Where is the next "Lingnabelle"? With less than half a year left before Walt Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary, Disney needs to predict the trend of Chinese youth consumption in 2023.

Where is the next "Ling Nabelle"?

is less than half a year away from Walt Disney Company to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Disney needs to predict the trend of Chinese youth consumption in 2023.

At the same time, in order to adapt to the habits of mainland Chinese consumers, Disney has joined Tmall , Douyin and other platforms, and will promote sales conversion through short video content planning and live e-commerce.

Image source: Disney

In the third quarter of this year, Disney's total revenue was US$21.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26%. Among the four major businesses, theme parks and consumer goods revenue was US$7.394 billion, a year-on-year increase of up to 70%, contributing 30% to total revenue.

Disney also wants to do short videos and live e-commerce

This year, Disney's official flagship store shopDisney launched Douyin live broadcast, gaining nearly 10 million views in 3 months, and gathering a fan group mainly among women born after 1995. Disney designed strawberry bear eye masks and Stich headdresses for the Douyin virtual portrait "Zaizai", and millions of Douyin users "wear" Disney authorized items.

Now, the official flagship store of Marvel Trends is also launched on Douyin, and will operate Marvel-themed short video content and live e-commerce. "It's just that it's difficult to interact with consumers if you sell products. We hope to operate and live e-commerce through video content to be closer to consumers," said Lin Jiawen.

Disney and Tmall cooperate earlier. The shopDisney official flagship store in Tmall has been open for a year, and the number of fans has exceeded 2.4 million, and the traffic growth rate remains above 60%. The sales of licensed merchants who entered shopDisney's products grew by 52%. On September 26, shopDisney will join forces with Tmall Gala Day, Shanghai Disneyland and other resources to create a shopDisney one-year live broadcast celebration.

Image source: Disney

"shopDisney Tmall store has more than 1,000 SKUs. It not only has Disney store 's self-operated products, but also products from authorized manufacturers." Lin Jiawen said. "If seasonal changes are not considered, there are more than 2,000 SKUs this year."

At present, more than 40 authorized vendors have settled in shopDisney. The product types include clothing and beauty, daily home furnishings, as well as sports equipment and toy figures. "We hope to become the first choice for consumers' 'one-stop gift solution'," said Lin Jiawen. "Home and trendy toys will become the key categories to be vigorously developed in the future."

"This year we are promoting one thing, which is to sell the products of Disney Chinese licensees overseas." Lin Jiawen said that for licensees who do not have the ability to distribute overseas, Disney is willing to help them with distribution through its own channels. "We not only provide IP, but will also help licensees design products and expand the market. Disney hopes to provide licensees with a real one-stop service."

Disney makes four predictions about Chinese youth consumption preferences

Although Disney's official Douyin flagship store came late, the effect of short videos on consumer goods has actually been shown.

Last fall, Ling Nabell became popular on video platforms. Just one month after debuting in the park, she won more than 20 hot searches on Weibo, and the number of videos with Ling Nabelle's name on Douyin has exceeded 200 million views.

short videos have immediate effect on the sales of consumer goods. Last October, Lingnabelle's peripherals sold out quickly in just four days after it was put on the shelves, and the price of plush toys on second-hand platforms increased by more than ten times. In December, the Lingnabelle Christmas series products were even so popular that they needed to make an appointment online first and then purchase offline with the account. Even so, enthusiastic consumers still squeezed out the official channels, resulting in a phased white screen of the system.

For Disney, actively entering Douyin and operating the content community is just the first step to "replicating Ling Nabelle-like success".

According to Lin Jiawen, about 10 years ago, more customers of Disney Consumer Products were children, while only about 35% of current customers were children or families, and most of them were adult customers. Therefore, impressing these young people who are already adults but are still willing to pay for their dreams is the top priority of Disney Consumer Products Department.

At the launch conference of the Consumer Products Department for partners, Disney summarized four consumption trend judgments: Happy declaration, playing the universe, natural worry-free, and home is more important.

First of all, "Happy Manifesto", Disney survey found that 60% of Chinese Z generation youth hope to improve themselves and enjoy a healthier lifestyle, like bright colors, bold pattern designs, and a happy atmosphere, so the happy Popularism style in 2024 will be sought after.

Image source: Disney

Under this trend, Disney has launched new consumer products such as kitchen and home furnishings, fitness clothing, home aromatherapy, home clothing, camping supplies, etc. "Last year, China's yoga market alone had exceeded 45 billion yuan. By 2025, it is expected that about 34% of the growth of the household aromatherapy market will come from the Asia-Pacific region," the Disney creative team revealed at the annual consumer goods conference. The playful Pixar characters will be mainly used in the "Happy Manifesto" category.

Second, "playing the universe", Disney hopes to cater to young people's preference for games. “30% of Gen Z spend more than 6 hours a day on their phones,” said Disney’s creative team, so their fashion tastes are also affected by game style in real life.

Image source: Disney

In this part, Disney has launched fashion, home, trendy toys, etc. with metallic and futuristic colors as the main styles. Star Wars IP will appear in large quantities in this type of product. To cater to the meta-universe trend, the Disney creative team has also developed physical figures that can "simultaneously hold digital collections" and physical beauty design artworks and product concepts that can "simultaneously obtain virtual beauty styles".

Third, "Natural worry-free", Disney believes that the new generation of youth will care more about environmental protection and energy conservation. "The new generation of consumers is increasingly paying attention to environmental protection and sustainable development in their lives. More than 80% of young people aged 20 and under said they will consider how their consumption habits affect the environment," said the Disney creative team.

Image source: Disney

Disney has designed clothing with recyclable recycled fabrics, pure natural and pollution-free homes, as well as green-style jewelry, furniture, handicrafts, etc. National Geography, which has always been committed to protecting the environment, will further approach Chinese consumers through more diverse consumer goods.

Fourth, "'home' is more important", this part aims at the market for young parents and children. According to the survey results, the current size of the baby products market has exceeded 700 billion yuan, and the figure is expected to rise to 950 billion yuan by 2025.

Image source: Disney

In response to parents' "more and more refined" demand for showing off their babies, Disney has developed animal-themed tableware, children's clothing, "sleeping space projection equipment", smart wearable devices that can use mobile phones to monitor the baby's physical condition, and smart supplementary food pots that can quickly prepare meals for babies. For children who have already entered school, Disney has also created "smart reading electronic products", "spider-Man Climbing Bed Products", children's sports suits, etc.

Regarding the changes in preferences of Chinese consumers, Lin Jiawen, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Consumer Products Greater China and South Korea, said in an interview with 36Kr , "In the past many years, the category that European and American consumers are most interested in is toys, while Chinese consumers are most interested in clothing. However, in the past two years, many Chinese youth have become interested in blind box toy products. We judge that toys will have great opportunities in China in the future."