What is a Labubu? And where can you buy one in Canada?
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These days, they're all about viral online trends spanning toys and fan merchandise to novelty foods like Dubai chocolate, specifically targeting the Gen Z consumer.
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'We are a data business at our core. We happen to manifest as a retailer, but we are a technology and data company, and so we are tracking data, billions of data points on any given day to try to understand the demand in the marketplace so that we can catch the next big thing,' Kulkarni explains. 'So, over the last 30 years, we've been the first retailer to launch everything from memory foam bedding 20 years ago, before memory foam bedding was a thing, to remote control helicopters, to weighted blankets, to the latest toy sensation or beauty sensation.'
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Using artificial intelligence to comb social media platforms for up-and-coming trends, Kulkarni says they're now able to 'catch trends' faster than ever.
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That approach is what allowed Showcase to jump on the Labubu trend early through its ongoing toy partnership with Pop Mart. 'We are the main retailer of Pop Mart products, which include Labubu in Canada,' he says.
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The Labubu toys at Showcase are priced higher than on the Pop Mart website (in stock for $129.99 on Showcase for the new Big Into Energy Labubu versus sold out and $37.99 on the Pop Mart website).
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The price increase, according to Kulkarni, is due to the demand and shipping costs. 'We're doing everything we can to try to keep costs reasonable. But it is a difficult environment.'
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The Showcase executive says new launches appear on their site about two weeks after they launch — and invariably sell out in minutes — on the Pop Mart site.
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'But the easiest way that we would recommend to our customers is to go to the local store and see what's available there, because the store receives new stock almost every day,' Kulkarni says.
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Facebook Marketplace is another hub for Labubu resale. A search of the term yields dozens of resale posts ranging in price from $20 for a 'Lafufu' — the name bestowed on the fake versions of the trending toy — to $300 for a full set of six Labubu Big Into Energy toys.
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As the hype around Labubus continues to grow — Kulkarni refers to the toys as a 'global sensation' — the demand for the products seems to show no sign of slowing down.
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'It rivals the biggest trends in toys over the past 30 years that we've seen,' he says. 'Whether it's Cabbage Patch Kids or Webkinz or Beanie Babies or Shopkins back in the day, or even Disney Frozen was a giant trend for us.
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