Chinese toy maker Pop Mart International Group Ltd.’s newest Labubu dolls sold out instantly after their release across online retail channels in its home country on Thursday, indicating consumer fervour for the rabbit-eared dolls remains high.
The latest version of the toys went on sale at 10 p.m. local time in China through multiple platforms including Pop Mart’s WeChat and Tmall stores. All available inventory was gone before some could even load the purchase page fully. The dolls are expected to be in stock at Pop Mart’s brick-and-mortar stores on Friday.
The robust demand in China bodes well for launches in major overseas markets including the US, Thailand and Australia, where the toys will be available online starting Friday morning. It may also help mitigate investor concern about the sustainability of the buying craze for the dolls.
Xiaolei Wang, a 26-year-old Beijing programmer and part-time Labubu re-seller, scored one 14-box set of the new minis on Pop Mart’s WeChat store, but was unable to buy more before they sold out.
“I’m going to sell the whole package. I’m not keeping Labubus for myself,” said Wang, who’s made more than $7,000 buying and reselling Labubus and other Pop Mart toys over the past year.
The 28 standard edition mini Labubus, which stand about 10.5 centimetres (4.1 inches) tall and come in a variety of colours, were priced at 79 yuan ($11) apiece in China. Pop Mart said there’s a one-in-168 chance of pulling one of two special edition dolls from the unmarked boxes. The company also began sales of a larger, more premium version of the doll sold for 499 yuan and a Labubu-themed pendant.
Pop Mart has been riding a wave of demand for the plush dolls with a toothy-grinned vinyl face, posting soaring and stronger-than-expected first half earnings earlier this month. Shares of the company rose to a record after its founder and chief executive officer, Wang Ning, announced the new line of Labubu dolls last week.
The stock has rallied 262 percent this year, taking its total market value to 435.7 billion Hong Kong dollars ($55.9 billion) and making its founder one of China’s youngest billionaires.
The mania over Labubu dolls is reminiscent of the Beanie Baby craze in the US two decades ago. Resale prices of those colourful beanbag toys soared in the late 1990s — exacerbated by manufacturer Ty Inc.’s policy of retiring some versions — before the collecting fad ended and demand collapsed.
Pop Mart CEO Wang, speaking in a recent interview with Chinese state media, explained the slow and staggered release of Labubu dolls as a function of their hand-sewn complexity that limits production speed.
Days before the official launch, resellers on second-hand trading platforms including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Xianyu, already offered pre-sales for the new mini Labubu products at a premium over the retail price. One reseller priced a full case of 14 mini Labubus at 2,600 yuan, promising expedited delivery on Friday. That’s more than double the official retail price of 1,106 yuan for a 14-box set.
Reseller Wang said she planned to sell her set for about 1,700 yuan, netting a profit of around 600 yuan.
Demand is running so high that fake mini Labubus have started to appear, according to a statement from China’s General Administration of Customs, which recently seized hundreds of knockoffs.
Many of Pop Mart’s toys are priced higher in Western markets than they are at home in China. The mini Labubu which goes on sale this week will be offered at $22.99 in the US, according to Pop Mart’s American website, about double the price in China.
Pop Mart has carved out a dominant niche in the designer toy market through its blind-box model, which amplifies the thrill as buyers don’t know which character they’ll get. Influencer shout-outs and celebrity sightings, from BlackPink’s Lisa to David Beckham, have further boosted demand.
By Bloomberg News
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