On the evening of December 29, the official Weibo of Shanghai Disney Resort issued a statement saying that this year's "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Series" sales activity has ended. We are very sorry that we cannot meet the needs of all tourists, we will continue to improve and continuously optimize, and strive to bring more joy and better experience to everyone.
Screenshot of the official Weibo of Shanghai Disney Resort
According to media reports, December 29 is the time when Shanghai Disney's "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Series" inventory is open for sale for a limited time, and previously the product could only be purchased through lottery restrictions. At 3:00 a.m. on the same day, more than 5,000 people lined up at Disney to buy dolls, some people collapsed and shouted until they were bleeding, and related topics were once on the first place in Weibo's hot search. Although the storm has passed for a while, is it really necessary to love it to such a crazy point?
At one point, the store stopped queuing
December 29 is the time when the inventory of "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Series Merchandise" will go public. At 3 a.m. that day, thousands of visitors lined up in front of Shanghai Disney Resort.
The Beijing Business Daily reporter contacted a tourist who lined up to buy the series of goods, and the tourist said that in order to buy the "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Series Products" released by Shanghai Disneyland, she arrived at Shanghai Disneyland at 5 a.m. in the morning, and the queue had been lined up to the subway station. The goal of these people is clear, to buy the "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Collection" merchandise.
The large number of tourists queuing up to buy the "2021 Duffy and Friends Christmas Series" inventory items even made Shanghai Disney tickets difficult to find at one point. Ms. Li (pseudonym) originally planned to go to the park with friends on the same day, but found that Shanghai Disney tickets had already been pre-sold out on the major travel platforms in the morning.
Ms. Li told reporters: "Before 11 a.m., we can already see many tourists carrying Disney shopping bags out of the inside, and many of the tourists who come today are not going to play in the facilities." Ms. Li also said that the amusement facilities in the park are not full, some shops are lined up in front of the long line, many people are in line to buy Christmas series of goods, like the previous "leap over the horizon" queue time to about 1 hour, today only 30 minutes, it can be seen that many are not real tourists in the park.
In response to this matter, the Shanghai Disney customer service staff said that if there is any situation, the official will make an announcement at the first time. "The number of new products in the first few months is relatively small, even if it is replenished, the quantity is relatively small, it will be more difficult to buy." It basically takes several months to break before the sales trend of new products will slowly decline. Shanghai Disney customer service also said, "The next new year is coming, there will be new products out, and the attention of tourists who buy goods will be shifted to the new New Year's goods, and there will not be as many tourists who buy The Duffy Christmas series of goods as they are now." ”
Subsequently, we saw on the official WeChat of Shanghai Disney Resort that Shanghai Disney gave that "at present, visitors have begun to enter the park to queue up in the above stores, and the total number of visitors in the queuing area of the three stores has reached the upper limit of the store's daily operation capacity." In order to ensure a safe and orderly operation, we have ended today's queue for Sweets Candy, Tribal Feast Hall and Mickey Minnie's One Heart Shop in Shanghai Disneyland" announcement.
Outrageous premium on second-hand platforms
The previous "Chuansha Daji" Lingna Belle made Shanghai Disney frequently appear on the hot search, and now "Duffy and Friends Christmas Series Merchandise" has made Shanghai Disney earn enough eyeballs, what is the magic that makes tourists so obsessed with Shanghai Disney dolls?
The reporter found that on a second-hand platform, many sellers have begun to resell the series of goods at high prices. For example, the price of the Original 139 Yuan Star Dew pendant rose sharply to 899 yuan, and the price of the Keqi'an SS doll rose from the original 219 yuan to 1299 yuan. Despite the high price, it can be seen from the on-page data that there are many buyers who are still inclined to buy. There are even many sellers who resell in the form of auctions.
It is understood that the Duffy Bear has been unveiled in Tokyo DisneySea park since the end of 2004, why is the Duffy and Friends series particularly popular this year? Some people believe that this is inseparable from the popularity of "Chuan Sha Daji" Ling Na Belle.
On September 29, 2021, Shanghai Disney released a new IP image of the Duffy and Friends series "Ling na Belle", according to Disney official introduction, "Ling Na Belle" is a pink plush fox girl, a friend that Duffy met when she got lost in the forest. This little fox has gained unprecedented popularity, and on the day of its debut, many consumers lined up for hours to enter the Shanghai Disney Store, just to buy Lingna Belle's various peripherals. Only more than 3 months after its launch, Ling Na Belle has become a new responsibility for Disney traffic.
