Smart toy exports grow strongly, Alibaba International Station creates a never-ending toy exhibition

The world looks to China for toys, China looks to Guangdong for toys , Guangdong looks to Chenghai for toys, and Chenghai toys are all looking to digitalization .

Shantou Chenghai District is known as the "Toy Capital of China" and is responsible for 70% of the world's toy manufacturing . There are 43,000 toy merchants in the local area with an annual output value of 58.79 billion yuan. Against the backdrop of a global economic downturn and shrinking external demand, the "Toy Capital" is showing resilience by embracing digitalization . Recently, Alibaba International Station and the Shantou Toy Association have joined hands to open the "Shantou Chenghai" toy channel to create a never-ending toy exhibition, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the Chenghai toy industry belt through full-link digital foreign trade services. At present, the Alibaba International Station platform has attracted more than 3,000 toy merchants from Chenghai, driving the local annual export volume to 18.1 billion yuan.

( Alibaba International Station and Shantou Toy Association have joined hands to open a toy channel to create a never-ending toy exhibition )

In the new industrial layout of "three new, two special and one large" in Shantou City , the toy creative industry is listed as one of the two characteristic industries, and the pilot of digital transformation of industrial clusters is clearly implemented with Chenghai District as the focus. More and more local foreign trade manufacturing companies are beginning to turn to cross-border e-commerce. At the just-concluded 22nd International Toys and Gifts Expo, toy companies have gradually become the mainstream of going overseas with the help of Alibaba International Station's digital platform . With the support of big data, toy merchants have also found new business opportunities in the challenges and significantly improved the competitiveness of their products through timely adjustments to the supply chain.

According to the cross-border index of Alibaba International Station , the overall trend of the global toy market is positive. In 2022, the global toy industry sales revenue increased by 12% year-on-year, and the average sales price increased by 8%. Wu Yun, head of the maternal and infant toy industry operations of Alibaba International Station , pointed out that with the sluggish growth of the European and American markets, toy consumption has extended to emerging markets represented by Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. The large number of children, low per capita consumption and good economic development prospects make the emerging toy market an important growth point for the global toy industry in the future.

The Alibaba International Station Cross-Border Index shows that the compound growth rate of the toy industry on Alibaba International Station has been 15% in the past three years . In terms of categories, driven by the two major demands of scientific child-rearing and cross-age kidults (a new generation of adults aged 20 to 40 who love to play), the growth of intelligent interactive toys is particularly rapid. In 2022, the intelligent toy market has reached US$14.1 billion and is expected to increase to US$16.5 billion in 2023. Among them, intelligent toys embedded with artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can achieve custom programming are widely welcomed by users of different ages .

The market trends indicated by big data have pointed out the direction for merchants in the Chenghai toy industry belt. Chen Han , a " second-generation entrepreneur " from Chenghai , has been running a toy factory since his parents' generation. Under the traditional foreign trade model, the toy factory has low market sensitivity, a long toy research and development cycle, and slow updates. For a long time, his parents' toy factory mainly produced remote control toy cars with a customer unit price of less than 40 yuan. "Cross-border e-commerce has become an important choice for us. Through the feedback of real-time online data trends, we can understand market demand and improve products in a timely manner." Chen Han told reporters that during the epidemic, he led his team to develop dinosaurs, octopuses, bear paws and other small animal decompression toys, which were exported to Europe and the United States and sold out three days after they went online. Within half a year, the average monthly sales of such toys reached 2 million yuan. "

"In terms of toy types, traditional plush toys, building blocks and outdoor toys remain the core interests of buyers, while emerging smart electronic toys and educational creative DIY toys are becoming increasingly popular," said Wu Yun .

As people's awareness of scientific child-rearing increases, educational toys achieved a year-on-year growth of 12.7% in 2022, and moved from traditional educational toys to scientific and educational STEM toys, such as programmable robots, scientific excavation toys, and 3D printed assembly toys.

In addition to intelligence, green and low-carbon is another significant trend. Major toy brands are increasingly investing in environmentally friendly materials, promising to use 100% recyclable, recyclable or bio-based materials in their products and packaging by 2030.

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