How UK plush toy Jellycat conquered China

Stella Huang bought her first Jellycat plush toy when she lost her job during the pandemic.

A schoolmate was a fan of British-designed toys and told him all about them. But he only fell in love with the brand when he saw the gingerbread house plush on Chinese social media app RedNote.

Christmas is not widely celebrated in China and is more of a commercial event than a traditional one. “The festival doesn’t mean much to me… But I always like the look of gingerbread houses,” he says. That’s when he asked his friend in his hometown of Guangzhou to buy it.

This was in 2021, just as Jellycat was about to become a huge success in China and around the world.

“Everyone was nervous and no one knew what was going to happen,” says Stella, who has developed a habit of petting and squeezing her plushies since Covid. He had to spend a lot of time at home in Beijing, where the strictest quarantines were implemented in China, if not worldwide.

Now 32, Stella has a new job as a sales manager in the tourism industry, but she’s still buying Jellycats. His collection grew to 120 toys, with a total cost of around 36,000 yuan ($5,145; £3,815).

“There are a lot of things you can’t share with others at my age… and the problems we face are much more complex than they used to be,” he says with a sigh. “Plushies help me regulate my emotions.”

Originally aimed at children, soft toys have become a global hit, especially in China, where frustrated teenagers are turning to them for comfort.

Stella’s Gingerbread house plush is a “Fun” toy, a line of toys with tiny faces modeled on inanimate objects, from toilet rolls to boiled eggs. Kasia Davies of global analytics firm Statista says plushies are “breakout products” that “appeal to a broad range of Gen Z and Millennials” globally.

The popularity of these toys “may have something to do with the desire to feel friendly,” says Isabel Galleymore of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

It’s hard to say for sure whether Jellycat launched the now-iconic Amuseable series, which launched in 2018, to tap into the young adult market. But Ms Davies added that toy makers needed to find a new market, given falling birth rates in much of the world.

Jellycat entered the Chinese market as early as 2015.

Kathryn Read, a business consultant with 15 years of experience in China, says that after doing the “groundwork” the toy maker was able to capture “the tone of the pandemic” where people were looking for comfort amid increasing uncertainty, and built on its success in China.

Jellycat’s popularity grew further with its pop-up experiences. A limited edition “food” menu is offered at in-store events. Many fans film themselves being served and share the clips on social media.

Localization has also been a core strategy for the Jellycat experience. Fans were able to buy stuffed toy versions of items such as fish and chips and soft peas from the temporary store at Selfridges in London.

Meanwhile, last year, teapot and teacup plushies were among the products sold in special stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

The UK-based firm’s revenue is set to rise by two-thirds to £333 million ($459 million) in 2024, according to the latest Companies House accounts. About $117 million worth of toys were sold to Chinese consumers on major e-commerce platforms during the same period, according to estimates by Beijing-based Moojing Market Intelligence.

The company’s growing popularity reflects a broader boom in China’s collectible toy market among young adults seeking emotional comfort and connection.

According to the 2024 report prepared by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the China Animation Association, the total sales of collectible toys in China are expected to exceed 110 billion yuan this year.

The runaway success of Labubu, the elf-like dolls created by Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, underscores the country’s growing appetite for collectible toys, especially among young people.

Cultural expert Prof. from Emory University in the USA. This “kid” trend is not unique to China, says Erica Kanesaka, as young adults around the world are questioning “outdated understandings of adulthood.”

Global toy sales are down less than 1 percent in 2024, but collectible toy sales are up almost 5 percent, reaching a record high, according to market research firm Circana.

The fun items, especially the eggplant, which Chinese fans have dubbed “boss,” have sparked memes in which many people share their frustrations with adult life.

“Eggplant boss” is a hashtag on RedNote where fans draw different expressions on the plush toy. In these memes, eggplant appears in a variety of moods, from drinking to fake smiling.

For example, Wendy Hui from Hong Kong transformed the eggplant’s Amuseable by drawing dark circles around her eyes and putting a pair of glasses on top of them. He later posted a picture of it on Threads with the caption: “Mental state of workers on Monday.”

“Even when I was supposed to be on leave, I continued to work at home,” says the 30-something marketing professional. “I just wanted to express how tired I was.”

Jellycat has become an unexpected, carefree outlet for young Chinese people voicing their grievances about a slowing economy where hard work does not guarantee similar rewards. Despite heavy censorship, the internet remains an important, if not the only, space for such speech.

The brand also frequently releases limited edition products and discontinues designs. The strategy, which many in China call “hunger marketing,” has also helped Jellycat toys become a favorite on social media in the country.

Collecting can feel like a treasure hunt, with fans scouring department stores and independent stores for Jellycats when traveling abroad. Some resort to “daigou”, shopping agencies based overseas. And rare Jellycats, a status symbol among some fans, are changing hands for more than $1,400.

But most of them are cheap saviors amid a stagnating economy due to a housing crisis and high local government debt. The youth unemployment rate in China has decreased slightly after hitting a record high in August, but official figures show it is still above 17%.

“You should think long and hard before buying a luxury bag,” says Jessie Chen, a 34-year-old medical sales representative. “But you don’t need to do that for a Jellycat.

“Jellycat also sells bags that cost only a few hundred yuan [tens of US dollars]. “They’re practical and can hold a lot of things, so it can change the way you look at luxury goods.”

But China may have already reached Jellycat’s peak, as fans are noticing fewer discussions about the toys on social media.

Ms. Hui turned to “blind boxes” of toys such as Teletubbies (where customers only find out what they are buying when they open the package) as a more exciting and cheaper alternative. He even considered “leaving the pit,” which is Chinese slang for giving up the hobby.

“It’s very difficult to buy them,” says Stella. “Our daily lives are not easy anyway, and why should we make things difficult for ourselves?”