A netizen told reporters that the previously popular Daffy Bear and Star Dailu were not so "out of the circle" as Ling Na Belle, but only had a high popularity in the circle of Disney fans. The netizen said that Ling Na Belle's popularity exceeded the expectations of many Disney fans.
While Lingna Belle's popularity is hot, it has also caused a lot of controversy. Within 3 months of her "debut", there have also been many negative hot searches, such as "Lingna Belle's head" and "Lingna Belle's doll price is too outrageous".
The reporter found that the price of the Lingna Belle Christmas series of goods that are not included in the replenishment ranks has appeared thousands of yuan on the second-hand platform, and many netizens said that it is "too difficult to buy".
In addition to the doll premium, there are also problems such as perfunctory interaction between Lingna Belle dolls and tourists in the Shanghai Disney Park, scalper resale, and a large number of pirated dolls on the market. It can be said that "people are not many".
Wu Liyun, associate professor of the China Culture and Tourism Industry Research Institute of Beijing Second Foreign Chinese College, said that the problems of Lingna Belle doll premium and scalper scalping reflect its strong market demand, indicating that Disney's way of marketing IP has been very mature. This IP creation model is worth learning from other tourist attractions and theme parks in China, so as to create its own scenic IP. However, some insiders also said that this kind of marketing is a double-edged sword, and the park should also pay attention to the tourist experience of the park.
Who is buying these trendy toys?
According to CCTV Finance, the reporter found in the interview that in recent years, the scale of China's trendy toy market is growing at a compound growth rate of more than 30% per year, and some have even become collectibles, which are loved by a large number of collectors, and the premium rate of some products is more than dozens of times.
Xia Sansan, who lives in Shanghai's Baoshan District, is a beauty blogger, and her biggest hobby after work is to collect Disney dolls, Andra and Lingna Belle are her two favorite Disney characters, and the collected dolls occupy almost the entire living room.
Xia Sansan told reporters that since she was a child, she has liked Disney animation, from the Lion King to Winnie the Pooh to the current Star Dailu, because she likes it, she wants to collect, at present, she has collected hundreds of Disney peripheral products, and has also developed the habit of buying new models.
During the interview, the reporter learned that the fans who collected such a trendy toy as Disney are not in the minority, many trend IP came out, and there is no film and television works to support, only simple character introduction, but it is highly sought after, bringing a large wave of purchasing power.
According to Emmy data, the scale of China's trendy toy market continues to expand, and it is expected to increase to 38.43 billion yuan with a growth rate of 30.4% in 2021. In the case of Shanghai Disneyland, a total of 5.77 million plush toys have been sold in the five years since its opening. Industry insiders believe that immersive experience and interaction, coupled with the wide dissemination of short videos, have played a role in the rapid popularity of some trendy toys. However, with the expansion of the market scale, more and more new products appear in front of consumers, and iterate at a faster rate, and consumers still have to be rational when purchasing.
IP marketing that lacks stories
In recent years, more and more international IP has begun to settle in China. As a veteran international IP scenic spot, Shanghai Disneyland is also constantly enriching itself, and one of the most high-profile events in 2021 is the marketing of The Duffy and Friends series of products.
Wu Liyun also believes that the Duffy and Friends series, unlike classic images such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, is an IP formed by Disney through the enrichment of its character personality and relationships, and its ability to be quickly accepted by the public in the absence of story accumulation, thanks to Disney's marketing methods.
In the view of Zhou Mingqi, founder of Jingjian Think Tank, the current Disney's new IP is more typical, in fact, it is a marketing method, which is very different from some IP in the past. Now Disney has directly developed its own IP and implanted it into the park, and the cost of doing so is very low, forming an advantage. However, the vitality of this kind of IP is often relatively lacking, and without the support of culture and media, it is difficult to be durable. Therefore, in a short period of time, enterprises must try to tap its commercial value and create a series of marketing activities and peripheral products.
Some practitioners believe that in fact, this kind of marketing itself may be to attract more tourists, but at the same time, it is also necessary to pay attention to the tourists' feelings of visiting the park, and cannot let the guests who want to play cannot buy tickets, or affect the tourists' experience of the park.
"In any industry, if there is enough competition in the market, the service of various companies will get better and better. Therefore, on the one hand, other theme parks in China should catch up and bring Disney a certain competitive pressure, so that Disney will pay more attention to the consumer experience problem. On the other hand, the majority shareholder of shanghai disney owners is Shanghai Shendi, and the Chinese side should also play a supervisory role in operation and management to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers. Zhou Mingqi also said.
Upstream news is synthesized from Sina Weibo, Beijing Business Daily, CCTV Finance and Economics, etc