Shopkins

Shopkins

Type	figers
Inventor	Jacqui Tobias
Company	Moose Toys
Country	Australia
Availability	2013–present
Official website

The Shopkins franchise began as a toy line, first developed in 2014 and has expanded into web series, clothing, games, plush, food products, and other merchandise.^[1] The Shopkins logo consists of the motto "Once you shop...you can't stop!"

Origin

Shopkins was designed and developed by Moose Toys in Melbourne, Australia. Co-chief Paul Solomon credits his mother Jacqui Tobias, director of girls’ products, for the idea of Shopkins.^[2] Moose Toys had success with their line of Trash Pack collectible figurines which were geared towards boys, but overall lacked a market for girls. Shopkins was produced initially as a similar product for girls, however it appeals to both genders.^[3][4] Shopkins offers sustainability as a toy product offering rare, and ultra rare editions.^[5] Some retailers have also taken advantage of its success as a collectible holding Shopkins swaps where duplicate Shopkins can be exchanged with other collectors for ones they are missing.^[4]

Shopkins universe

Shopkins

Shopkins are small doll products with playsets and has received awards for TOTY 2015 Nomination for Girl Toy of the Year, TTPM's Holiday 2014 Most Wanted List, Toy Insider "Hot 20" for 2014, Savvy Auntie Coolest Toy Award 2014.^[6] In 2015, the one of a kind Gemma Stone made of crystal sold on eBay for $21,500 with proceeds going to the non-profit Toy Industry Foundation charity.^[1]

Characters

Shopkins figurines are roughly 1 inch in height and 1 inch in width, roughly the size of a United States silver dollar. Each figurine has a face and its own name. They are distributed in bright colored packaging with bubble letters.^[7] The first series of Shopkins was revealed in 2014 and were based on grocery items such as a candy bar named Cheeky Chocolate, a sweet apple named Apple Blossom, and a chocolate chip cookie named Kooky Cookie.^[8][9]

Shopkins books

Moose Toys launched a series of children's books about Shopkins including Scholastic's Shopkins: Welcome to Shopville.^[10]

TV series

Moose Toys Co-CEO Paul Solomon revealed a major entertainment company is working on a regular Shopkins cartoon series set to release in 2016.^[11]

Web series

In July 2014, Moose Toys built brand awareness with their Shopkins short cartoon videos on their YouTube channel ShopkinsWorld,^[3] but it was the YouTube videos of consumers unwrapping and playing with the toy that helped catapult its success.^[6][12]

Webisodes

Counterfeit Shopkins

Counterfeit Shopkins began to surface around mid-2015, including those with “Funny Sweet” on the packaging, which can refer to Shopkins in colours which Moose Toys never officially produced, such as Boo Hoo Onion being in light purple and Chee-Zee in pink.^[13][14] A number of sellers on websites including DHgate.com offer counterfeit Shopkins, which can include item pictures which have the “Shopkins” brand obscured, most likely as a way to avoid the listing being removed under intellectual property policies of the website and/or store.^[15]

Cases

Two factories in Yiwu producing counterfeit Shopkins toys were raided by local police in China in mid-2015,^[16] and Moose Toys stated they will take action against anyone selling counterfeit Shopkins,^[17] which included a chain of Thriftway businesses selling counterfeit Shopkins.^[18]

Counterfeit Shopkins in packaging with "Funny Sweet" categories.

References