news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

author丨qian jiang, editor｜camellia

a strange scene is taking place in the jellycat experience store in jing’an kerry center, shanghai.

a well-dressed clerk willplush dollcarefully put it in front of the counter, and then gently ask the customer in a coaxing tone:"would you like some cream on the cake?"

need!

the clerk will pick one upempty cream spray bucket, seriously put a ball of "thick cream" on the head of the plush doll, and asked, is this okay?

customers will answer:can!

someone made a video of such a scene and posted it online. netizens who watched it expressed their opinions."this world is really becoming increasingly incomprehensible", "no, are people so abstract nowadays?", "i doubt my iq after watching the whole thing"...

but it is this kind of game that people don’t understand, like children’s playing house, but it is harvesting many people’s wallets.

from jellycat's "menu" we can see that the average price of each of these plush toys, which are no bigger than a thermos cup, is more than 360 yuan, with the cheapest being 359 yuan and the most expensive being 459 yuan.

▲jellycat offline experience store price menu, picture source network

but the high price has not hindered the enthusiasm of consumers. there is an endless line of people queuing in front of the jellycat experience store every day, so that if you want to go shopping or watch the excitement, you need to make an appointment in advance. it even feeds a group of scalpers who make money by reselling reserved admissions.

seeing this, many people may have questions, what brand is jellycat, and why did it become popular? these consumers who spend a lot of money, what are they buying?

large-scale adult version of "playing house"

jellycat is not a new brand. in fact, it has been popular around the world for 25 years. but this sales method, like selling "the emperor's new clothes", is a new method they have only recently developed.

different from the past where the dolls were left to lie in the window for anyone to choose from, this time jellycat allows the plush dolls to "take the initiative" and attract the attention of young people by adding a "dining ceremony".

in the pop-up experience store,although jellycat sells plush toys, it is also a "baby" and a "cake".many people may have their brains burned out after reading this sentence, but it doesn’t matter, we will try to explain it clearly.

in jellycat, pop-up shops are usually decorated like cake shops, and the plush dolls are “cakes” placed in the sideboard. but at the same time, in the concept of jellycat and their consumers, every doll is alive, and they are called "babies".each "baby" has its own personality, mood, height, weight, and weight.(although they do look exactly the same)。

▲jellycat cafe products, china beverage express

when buying a furry "baby", the jellycat store clerk will bring out a pair of identical teacup plush dolls and ask you: "which one do you like? the naughty one or the quiet one?"

▲douyin account fujiwara yukihui

customers were quite cooperative and said they liked the quiet one because it was "a bit dull" and endearing.

then the clerk replied with a cute "clip sound":"don't you like this? it will be sad." he grabbed the little feet of the velvet that was not selected and made a "bye" motion.

of course, the cake selected at this time is only a basic one, and the clerk still needs to put cream on it before it can be officially "served".

so, after asking for your consent, the clerk will hold a cream squeezer and "squeeze" the non-existent cream into a stuffed bear. he holds the bear carefully with both hands, fearing that the newly "squeezed" cream will fall.

▲douyin account fujiwara yukihui

after that, the clerk will gently place it on the clean wrapping paper. with the sound of the paper pricking, the little bear is packaged. the clerk enthusiastically takes out the gift stickers and medals and puts them in the packaging bag with both hands. handed to the consumer.

before leaving, the clerk did not forget to say something:: "after our little bear comes home with you, you have to take him to eat more cream cakes!"

after watching this set of operations, netizens couldn't help but say, i have been waiting for her to bring out food, thinking she was selling food, but i was confused when i saw it!

some people even compare the clerk to "ke yun", who crazily holds "air" like a child, and some people think that "this job can't be done without a little paranoia."

this series of honey operations shocked many viewers, "i can understand spending 2,000 yuan to play a claw machine, but i can't understand spending 2,000 yuan to watch a 15-minute house game."

despite this, many young people are very fond of this trick.they are addicted to this immersive retail experience created by jellycat.

in almost every jellycat store, you can see a group of people queuing up, spending hundreds of dollars to grab a stuffed toy as big as an egg, and then watching the clerk perform "the emperor's new clothes" with relish.

▲xiaohongshu user dd

relying on emotional value to “reach the top”

i queued for 2 hours, spent 15 minutes, and spent 2,000 yuan to buy 5 palm-sized plush toys. why do young people like plush toys that seem to have no practical use?

on xiaohongshu, some comments from users who have experienced the offline immersive gameplay of jellycat: because of the emotional value it provides, this "immersive madness" seems very healing.

