Four -hour tails for the Labubu store in Barcelona illustrate that they are more than a fashion: they are an addiction

Labubu fever moves globally. In Spain it takes time being a phenomenon And this is certified by the opening of a new permanent store in Barcelona that already has four -hour tails and people traveling from other countries To buy in it. Pop mart, The Chinese company that manufactures these dolls Collectibles, has generated a millionaire business with inherited tactics of video games and bets.

Phenomenon in Barcelona. The new Pop Mart, and only permanent in Spain (in November last year the brand opened A pop-up also in Barcelona), has opened in the portal of L’àngel, one of the main commercial arteries of the Catalan capital. The first day were seen tails of more than 200 meters and astronomical expenses: with prices that are between 12 and 240 euros, there are those who confess to having Inverted 700 euros in these dolls for being “an investment.”

What are they? The Pop Mart are the dolls that the company of the same name manufactures and can be purchased Through its websitein specific stores such as this new one in Barcelona, and even in vending machines. They are divided into series of variants of the same doll, thus promoting collecting. His most successful product is Labubu, a creature with a monkey and disturbing smile. It is part of a broader collection called The Monsters, and generated last year 419 million dollars in benefits for Pop Mart.

Massive success. The company was founded in 2000 and has ended up becoming one of China’s best known brands at the global level, with milestones such as its actions in 2024 They rose 370%. They even have their own attraction park in Beijing, Pop Land40 square kilometers. According to data from Time130 of the company’s 530 stores at the end of last year are outside China. In 2024, its benefits for international sales rose 375%. According to him The company itselfin 2024 it had benefits of 1.8 billion dollars, of which 40% came from outside China.

The reasons for success. The first and most obvious is viral contagion in networks. It is obvious that there are more and more celebrities and influencers that show your labubusand it is usually pointed out as the initiator of the viral phenomenon to Lisa, from the K-Pop Blackpink group, Although now the dolls are in the hands of famous Americans and European such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Madonna or Kim Kardashian. Fever is such that they have already generated their own falsification marketwhich swarm for markets such as Wallapop, Milanuncios or Vinted, sometimes with swollen prices.

However, beyond the imitation behavior of celebrities, there are other reasons for success: the gamification of the phenomenon.

Little thing. The first step that Pop Mart takes to generate addiction is to generate shortage: there are no specimens of the doll, and take advantage of Pop Mart Mart. A small art that many Influencers They explain How to master social media accounts. As explained This Rolling Stone articlethe purchase process is already a maze of voluble rules tests and that include virtual dead ends in the store, and knowing how to enter the Store At the right time of the Just day (Pop Mart does not warn when the Restocks will be).

The Labubus Gacha. The Pop Labubu Mart and the Gacha video games (In which random awards are paid with virtual coins, although in many cases the games have systems free-to-play) share the mechanics of random collecting, that is, they are steroid slots. Labubu They are sold in surprise boxes or Blind Boxeswhere buyers do not know exactly what figure they will receive. Labubu reward to the most constant (or fortunate) with “secret” unusual figures and the Gacha games have certain extremely difficult characters to obtain.

Both systems are designed to generate addiction and compulsive purchase, with psychological manipulation through hidden probabilities (although today in video games They are regulated) and limited events. The key is to convert uncertainty into an entertainment experience for which consumers are willing to pay, creating a cycle of expectation, emotion and disappointment that drives to try again.

Header | Dushawn Jovic in Unspash

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