Creating rituals and occasions to win over Chinese consumers

During this month’s Golden Week holiday, Chinese social media was bombarded with selfies from China’s 40 cultural world heritage sites, neo-Chinese night tours, autumn shades on the Tibetan Plateau, the dramatic landscapes of Zhangjiajie and Guilin, the newly-popular Datong of Wukong fame, and under-the-radar spots from around the globe. Yet, a less-traditional destination was one of the hottest trends filling feeds: a pop-up café in Shanghai from British soft toy and collectables company Jellycat.

China’s urbanites were paying premiums to secure a hotly-contested reservation to capture the buzz from the café. It wasn’t a new innovative bubble tea or novel coffee creation they were lining up for, but ¥359 ($51) to ¥459 ($65) café-themed soft toys.  

Why such a hullaballoo over a few pricy teddies?

For a start, Jellycat toys fall into the lucrative category of collectable toys, which grew from ¥6.3 billion ($890m) in 2015 to ¥34.5 billion ($4.9b) in 2021 in China, and is projected to reach ¥110.1 billion ($15.6b) by 2026. Not only are the number of consumers buying them growing, but also how much they are spending on them. In 2015, the average monthly expenditure per consumer was ¥27 ($3.80). By 2020, it was ¥81 ($11.50), and is tracking to reach ¥194 ($27) next year. Many already spend tens of thousands of RMB a year on them.

Just being part of a booming category is rarely enough. Jellycat did a great job localising, including offering Shanghai-exclusive products, yet making it part of a global phenomenon. The pop-up café was part of a 25th anniversary tour which visited London, New York and Paris, alongside Shanghai.  

Yet whilst the toys themselves are cute and valuable – particularly those deemed rare - it is often the delight of the purchase ritual that consumers love to share online. We’ve seen this with the rise of blind box toys – you aren’t just buying the toy, but also the thrill and anticipation of what toy you will get.

Jellycat has similarly created a theatrical ritual that delights customers when they buy it. One example is when someone chooses a Bartholomew Bear ‘Cupcake’:

 The café worker sanitizes her hands, greets the bear, grooms it, and gives it a pretend "spa session." Using a cream gun (with no cream), she asks customers how much "cream" they'd like on the bear's cupcake. The bear is then packed with a badge and stickers, along with a reminder to "feed it its favourite cupcake”. Here’s a 2 minute video of the ritual.

While some may be scratching their heads wondering what all the fuss is about, it is novel and genuinely connects with a lot of Chinese consumers – and not just the kids!

The hospitality, entertainment and luxury industries have been all over it for years, but other consumer categories are still largely under-tapped. Brands should consider opportunities to create ritual, ceremony and occasion for their customers when purchasing their goods. This can go a long way in building advocacy, luring back customers and increasing spend for each purchase. 

China Skinny can assist you to ensure that you surprise and delight your customers with something authentic, aligned with your brand and resonant with Chinese consumers – get in touch to learn how.