Hong Kong Day 2: Traffic, Trends & Tea

Day two of the Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair, and while there are no official numbers yet, the halls have seemed very busy, and the mood is very good. There seem to be quite a large number of people from South America and more Canadians than I recall running into in the past few years. There are a lot of buyers from the ASEAN countries as well. Of course, this is only observational. The HKTDC will most likely post official numbers in the next few days, so we’ll keep you posted.

I caught up with one long-term friend here in Hong Kong who was touting the curative powers of Pu-erh Tea. It’s very good tea, but who knows if its elixir-like powers are all the myths would suggest, even down to being a fountain of youth. Too late for me, but we’ll let that pass. We had a wonderful visit nonetheless, and it’s always a pleasure to enjoy these multi-decade friendships in Hong Kong.

But you come here to hear about toys, and they have more than a few. More than 2,600 exhibitors have booths crammed with new and continuing toys. Here are a few of the trends we’re seeing.

More Original Chinese IP

In talking with several Chinese toymakers, it’s significant that they are expanding their own, established OEM businesses to develop and introduce their own IPs. For the most part, these are mostly in the cute, plushie category, but as a growing area, that’s not a crazy bet. Plus, some of the backstories are completely adorable–and important component of attracting consumers. There are two additional elements of this that are helping companies position themselves well.

The first is design. I’ve written a great deal in the past several years about the increasing sophistication of design coming out of China. The growing global sensibilities reflected in design have been fascinating to watch.

The second is price. One of the topics we’re hearing a lot of here at the show is consumer sensitivity to retail pricing. Several of the exhibitors I spoke with said that finding ways to control cost without compromising quality. That’s not a new concept, of course, for anyone in this business, but some of the ways that’s worked have been ingenious.

Botanicals For Days

Of course we have LEGO to thank for opening the door to this sub-category of construction toys, but companies have responded in a big way. I was pleased to see lot of original expressions of this concept in all sizes and even materials. These sets and others targeted to older consumers have helped drive the category to the fastest growing in the toy business, according to a presentation by Euromonitor at the Asian Toys & Games Forum.

Piles of Plush

Not surprisingly, and thanks to the collectibles market, plush is the second fastest growing category, according to Euromonitor. One of the major trends seems to be food-based plush, and I suppose we have Jellycat to thank for that. However, in several cases food-meets characters, and the result is yummy

The Silver Market

At the show, HKTDC introduced a new subset of products called Happy Ageing [sic]. Everything from puzzles to pets to games to stimulate inter-generational play are being targeted to this cohort. According to Sylwyn Angdrew, general manager of Ageing Asia, consumers over 50 are the “invisible target market,” and she noted that in Asia this cohort will represent $4.56T in spending power, including $4.7B spent on interactive pets and robotics. She added that in the U.S. 52MM seniors responding to an AARP survey said that they play games for health and connection with family.

AI Offerings

Quite a few stands are featuring AI-powered toys. Mostly these are plush. Not to be overly waggish, but most of these seem to be a version of an Amazon Alexa unit wrapped in fur. Price for these continues to be an issue, but one element we liked was the use of AI to respond to the emotions of the player through animated eyes. More to come in this vein, though I don’t think we’d be the only voice suggesting that there is a long way to go in development of these toys.

Social Shopping

On Tuesday morning, I moderated a panel that included Agnes Lim from Singapore, owner of the boutique retail chain Elm Tree Distributors and Jerry Philppeau, CEO of Flipo. In a conversation that covered several topics facing retailers in 2026. Principal among them, however, was the growing importance, and impact, of social shopping. There is so much more to come on this, but now’s the time to get informed. For a first step, check out The Playground Podcast’s first interview on this topic.

The sun is coming up on Day 3 of the Fair. Jet lag notwithstanding, we’re rested and ready to jump back in!

Featured image courtesy of HKTDC, all other photos © Global Toy News & Christopher Byrne