Xiaomi Conducts Alpha Test of KEWUCOOL App to Compete for Designer Toy Market

Tech Planet reported today that Xiaomi has recently tested its app called ‘KEWUCOOL’ as a way to cater to young people’s pursuit of fashion. This app is currently in the testing stages, and its registration and log-in requires an invitation code.

KEWUCOOL is a community for designer toys. It is established as a platform for fans of designer toys to communicate with each other. On the navigation bar at the bottom, the app sets four function areas, namely “Discovery (Home Page),” “Toy Library,” “Circles” and “Personal Center.”

The Toy Library covers the introduction of various toys, similar to an encyclopedia for toys. Users can check the manufacturer, series, IP and classification of toys, offering a useful reference for toy collectors. Meanwhile, the Circles feature is similar to Baidu Tieba. It has circles for different IP toys, and enables users to communicate about any one they like.

In addition, top creators can also create their own fan bases on the platform. This is convenient for beginners to communicate and discuss, and could help creators attract private traffic.

Since mystery toy boxes gained attention in China, designer toys have become a new popular highlight. In December 2020, Pop Mart, which started with mystery toy boxes, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a market value of over HK $100 billion.

Subsequently, domestic internet giants have taken frequent actions in the designer toys sector. At the beginning of 2021, Tencent launched the Ho app, Baidu created its designer toy project Redu Designer Toy, and Pinduoduo also launched several apps including Chaoyiguan (fashion clothes) and Chaoxieguan (fashion shoes). They all now compete for the market of designer toys.

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Tmall Innovation Center has released a report suggesting that in 2019, the retail sales of designer toys in China reached about 20.7 billion yuan, and by 2024, this market is expected to exceed 70 billion yuan. In 2019, in terms of retail sales, the top five market operators accounted for 8.5%, 7.7%, 3.3%, 1.7% and 1.6% of the designer toys market in China. The gaps between leading companies are not wide. Over 90% of the designer toy market still needs to be tapped, which may be one of the reasons why the internet giants have actively jumped into the competition.