TOY STORY: 'Emotional' spending by youth a bright spark amid China's retail woes

Spending on figurines, soft toys rises as the young buy them for comfort and investment

- Aw Cheng Wei

CHONGQING - Amid an economic slowdown that has cast a pall over job prospects, young people in China are turning increasingly to figurines and soft toys to lighten their moods.

Their spending on such guzi has led to a boom in the industry, creating a bright spot in the country's otherwise gloomy business and retail environment.

Guzi, a homophone of the English word "goods," refers to merchandise based on characters in animation films, cartoons and games, including blind boxes, acrylic figurines and soft toys.

China's guzi industry is expected to hit a market value of 110.1 billion yuan (S$20.4 billion) by 2026, almost double the 60 billion yuan recorded in 2023, based on data from a report earlier in 2024 by the government think-tank Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and trade association China Animation Industry.

Shops selling such products have become a fixture in malls across China, with the popular ones reportedly making more than 10,000 yuan in daily revenue.

Walk into any one of these shops and you are likely to find merchandise based on Japanese animation films such as My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, or Chinese films such as Douluo Continent, Heaven's Official Blessings and Under One Person. Prices for blind boxes start from 69 yuan but can vary widely, depending on the item's rarity.

In particular, Labubu - an elvish-looking character inspired by Nordic fairy tales - has taken the world by storm, with rarer figurines going for US$7,400 (S$9,980) on online marketplace eBay.