When it comes to toys, many people still stay in that is ‘children's things’ level. But in fact, the tide of play has long been deep into the young, the elderly and many other people, Zhengzhou Shanghai City, David City, Hong City and other shopping malls, crowded ‘Valley shop’ is young people in the tide of play to pay the bill; Taobao toys for the elderly users are mostly aged 55 years old and above.

In the era of universal ‘play up’, toys tide play on the wind mouth. Taobao Tmall data show that in 2024, Taobao platform derived from the turnover of peripheral has exceeded ten billion yuan, tide play industry is from the niche to the mass market.

Long queues in front of the blind box machine, Valley shop average daily traffic of more than 10,000, in Zhengzhou, many shopping malls, ‘Valley shop’ has become an attraction for many young people shopping. In the school around the stationery shop, cards, badges, blind boxes and other trendy play, but also to attract the junior and senior high school students to buy.

The joy of young people ‘eating cereals’ has also changed the selection criteria of parents when buying toys.

‘In the past, parents bought toys for their children for their educational functions, but now they care more about IP attributes and emotional links.’ The person in charge of fan operations at the Bubble Mart shop in Zhengzhou's Zhenghong City told the Dahe Caixiang reporter that the popularity of Nezha 2 has led to a steady stream of people buying the film's peripheral artefacts, some of them for their own pleasure and some as gifts, with post-1980s parents and their Generation Z children being the main consumer force.

‘Emotional value, IP materialisation, male economy, and AI toys will be the 4 super tracks of the toys and trendy toys industry in the next 5 years, which is also a new windfall for merchants, lurking with huge development opportunities.’ On 18 April, Taobao Tmall toys tide play responsible person yun jing said at the 2025 Amoy days toys tide play industry summit.

In his view, tide play nowadays from the category and consumer population, there is a very large incremental space. Take IP materialisation as an example, from plush dolls, to the bar ki cards, from the flow of linen colour paper, to the building blocks people, IP materialisation form continues to innovate, derivatives of the peripheral market has been the trend of ‘everything can be Valley’.

In contrast to the previous view that toys are more for women and children to consume, EDC toys (which refer to toys that can be carried around), known as ‘men's modern literature and games’, also ushered in explosive growth on Taobao last year. 2024, EDC toys searches on Taobao increased by 532 per cent year-on-year, and turnover increased by 345 per cent year-on-year. More than 70% of consumer users are male, and consumers between the ages of 18 and 30 have a particular preference. Over the past year, searches for age-appropriate toys on Taobao have grown 121% year-on-year, and transactions have increased by more than 70% year-on-year, with consumers over 55 years of age gradually accounting for a higher percentage.

However, the hip toy industry also shows a multi-polarised pattern, with headline companies such as Bubble Mart able to achieve a market capitalisation of HK$236.2 billion, while numerous designer brands and secondary peripherals are also able to grow through e-commerce platforms.

In January this year, the domestic block brand ‘Bruker’ was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong stock market. Bruco in its development process positioning has undergone many changes, from the earliest early childhood toys to large particles of blocks, and now the ‘block people’. The ‘Block Man’ category was created by Tmall and Bruco.

‘A brand wants to hit a new category in the market mind, need to invest a lot of time and budget, if in the big platform to help, open the market recognition speed will be greatly accelerated.’ Bruco's head of e-commerce said.