The cotton dolls were created in 2015 by fans of a Korean idol group. It is based on the members of the group. The doll’s cute and healing image quickly became popular among fans and hobbyists. Because of this origin, cotton dolls were only popular among fans for a long time. Later, with growing number of cotton baby lovers, the category gradually divided into two : dolls with properties and dolls without properties.
The so-called doll with attributes refers to the prototype of the cotton doll, including but not limited to stars, cartoon characters, game characters, movie and television characters etc. This kind of doll usually fits the characteristics of the prototype in terms of appearance, shape, manner, dress collocation and so on, so as to facilitate the identification of the prototype fans and attract them to buy. Sales of such dolls are usually not too bad because they are supported by prototypes. For example, a single “bare baby” (doll without clothes) made of a celebrity in a wechat store were sold more than 40,000 pieces.
From this perspective, the attribute doll is a bit like a cross between IP and cotton doll– the prototype doll is IP. This means that the sales of products are largely determined by the popularity of IP and the size of the fan base.
The opposite of a doll with attributes is the doll without attributes, which is a doll that has no prototype and is designed entirely by the “mother” (a term equivalent to the manufacturer) or a designer. Such dolls are similar to content-free original IP, which usually requires a period of cultivation and publicity, and product sales depends on how many fans love and identify the doll.
Perhaps because of being born from individual fans, cotton doll producers are mainly individuals for a long time, namely the aforementioned ” mother”. It is understood that a “mother” can be responsible for the design, contacting manufacturers, sales on e-commerce platforms, delivery and other links of the whole chain. In that sense, “Mom” is pretty versatile, but it’s not.
Most of the ” mothers” will pre-sell cotton dolls, which may last from one or two months to five or six months. In addition, only when the pre-sale quantity reaches the minimum order of the factory will sale to be continued, otherwise it will be canceled. After determining the cotton baby can get quantity, the group order or weak ” mother” will be virtual delivery, so that to ensure that the “mother”can first get the payment after the buyer confirming the order . Waiting for a few months later, after the cotton baby is finished, the “mother” will actually ship, and provide the express tracking number for buyers to inquire.
After the whole process ,whether the buyer finally can smoothly get the goods mostly rely on the ” mother”’s trustworthy. In fact, not all ” mothers” are reliable. In this circle, there are often “mothers” running away. In addition, the “mother” is a person, after all, it is difficult to follow up the production of the doll, so eventually the products sent to buyers will have inevitably quality control problems. Moreover, many ” mothers” do have attributes of the doll and whether it’s involved in infringement is also a topic of debate.
With the expansion of cotton doll audience and market, cotton baby producers also expanded from individuals to enterprises/brands. At present, the launch of cotton baby company/brands includes toy enterprises, such as 100 star Rui, Mengshi Qi; Special cotton baby brand, such as Rua baby bar, MINIDOLL; Tide play brands, such as TAKITOYS, Koi fun, Bubble Mart, etc.
If the “mother” do cotton baby with the meaning of “generating electricity for love”, then the enterprise/brand is focused on the market prospect of it. Their participation makes the cotton baby market gradually standardized, because the enterprise/brand has professional designers, long-term docking cooperation factory, its own e-commerce platform and cooperation channels which can provide quality assurance products.The doll with attributes will basically be licensed, and the presale confirmation before the receipt of goods does not exist basically.