Here today, gone tomorrow? Some reflections on ‘viral’ products
Associate Professor Lara Stocchi is a senior marketing scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, the world’s largest centre for research into marketing. Here, she offers some reflections on ‘viral’ products and the likely impact on product categories.
“Dubai style chocolate” and “Labubu” are everywhere. Both products have recently surged in popularity, generating significant online buzz on Tiktok and other social media platforms, peaking global interest and Google search trends. But what do an acquired-taste sweet treat, and an odd-looking keyring have in common?
In both instances, it has been assumed that the staggering popularity of these products has led to growth in the product categories they belong to. Let’s take a quick look at some facts.
A new chocolate sensation
Dubai style chocolate has been associated with significant growth in the chocolate confectionery market, especially in the premium chocolate segment, with global brands rushing to launch their own version.
Yet, when we look at the numbers, the overall chocolate confectionery market was near-stable last year with only a 3% growth in sales, and a 2% incidence of new product launches, all by top global brands. The premium chocolate market fared better with an annual growth of about 8% and a higher rate of new product launches (especially artisanal products).
Google search trend on ‘Dubai style chocolate’
However, milk chocolate generated the highest revenue in the premium segment (holding 60% market share of the sub-category) and dark chocolate underpinned most of its growth.
Specifically, with a projected 9% increase in sales by 2029, dark chocolate drove most of the growth in the premium segment – a trend attributed to increasing awareness of the health benefits of dark chocolate, rather than filled chocolate varieties like the Dubai sensation, which remains, to date, a very small contributor to global chocolate sales.
Google search trend on ‘labubu’
Pop Mart’s monster charm
Labubu, the furry bag charms with monster-like faces by Pop Mart, became a household name thanks to over 1.3 million social media videos.
This meteoric rise to fame saw the Internet claiming the retailer doubled sales overnight. But now, just a short time later, reported slumps in Pop Mart’s market value are already making the news, and the impact on the collectables category is unclear.
Yet, flow-on effects on neighbouring and/or unrelated categories are noticeable, reaching even ultra-luxury segments. For example, videos on ‘outdressing’ Hermes bags with Labubu, attracted millions of views on TikTok, rivalling the brand’s own iconic bag charms.
What’s next?
So, are ‘viral’ products simply causing temporary sales spikes, or are they here to stay and to drive growth in entire product categories? Price considerations and scarcity effect aside, to truly change a category and sustainably drive growth, ‘viral’ products need to increase and upkeep market penetration over time, with a shift in their market size that outlives the ‘hype’. Until they live up to these expectations, when looked at over a prolonged period of time, ‘viral’ brands will effectively be small brands unlikely to have a lasting effect on the size of a product category.
The online buzz from one brand can enhance the Mental and Physical Availability of the products, with benefits for the entire product category. However, light and new category buyers (a.k.a. groups of buyers vital to harness brand growth), will mostly rely on associations with more popular brands in the category. Therefore, in the long run, we cannot expect a leading role or lasting shifts to the mindset of category buyers.
Until the next ‘viral’ product, I guess!
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