After Labubu, the collectible toy market emerged with a trend of selling blind boxes of Baby Three dolls both online and on the sidewalk, earning nearly tens of billions a month.
Buying a Blind Box of Baby Three sold by a group of students on Tran Hung Dao Street (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), Ms. Minh Hieu, 40 years old, opened the rare model and paid 225,000 VND.
“If I open the regular model, I will pay 165,000 VND,” she said. It was the first time buying this type of toy, but Ms. Hieu bought 3 dolls in a row in 2 days because “they were adorable and liked the feeling of surprise when opening the blind box”.
Ms. Minh Hieu with the first Baby Three model she opened. Image character provided
Baby Three, also known as “Baby Three”, is a toy of Chinese origin, represented as characters with round faces, rich expressions and often designed according to diverse themes such as festivals. , season, or special event.
As a blind box toy line, Baby Three dolls are sold in sealed boxes where buyers do not know in advance which model they will be. It currently has many collections such as Macaron, Lucky Cat, V1 Toy Party Series, Baby Three V3, 12 zodiac signs and most recently Journey to the West.
Baby Three was released in May, causing a fever in Vietnam in recent months, following the trends of Molly, Labubu or Capybara. This product also marks a new step forward in the blind box business market in Vietnam, from only selling through online channels to now spilling over onto the streets.
According to e-commerce data platform Metric, Vietnamese people spent 8.8 billion VND to buy nearly 37,800 “Baby Ba” dolls on Shopee and TikTok Shop from October 15 to November 15, an increase of 105% compared to with the previous month.
However, unlike previous toys that caused a stir, Baby Three is spilling out onto the sidewalks on many streets in Ho Chi Minh City in the evening. On streets such as Pham Van Dong, Hoang Minh Giam, Phan Van Tri and throughout the parks, tables selling Baby Three blind boxes attract customers “as crowded as buying apricot peaches during Tet”, as described by Xuan Phong, who Selling Baby Three offline for half a month now.
According to the survey, most Baby Three blind boxes sold on the sidewalk are 40,000-70,000 VND more expensive than the same type on the online market. However, some customers still accept to buy because of entertainment needs, “unboxing” on the spot without having to wait. Phong said that every night he sells more than a dozen boxes to earn extra income.
The Baby Three business and collection fever emerged thanks to the product’s unique characteristics and a set of successful “promotion” formulas with previous blind box doll brands. Ngoc Anh, who has been collecting “Baby Ba” for a month, said that this doll has a cute face, so it is loved by many people, with big, round, sparkling eyes in many styles, from normal to squinted, watery (about to come). cry).
The biggest difference from stuffed toys or other blind boxes is that each opened product has a different scent. Compared to Labubu, Baby Three’s price is more stable and the supply is diverse and easy to buy. “Genuine goods have sharp colors and a gentle scent. Fake goods have dark colors, shiny skin and a strong scent like cheap perfume,” Ngoc Anh said from experience.
According to Metric statistics, there are 109 “Baby Ba” stores on Shopee and TikTok Shop. The best-selling segment ranges from 200,000 to 500,000 VND per dish, bringing in a total of 7.1 billion VND.
Baby Three’s online to offline transactions are also a new point that helps this product quickly expand its customer base. Ms. Minh Hieu said she did not know about this type of doll before buying it to support a student group selling near her home.
A stall selling Baby Three blind boxes in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of December 5. Image: Minh Hieu
Meanwhile, Baby Three also inherits the proven fever formula from China to Vietnam. First, blind box buying is increasingly favored by young people because of its surprise, appeal and thrill. In China, pp SCMP explained through the simile of young people: “Life is like a blind box, you never know what you will discover next.”
This product spread quickly thanks to social networks, through unboxing videos, livestreams on TikTok and the buying and selling community on Facebook attracting from more than 50,000 to more than 350,000 participating members. Along with that, the response of celebrities also brings attention to the product.
For example, beauty queens Thuy Tien, Diep Bao Ngoc, Erik, and JSOL all followed the “trend” of opening Baby Three blind boxes. Some celebrities also “unbox” 400% or 1000% models, meaning the sizes are 4 or 10 times larger than the standard size, meaning the price is also more expensive, around 700,000 VND to 7 million VND. .
According to market research company Cognitive Market Research (India), blind box toys are sold in collections by manufacturers to encourage players to buy repeatedly to complete the set, contributing to increased sales. .
Additionally, the release of limited editions creates a sense of exclusivity, increasing interest and demand. At the marketing stage, the main factor driving the blind box toy market is social networks and marketing from influencers through the unboxing experience.
Baby Three’s appeal may cool down with the trend, but the blind box toy business in general is forecast to continue to grow strongly. According to Cognitive Market Research, the scale of the global blind box toy industry is estimated to reach 14.2 billion USD this year.
Of which, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for about 23% of revenue. Southeast Asian consumers alone are expected to spend 226.17 million USD on this item this year and will increase by an average of 9% each year until 2031.