Vietnamese spend big on limited art toy Labubu

Minh Tan in Ho Chi Minh City spent VND40 million in the last two months to own several Labubu monsters, which are colorful little dolls with long fangs and sharp teeth that are made by Chinese company Pop Mart.

"I find Labubu to be charmingly mischievous with a unique aura. Art toys, in general, captivate me because they are meticulously crafted with high quality," the 35-year-old said.

Bao Tran in the same city has also been participating in many livestream events in hope of winning a chance to own the toy.

Sellers often host lottery sessions to find a random customer who gets to buy the toy. Participants need to pay VND80,000-150,000 to join the lottery.

"I know it is random but I still want to play so I can get the toy for a discount."

Social media groups discussing Labubu have up to hundreds of thousands of members.

Sales of all items related to Labubu on Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop combined were worth VND5.2 billion in the second quarter, up more than six times than the first, according to e-commerce data provider Metric.

"The growth is substantial as art toys have become trending goods in recent months," it said.

Labubu toys and related items such as shirts, key chains and smartphone covers are often sold between VND700,000 and VND2 million online.

But some rare Labubu toys can be priced up to tens of millions of Vietnamese dong.

Four Labubu toys among other toy collections owned by Minh Tan. Photo courtesy of Minh Tan

Over 145,100 items were sold on TikTok Shop and 19,500 on Shopee and Lazada combined in the second quarter, Metric data shows.

The sales figures, however, did not include those from Pop Mart, the official distributor of Labubu toys in Vietnam with two stores in Da Nang City and Ho Chi Minh City. It also sells on e-commerce platforms.

There are also vendors who import the products from other countries.

Nguyen Dang Khang, founder of toy distributing brand Toystory9, sources his Labubu toys from China, South Korea and Japan.

Each month he has around 200 customers who order over 300 products.

"Little monster toys are becoming more popular in Vietnam and attract many customers."

The "Labubu fever" has spread to several Asian countries including Thailand and Vietnam.

Pictures of the toy posted by singer Lisa, a former member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, have stirred up demand for the toy.

"Whenever Lisa posts about the toy, vendors will run out of inventory very soon after," Khang said.

Several Vietnamese artists and content creators also collect the toy and talk about them on social media, which drive up demand for it.

Many customers pay VND3-5 million for a Labubu blind set, which contains six characters with different styles. To own rare characters, customers need to buy many sets.

Some character can be sold up to VND5 million.

"Buyers will try everything they can to own the rare character that they like," Khang said.

The rising popularity of art toys like Labubu came as the Vietnamese middle class expands and consumers’ ability to pay for non-essential goods increases.

Consulting firm McKinsey forecasts that half of Vietnam’s population will join the middle class by 2035, which will boost consumption.

Jeremy Lee, Pop Mart director of market development for the Asia-Pacific region, said at the launch of the HCMC store in May that Vietnam is a market full of potential.

Khang believes that Labubu and similar art toys will continue to be popular.

"If the manufacturer makes newer and more unique products, Labubu will stay be on trend for at least one or two more years."