Turn hobbies into careers
"Collecting toys is my hobby, and starting 52TOYS is the process by which I turned my hobby into a career." Chen Wei described his entrepreneurial experience in this way. Chen Wei, who has been obsessed with comics, games and toys since childhood, began to try to turn these hobbies into careers when he graduated from college. In 1999, Chen Wei opened a game console shop on Gulou East Street in Beijing, and put his collection of toys from overseas in the store for decoration. What he didn't expect was that these toys were very popular. "A lot of customers come to ask me if these toys are sold." Chen Wei said.
This experience gave Chen Wei a new idea for his career. "At that time, there was no collectible toy industry in China, and there was no store that specialized in collecting toys, so I decisively changed the game console store to a store specializing in collecting toys and named it 'Creative Infinite Toy Line'."
The toy line broke through its own piece of the relatively blank collector's toy market at that time. Due to the increasing demand, Chen Wei gradually became the general agent of well-known toy brands such as Bandai in Japan and MacFarlane in the United States, and eventually became the first person to introduce overseas toys into China on a large scale.
When it comes to toys, the light in Chen Wei's eyes is difficult to hide. "From playing with toys as a child to becoming a toy agent when I grew up, I have always been exposed to overseas toy brands." Chen Wei told reporters, "I have been thinking about a question: why can't we make China's own toy brand, so that Chinese children can grow up playing with domestic original toy products from an early age?" ”
With this in mind, in 2015, Chen Wei founded 52TOYS with Huang Jin, the founder of Three Kingdoms Killing, and some senior toy enthusiasts and practitioners. "We want to be China's own collectible toy brand, carrying Chinese creation and Chinese creativity in the form of international toys." Chen Wei said. And this is also his original intention to found 52TOYS.
The original intention of collecting toys has not changed
When it comes to 52TOYS, the first thing that people think of is a blind box, but in fact, 52TOYS first made a morphing toy.
"After founding 52TOYS, I started thinking about what kind of productS I wanted to make, and then we thought of morphing toys." Chen Wei told reporters. When it comes to Transformers, the first thing that comes to mind is Transformers, and he and the company's core team members also grew up playing Transformers. "We understand the complexity of this technology and see it as a challenge for us."
After nearly a year of repeated design and trial, in 2016, 52TOYS's first mecha deformation toy DIO small dinosaur was born, which was the first mecha deformation toy product launched by a Chinese brand. "In addition to solving the deformation problem, we also presented a different design language: whatever the original form of the toy, it can be transformed into a five-centimeter-long cube, like a box. To this end, we named this mecha morphing toy series 'BOX Series'. Chen Wei told reporters that the LOGO of the 52TOYS brand seen today has an eye pattern, which is the eye of the first DIO small dinosaur, "We applied it to the design of the company's LOGO and used it as a memorial." ”
52TOYS【BOX Series】 products
According to Chen Wei, the "BOX series" will be distinctive creatures into a mecha shape, after 6 years of development, has produced including dinosaurs, giant beasts, aquatic species, birds, insects and very Chinese cultural connotations and elements of the "Beast Series", six series cover a total of more than 100 products. So far, the series of products has not only gained a large number of loyal fans in China, but also been sought after by many players in Overseas countries and regions such as North America and Japan. In the first half of this year, sales of the "BOX Series" in Japan increased by 330% year-on-year.
"It's the most satisfying thing for me to see that our original collectible toys can bring joy to so many players around the world." Chen Wei told reporters. Starting from the "BOX series", he has continuously developed new product lines with 52TOYS, but he has never forgotten that his original intention is always to collect toys. "Because from the beginning of the brand, what I wanted to do was always collect toys, so we poured a lot of energy and funds into the incubation of diversified products. Up to now, we have five product lines: Blind Box, Mecha Morph, Movable Doll, Static Doll and Designer/Artist Toy. Chen Wei said.
Of course, today's toy market is inseparable from the blind box as a form of sales. In Chen Wei's view, the blind box that is very popular on the market is only an entry-level product for collecting toys. "If you compare the collectible toy market to a pyramid, the blind box is at the bottom of the tower." He believes that the scope of collectible toys is wider, and all toys for the purpose of collecting can be called collectible toys, which cover but are not limited to trendy toys, including handmade, scenery, moving, assembled models, deformed mechs, GK statues and other diversified categories. Although the blind box can only be regarded as an entry-level product for collectible toys, the blind box has a low entry barrier and has the widest user base. "After these users get started with the blind box, they will gradually become interested in other collectible toys such as mecha deformations, GK statues, and assembly models on the upper layer."
"A lot of people say that the blind box market has come to the second half, but I don't think so." Chen Wei said that the blind box market is the basic disk of the entire collectible toy market, which will introduce more and more people into the door of collecting toys. "The form and gameplay of the blind box is very similar to the Japanese gacha, and even in Japan, where the collecting toy industry is very mature, the gacha still occupies a solid market share. I think in China, blind boxes can always have a place. ”
Chen Wei believes that compared with blind boxes, the domestic market is more lacking in collectible toys that can meet the higher needs of users. "In the past two years, we have also noticed that more and more toy brand merchants have felt this and have begun to launch diversified products, which is what 52TOYS has been doing."