▲xiaohongshu user comments

so some netizens said: of the more than 2,000 yuan, the cost is only 80 yuan, and the remaining 1,900 yuan is for emotional value.

in fact, many young people seeking to relieve stress are also "workers". while they lament the difficulty of making money and are reluctant to work as "cow horses", they spend a lot of money in shopping malls just to be "isolated" from the real world for a period of time. , which is a collective behavior of contemporary young people to relieve mental anxiety.

among them, many people try to psychologically experience "rejuvenation" by buying children's toys.

this group of adults who have a preference for children's toys are called kidults.

data from npd group shows that kidult consumers (age 18 and above) account for a gradually increasing share of toy sales, especially in the fields of collectibles, building toys, and art toys.

maybe the world of adults is too lacking in love, so they spend money to find someone to treat them like children.

but jellycat did not adopt this marketing strategy from the beginning. with the changes in brand positioning and communication media, jellycat’s product strategy and retail methods have also changed during the 25 years since its establishment.

overall, jellycat has experienced a path from offline to online and back to offline.

in the first five years since jellycat was founded, it targeted children and family groups and focused on offline traditional retail. during this period, simple and soft cat, dog, and bear plush toys were the mainstream products.

starting in 2005, jellycat founders thomas and william gatacre realized that the life cycle of a single product is limited, and only by expanding the product line can the brand continue to be fresh. this year, jellycat's target group expanded from children to adults, and its products began to diversify. among them, the bashful rabbit became jellycat's classic product that became popular around the world.

▲Bashful Bunny

in 2014, the rise of social platforms such as instagram and facebook made young people eager to share. jellycat began to break through traditional animal images and add daily anthropomorphic images such as plants and food. the amuseables series and ocean series began to sprout ip prototypes, and they also it has become a popular toy product on amazon, ebay and other e-commerce platforms.

▲amuseables series and ocean series, picture source amazon

from here on, jellycat has transformed from an offline retail store into a social symbol for young people. they have evolved from quiet dolls to young people’s friends. some people have to hold a jellycat doll to sleep peacefully.

the velvet dolls produced by jellycat even became a popular currency for a time. because of the scarcity of limited quantities, the price in the market rose like gold.

under this model, jellycat's revenue has also increased. starting from 2020, jellycat's revenue has skyrocketed, exceeding 140 million pounds in 2022.

▲jellycat’s turnover over the years, source: china business news

now, jellycat has found a new outlet. it has returned to the offline world, using an immersive experience to let every adult who wants to return to childhood enjoy a childlike addiction.

this time, in addition to the stuffed dolls, jellycat has joined the role of a store clerk, and this role is like a mother, asking you about your favorite food in a gentle voice, taking you back to your childhood in an instant.

these expensive and seemingly useless stuffed dolls have fascinated two generations of young people.

compared with ordinary plush toys, the plush dolls produced by jellycat are more differentiated. it is positioned as a high-end luxury product. it creates scarcity of goods by selling limited editions. the most important thing is that it has a "personality" that makes young people people feel that it is not only a doll, but also a good friend.

whose "immersion" is it?

but it is not easy to bring an adult who has experienced social experience, has no illusions about the world, and has a mature thinking system back to an innocent childhood with no social experience and a blank slate of views on the world.

in fact, there are already some mainstream methods that can make these two completely unrelated worlds overlap.

nostalgic toys and food are a good choice, such as electronic pets, yo-yos, tin toys, and tops. the "reminiscent of childhood" store on nanjing east road pedestrian street specializes in satisfying young people's nostalgic consumer desires. the counters are filled with monkey king pill, big bubble gum, and jianlibao.

this type of product, which you have eaten, used and played with when you were a child, can instantly transport you back to the past.

some young people choose to immerse themselves in virtual game worlds, such as "animal crossing" and "minecraft". these games allow players to create personalized virtual worlds and become an emotional outlet for young people. as a sandbox game, young people can freely build a windows 95 personal computer in "minecraft". users can use this computer to play the built-in mini-games "mine sweeper" or "solitaire." young people realize "electronic nostalgia."

▲picture source guoke

in addition to this nostalgic approach, another idea is to complicate the gameplay of children's toys, typically complex lego puzzles. these toys require intelligence beyond the scope of children, but the iq of adults is just enough. playing with childhood toys.

in short, whoever can immerse young people in it will gain their favor.

in order to compete for this market, businesses are racking their brains to play tricks, just to compete for more time of young people.

jellycat also adopts this idea when creating immersive experiences in offline physical stores.

but not all young people follow jellycat’s approach. evaluations of immersive experience stores are polarized: one’s first reaction is “i don’t understand”, and after reading it, i sigh that it’s boring. the other type is really immersed in it, thinking that the clerk is about to take out the food and has been watching. these people are really immersed in it.

no matter what kind of reaction, after the demonstration, most of them are the pleasure that this business behavior brings to their curiosity. but this kind of pleasure is only effective once. once you have a defensive mentality, it is difficult to feel curious or immersed again.

therefore, no kidult product can retain young people for a long time. their life cycle is often very short, and merchants can only keep looking for the next more emotionally stimulating gameplay to continue to stimulate young people.

it is not young people who have reached the "immersive state" for a long time. in fact, it has always been the merchants themselves.

conclusion

jellycat is a microcosm of modern society. it makes stuffed dolls "alive" by providing emotional value. they are no longer motionless dolls lying quietly in the cupboard, but jump out and have "personality" companion.

the jellycat store staff will play a "playing house" game with these plush dolls. in this game, they create a good-looking doll that tries its best to please you. these dolls are beautiful, obedient, and at the mercy of others.

although young people clearly know that everything is "acted" and is a consumption bureau carefully laid out by capital. but in their view, as long as they can get a moment of relaxation and liberate themselves from a high-pressure environment, it is worth paying some costs.