The toy world: "Hermès" Jellycat is going crazy

Author | Zheng Qiao

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

The globally popular plush toy brand is also making a splash in China.

During the National Day Golden Week, Jellycat's pop-up store at Shanghai Jing'an Kerry Center went viral on social media with its unique "playing house" style packaging service, becoming a new landmark where young people rush to check in.

In the process of purchasing dolls, not only did the store staff demonstrate superb acting skills, but customers also actively cooperated, as if they were really buying a cake filled with cream.

Following New York, London, and Paris, Jellycat once again replicated this performance-style selling in Shanghai.

There is a long line in front of the pop-up store every day during the National Day holiday, with customers willing to spend one to two hours queuing up to witness the performance inside the store and purchase their favorite dolls. Due to its overwhelming popularity, entering the store even requires advance reservation, and each shopping session is limited to 15 minutes.

Jellycat has conquered the hearts of young people at an almost crazy speed. Although some people find this performance embarrassing, more people believe that this "immersive madness" is very therapeutic.

Even after the National Day holiday, Wall Street News found that all available store visit times at Jellycat were fully booked. Upon checking Xiaohongshu, it was discovered that although entry is possible, it requires an additional fee of 300 yuan through scalpers.

Many netizens expressed their desire to work at Jellycat as store staff and experience "paid madness" once. Those in Shanghai join the offline excitement, while those not in Shanghai participate online, saying "big cities indeed offer many opportunities" and "this world has finally turned into what I want."

The viral success of Jellycat is not an isolated case. In recent years, brands like LingNaiBeiEr, LiNaXiong, Loopy, and Chiikawa have also successfully gained popularity, conquering the trendy toy circle with their cute appearance. Some say these dolls are spiritual comfort toys for adults, while others say they are spiritual sustenance for outdated children.

What magic does Jellycat possess to drive young people so crazy?

Jellycat is hailed as the Hermès of the doll world, with each doll costing hundreds to thousands of dollars, not only hard to come by but also constantly increasing in price. Some even call it a valuable financial product: the higher the price, the better it sells.

Although not cheap, Jellycat excels in cuteness and good feel, allowing people to collect them out of love or view them as an investment. "Using savings to invest in stocks may be risky, but buying Jellycat is not."

Jellycat also regularly announces the "retirement" of some dolls. These limited edition dolls not only double in price but are also often difficult to obtain. In addition, on Taobao, some products are only available for purchase by store members, and even after becoming a member, many popular product models are often out of stock. If you really want to buy them, you can only search on various major trading platforms, but usually need to pay several hundred to thousands of yuan more.

According to data from Hamleys, in just the first half of 2023, the prices of popular Jellycat products have increased by as much as 20%, and there are also quite a few daily products with price increases of around 10% Young people treat these plush toys as their closest friends, not only giving each stuffed animal a name, but also taking them out to eat, sleep, and travel. For them, each plush toy has a life of its own, even possessing its own personality and life script.

In the plush toy market, everyone wants a piece of the pie.

With the popularity of Jellycat, social media platforms have also seen similar phenomena of long queues, as it seems that every city has ushered in its own "Jellycat" craze.

Regions such as Gansu, Suzhou, Shaanxi, Fuzhou, etc., have introduced packaging services similar to Jellycat, such as turning local specialties like Tianshui spicy skewers, Suzhou hairy crabs, Shaanxi roujiamo, Fuzhou Buddha Jumps Over the Wall into plush toys, demonstrating in front of tourists how to "play house" and prepare a feast. The enthusiastic performances of the staff attract young people, who are willing to open their wallets for this, calling it "paying for creativity".

The preferences of young people change rapidly, but can the buying frenzy for Jellycat continue?

Previously, Pop Mart sparked a blind box craze in China. However, this craze seems to have subsided now. Data shows that Pop Mart, as a leading company in the trendy toy market, had a repurchase rate of 58% in 2019, which dropped to 50% by 2023, and further decreased to 43.9% in the first half of 2024. The once popular Sony Angel is also rarely sought after now.

But Jellycat seems to be going strong.

Since its establishment in London, UK in 1999, Jellycat has a history of 25 years. In 2013, Jellycat entered the Chinese market and opened official flagship stores on Tmall and JD.com in 2015. By 2021, Jellycat's sales on Tmall had exceeded 100 million RMB.

In recent years, Jellycat's popularity both domestically and internationally has been on the rise, and its performance has been getting better. According to Jellycat's financial report, the revenue in 2022 reached 146 million pounds (approximately 1.367 billion RMB), with a gross profit of 88.7 million pounds (approximately 800 million RMB). In May of this year, Jellycat.com (excluding physical stores, third-party e-commerce platforms, etc.) reported revenue of 8.74 million USD, far exceeding the median among its peers.

During last year's Double 11 shopping festival, Jellycat's sales once surpassed Disney, which owns top influencers Ling Na Bei'er and Xing Dailu, becoming the number one brand in the plush fabric category for the 2023 Double 11 sales, with an average transaction price of 465 RMB.

Following the craze in the plush toy market, Pop Mart quickly entered this field as well. In the latest financial report, Pop Mart achieved explosive growth in the plush toy sector, with sales increasing from 40.79 million RMB to 450 million RMB, a growth of 993.6%.

However, unlike Pop Mart, Jellycat does not have its own brand stores in China, but sells through third-party channels such as maternity and baby stores, cultural and creative stores, and toy stores.

A consumer who has fallen in love with Jellycat told Wall Street News, "They are beautiful waste, but I hope that one day my room will be filled with Jellycat." In English, there is a word called "Kidult", which means the boundary between a child (kid) and an adult is gradually blurred, and after growing up, they continue to desire positive emotions without age restrictions. Perhaps Jellycat allows people to obtain emotional value in the simplest way, psychologically revisiting the freedom and joy of childhood.

Just as described in "The Little Prince": "All grown-ups were once children, but few of them remember it. Please, as you mature in life, still keep a pure childlike heart and a kind loving heart, experience the purest joy in life with your heart, and embrace hope."