52TOYS launched the MEGABOX Kirin this year
Based on the original intention of China's creation and Chinese culture in the form of international collectible toys, 52TOYS's multiple product lines have gradually launched products with Chinese cultural elements, such as the "BEASTBOX" deformation mecha series, which has subdivided the Chinese Ruibeast series based on the unicorn and the dragon, and embodies the Chinese cultural elements in different product forms; In the blind box, the "super activation" series with the concept of "transcending tradition, revitalizing history, and inheriting culture" interprets Chinese culture from a new perspective, creatively integrates history and modern culture, and creates a series of brain-opening images such as "Lady Yoga", "Terracotta Warriors in Battle", "Tablet Support", etc., in addition to the "Panda Roll" series based on the national treasure panda, which selects the image of the national treasure panda to show and integrate the panda elements into more scenes. Help young people reach more profound Chinese history and culture through more interesting products.
52TOYS [Super Activation Series] part of the products
Analysys released the "China Collectible Toys Industry Market Insight Analysis 2021" at the beginning of this year, predicting that the domestic collectible toy market size can reach 150 billion yuan in 2025, with more than 100 million core users. This also coincides with Chen Wei's judgment: compared with the primary market of blind boxes, collecting toys is the broader future of the industry.
52TOYS's latest Panda Roll kindergarten series
"Now in the growth period of the domestic collectible toy market, the major domestic toy brands are actually working together to make the entire market bigger." So I think it is not yet the stage of dividing who is the first and who is the second, I can only say that everyone has different advantages in the huge market of collecting toys because of the brand positioning and team genes. "Chen Wei said that for 52TOYS, they are more concerned about self-growth, whether they have been creating diverse, creative and interesting toys, and whether the toys they launch continue to upgrade." These questions are even more important to us. ”
The brand upgrade is still ongoing
Today's 52TOYS, the sales channel is mainly based on the dealer model, but also expanding its own direct stores. "The dealer model improves channel efficiency and allows our products to quickly appear in sales channels around the world." Chen Wei told reporters that 52TOYS is constantly upgrading its business, and the construction of sales channels is no exception. To date, 52TOYS has the largest sales network in the industry, and the number of cooperative terminals has exceeded 12,000. The channel form covers trend boutiques, boutique toy stores, cinemas, bookstores, convenience stores, theme parks, etc., comprehensively covering the consumption scenes of young people, and the sales areas include Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as Japan, North America, Southeast Asia, etc.
52TOYS held a pop-up store event in Malaysia in June this year
However, in the process of implementing the dealer model, Chen Wei and his team also realized that with the gradual maturity of the domestic consumer market, interest consumer goods such as collectible toys cannot only follow the traditional dealer model, but need to combine the "interest-demand-consumption" interest consumption behavior model to further upgrade the sales model.
"We need to provide consumers with attractive consumption scenes, let them have aesthetic or cultural recognition, prompt them to go into the store to appreciate, and stimulate interest in the process of 'shopping' to generate the desire to buy." Chen Wei said. It is precisely for this reason that from 2021 onwards, 52TOYS will increase its efforts to build offline direct stores, trying to bring consumers a complete brand and consumer experience with the richest product range, the best product display form and the most creative store design. It is reported that 52TOYS has opened dozens of brand direct stores in key business districts in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Chongqing and other key cities in China.
"Distributors and direct stores are not in conflict, they play a more complementary role." Chen Wei said that as a consumer company, 52TOYS can not only focus on products, from IP incubation, product creativity, supply chain management, sales channel construction to market communication, there must be no shortcomings in every link of the industry. In order to further disseminate the culture of collecting toys, in July this year, the Collectible Toys Museum sponsored by 52TOYS was officially launched in the South Garden of Taikoo Li South District, Sanlitun, Beijing. "Through the Collectible Toy Pavilion, we want to show that collectible toys do not only include high-priced 'collectible-grade' toys, it contains a variety of types from entry-level blind boxes to mecha deformations, assembled models, commissable dolls, etc., carrying a wide range of cultures and IP, and I believe that all exhibitors can have fun from them." Chen Wei said.
Of course, the recurrence of the epidemic has also brought an impact to 52TOYS. In this case, what 52TOYS can do is open source throttling. "Thankfully, we've done well in overseas markets when it comes to open source." He told reporters that in 2017, they began to "go to sea" and have entered the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia and other countries and regions through overseas agents.
"After several years of continuous expansion and deep cultivation, in the first half of this year, our overseas sales increased by 250% year-on-year. Among them, sales in North America were nearly four times that of the same period last year, sales in Japan were nearly three times that of the same period last year, and sales in Southeast Asia were nearly ten times that of the same period last year. "Chen Wei said that it is precisely because of these achievements that he still has great confidence in the collecting toy industry." After all, there is still a great demand for consumer goods that are of interest to meet spiritual needs. "In Chen Wei's view, as long as they can continue to launch good products and pay attention to good business problems, they will certainly be able to achieve long-term development through the economic cycle." After all, well-known toy brands such as Bandai and Hasbro overseas have survived for decades because they are based on high-quality products, and they have also stood on the edge of danger, but in the end they have stubbornly survived the difficulties. ”
For Chen Wei, who has always loved toys, toys are already an important part of his life. "Collecting toys brings me the joy and strength of life and accompanies me all the way to growth. I believe that good collectible toys can also bring sustainable strength to our brand and let us continue to grow. (Article/Reporter Ran Longnan)