per cent year-on-year in the first half, with sales of plush toys leading the way with a 9.2 per cent year-on-year increase.
For young people, plush toys can give them emotional value and help combat anxiety and loneliness. On the Little Red Book platform, many consumers treat plush toys as their“Partners” in life, taking them with them to eat, work and travel, and even setting up accounts for their toys, share daily life from the first-person perspective of plush toys.
$1.3 billion a year, jELLYCAT's are hot
On the afternoon of September 27, the reporter walked into the hamlet toy store in the Wangfujing of Dongcheng District and saw that the shelves of brands such as jELLYCAT, Gabriel, Hans the bear and Stef were filled with all kinds of plush toys, its soft texture and charmingly naive shape attracted many consumers stop to appreciate, gently caress. jELLYCAT is particularly popular with consumers, who flock to its shelves even on weekday afternoons. “I started buying gifts for friends last year, but I became interested in the brand and now I have more than 30 jELLYCAT dolls in my house,” said Zheng, who lives in Dongcheng District, China, as he shared his experience with reporters as he looked at pictures on his mobile phone to select popular toys. Similarly, in Jellycat's Beijing Hop Sheng Hui store, the narrow shelf area is almost full of consumers. Sales staff said, “Since the opening of the shop sales have been very stable, the number of customers to take photos to punch a card a lot.” Reporters noted that the prices of these stuffed toys are not cheap, small pendants are usually more than 100 yuan, the key chain is more than 200 yuan, the size of the toy price is larger in hundreds to thousands of yuan. On e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and jd. , jELLYCAT's popular items such as Barcelona Bear, Bunny Rabbit and eggplant are all at the top of the sales list of plush toys, hand-held bouquets, Sky Dragon and other styles are often out of stock. According to jELLYCAT's annual report, the brand's global revenue exceeded 1.3 billion yuan in 2022, up 72 percent year-on-year, and its gross profit margin reached 61 percent.
Young people's“Social currency”
Can't give up the“Comfort cloth”
Jellycat's popularity reflects the growing popularity of plush toys among young people. “I have always liked plush toys. I used to like NICI, but then I found jELLYCAT. Its feel and quality are very good, especially those with smiling faces. It looks very healing. Although the price is quite expensive, I still can't help but want to take them home,” consumer Zhang told reporters. According to the China Association of toys and baby products, the“Post-00s” have become the main consumers of the plush toy market, accounting for 43% , followed by the“Post-90s”, accounting for 36% . “Cure” was the key word cited by many respondents when it came to why they fell in love with plush toys. “The feel of the plush toys is very healing. When I come home, I will throw myself into their arms, as if I have returned to my carefree childhood,” said Liu, a consumer who shared a picture of the rabbit with reporters. “Plush toys are like 'Comfort Wipes' for adults, giving us an emotional value that softens our hearts,” says cocoa (not her real name) , who buys plush toys regularly. In addition to texture, the social value of plush toys has gradually attracted more young consumers' attention. Take the Gansu Provincial Museum “Flying swallow on horseback” plush toy. Its unique one-legged stance and exaggerated expression have become one of the museum's best-selling cultural and creative products. The immersive buying experience enhances the interaction between the consumer and the product. At jELLYCAT's pop-up store, for example, employees mimic the actual food-packing process, spilling, seasoning, and bottling stuffed animals, and even the splashing of fried eggs Gansu Malatang series of plush toys also rely on the staff's on-site“Cooking” packaging services, access to a high degree of attention and discussion. Zhang told the reporter that the plush toy is not just a toy, it is more like a“Social currency”, people are happy to share their own collections on social platforms, enjoy the fun of interaction with others.
Source :Consumer Daily Official Platform
Article | Zhao XI, photographer | Huang Zhiling