The growth space of collectible toys is much greater than that of tide play, and domestic "players" will break through 100 million

Moving dolls with fine head carvings and details of clothing, or "digital tide play" stored in mobile phones and projected into the real world through AR, have become "collections" in the hands of tide play enthusiasts.

In recent years, with the rise of the blind box market in China, many trendy toy industry insiders believe that China's current stage is highly similar to the U.S. and Japanese markets in the 1980s, and high-end collecting toys are about to take over the baton "blind box" to break out again.

The growth space of collectible toys is much greater than that of tide play

On a tide play platform, the reporter saw that the Mobile Suit up to several 30 cm tall ancestor Gundam models, unicorn Gundam in the hearts of mecha enthusiasts is a "god-level" existence; Hot Toys' alloy Iron Man, Spider-Man is almost one of the must-enter the collection of model enthusiasts; the handmade price of the glasses factory is relatively low, and the IP such as Dragon Ball and The Voyager King from The Japanese Comics has super popularity; many large sets of LEGO bricks for all ages are included in the showcase by toy lovers because they are out of print, Harry Potter, The popularity of IPs such as NinjaGo is long-lasting.

Collectible toys are not equal to trendy toys. Trend toys are currently popular, new toy brands with trend elements, some toys will be short-lived with the passage of time, but some of them have undergone market tests to become classic collectible toys.

Collectible toys were born overseas, which can be used to collect and collect, and their meaning is far beyond itself, can awaken public memory, and have emotional resonance with the public, and the price and product history are not clearly related. It contains a variety of types, styles, themes, covering the domestic public well-known toys represented by blind boxes, as well as assembled blocks, handmade, deformed toys, moving dolls, mecha, GK carving, and even some plush toys.

Recently, Analysys released the "China Collectible Toy Industry Market Insight Report 2021" showing that by 2025, the market size of the domestic collectible toy industry will exceed 150 billion yuan, the core consumer group will exceed 100 million people, and the overall growth rate of China's collectible toy market is as high as 35%, which has more development potential than the trend toy market.

The market size is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan

In the past few years, the blind box has promoted a qualitative leap in the Chinese collectible toy market: first, it has attracted a large number of novices to "enter the pit", and second, it has bred several Chinese collecting toy brands. Therefore, the analysis believes that China's high-end collection toys are about to take over the baton "blind box" outbreak again.

After the 60s of the last century, the car models, dolls, barbie dolls, etc. designed by toy manufacturers represented by Hasbro, Mattel, etc., led to the gradual start of the collectible toy market, and by the 80s, IP image toys based on animation, movies, and comic strips such as Pony Baoli, Transformers, Star Wars, etc. detonated the market; In the 80s, the IP handmade and gacha represented by Gundam triggered the rapid growth of the collector's toy market.

In China, since the 1990s, foreign IP brands have cultivated the collectible toy market. From 2010 to 2019, the GDP of human settlements exceeded 4,000 US dollars, collectible toys entered the growth period, and local collectible toy brands appeared. Since the average GDP of Chinese exceeded 10,000 US dollars in 2019, the domestic collectible toy market has ushered in a full-scale outbreak period with blind boxes as the main category.

It is estimated that in 2025, the scale of China's collectible toy market will exceed 150 billion yuan, and male consumers will contribute the largest increment, and the main categories of collectible toys such as mecha deformation, dolls, and super alloys will be the mainstay, with a market size of up to 52.5 billion yuan.

Through the study of the development process of the collectible toy market in the United States and Japan, it can be seen that the vigorous development of the cultural industry has provided enduring content support for the collectible toy market. With the continuous improvement of the scale of China's animation, film, games and other industries in recent years, it is expected that in 2028, Chinese collectible toy brands will occupy a dominant position, on a par with foreign brands, and give birth to 2-3 tens of billions of giants, leading the development of domestic collecting toy culture, and expanding overseas to achieve cultural going to sea.

The core "players" will exceed 100 million people

Behind the rapid expansion of the market size, one of the most direct reasons is the growth of the user base.

The report shows that the core consumer group of China's collectible toys reached 30 million people in 2019 and is expected to exceed 100 million in 2025.

At present, among the core consumers of collecting toys, the ratio of male and female users is nearly 4:6, and compared with nearly 70% of female consumers of trendy toys, male consumers have increased. And with the increase of age, the categories purchased by consumers of collectible toys are more diversified and the consumption power is stronger.

According to the survey data, the per capita annual consumption of domestic collectors of toy users is 2200 yuan, and the per capita consumption of deformed, handmade and other products is higher. However, 43% of players said that they would reduce the purchase of blind box products in the future, and handmade is still a popular collectible toy category in the future, and the purchase willingness of users of dolls, mechas and statues is also on the rise.

It is worth noting that in terms of IP preference, consumers' enthusiasm for traditional Chinese cultural IP toys continues to rise, which is closely related to national cultural self-confidence. For example, the "Super Activation Series" launched by the domestic collection toy brand 52TOYS with the design concept of "transcending tradition, activating history and inheriting culture" combines history and culture with modern fashion, allowing young people to reach history and culture through interesting products, and has won the love of many consumers.

6 to 10 years later there is "playing the second generation"

In the overall process of making purchase decisions by users of collectible toys, there are a variety of influencing factors.

Although offline channels are the main channels for many collector's toy users to "enter the pit", players mainly understand the collectible toys through the information released on the online platform before purchasing, and physical drawings, workmanship materials, new product releases and unboxing evaluations are all the contents they pay attention to when they obtain product information.

For different categories of collectible toys, users' sensitivity to price is also very different. Among them, consumers have the highest price sensitivity to blind boxes, and with the increase in prices, the willingness to buy blind boxes is reduced, and on the contrary, the acceptance of hand-made, assembled building blocks, and assembled model products is higher.

In the purchase process, the design has become the most concerned element of users, which is especially evident in the female group. Men, on the other hand, show more attention than women in terms of brand power, IP and future value-added space and scarcity.

It is worth noting that nearly half of consumers spend 1 to 5 hours a week playing with collectible toys, and parents' preferences for collectible toy categories and IP will greatly affect the choice of categories and IP for children. This means that after 6 to 10 years, the domestic "play second generation" will become the core player of collecting toys.

Digital tide play will become a "new star" in the metaverse

The limited edition 3D sculptures of Tide Play are stored on mobile phones and tablets, displayed and played through mobile phones and tablets, and can be projected into the real world by AR - such "digital tide play" as part of the metaverse will become a new "collection" for tide play enthusiasts.

With the domestic collectible toy industry is steadily transitioning from the outbreak period to the dominant period, the industry will show four major development trends in the future. It is mentioned that in the environment of the rise of the meta-universe, digital tide play will become an emerging force in China's collectible toy industry. For brands, digital tide play can help whether it is copyright protection or expanding IP potential; for users, digital tide play can deepen the emotional connection between them and IP and become part of the personal label in the metaverse.

Secondly, China's collection toy consumption has the overall trend of high frequency and national tide. In the survey, 80% of consumers said that they will increase the frequency of purchase of collectible toys in the future, and as many as 86.5% of consumers are optimistic about the rise of Chinese IP.

Third, with the development of the domestic economy and the continuous improvement of per capita GDP, collectors of toys pay more attention to product quality and the diversification of IP and products.

In addition, Chinese collectible toy players will expand rapidly in terms of number, age and region. It is estimated that in 2030, the consumer population of pan-collectible toys will reach 360 million.

(Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chen Si)