Barbie girls, in a Barbie world
What do you get the doll who has everything for her 50th birthday? A themed superstore, of course
Amy Fabris-Shi is a Shanghai-based journalist and founder of the Scribes of the Orient journalism website
Every woman wants to age gracefully – even Barbie. The blonde bombshell turned 50 this year, and although outwardly she appears as perky as when she debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959, there has been some serious brand augmentation going on behind the scenes.
Hit by sliding sales in recent years, the most popular – and controversial – fashion doll in history is looking for pastures new, with Asia top of her travel agenda. The result – based on two years’ planning, extensive Chinese mother-daughter focus groups and a US$30 million investment – is the recent opening of the world’s first House of Barbie flagship store in Shanghai.
Why Shanghai? As the global recession bites harder and high streets from San Francisco to Sydney struggle to shift goods of all kinds, China’s retail sales grew 15 percent in the first quarter of 2009. And as China’s financial and commercial hub, Shanghai is home to its savviest, most fashion-conscious consumers. Barbie is just the latest in an evolving line of China-specific brand flagship stores; such names as Alfred Dunhill, Vacheron Constantin and Mont Blanc have launched in Shanghai in preparation for a wider China roll-out.
The six-storey pink palace on Shanghai’s premier shopping street, Huaihai Road, has been created with clinical marketing precision. In Mattel’s own words, the new store is an “unapologetically all-girl” brand experience for Chinese femmes of all ages. Focusing as much on fashion and aspiration as on doll sales, it features more than 1,600 Barbie products ranging from high-end apparel and cosmetics to MP3 players, along with a day spa, Barbie Café, Fashion Runway and Design Centre.
The store is transparently designed to appeal to different market segments. New York-based Slade Architecture has created a classy-but-kitsch space, fronted by a bubbly polycarbonate façade evoking Barbie blister packs and fitted with swirly stilettos and ponytail iconography. While Chinese girls style their own dolls in the Design Centre, middle-class mums nibble Barbie Loves Chocolate truffles from silver cake stands in the Pink Room or indulge in a Barbie Bust Firming treatment in the full-service spa and hair salon.
Customer experiences don’t come more tailored than this, even in a voraciously brand-hungry city like Shanghai. But the majority of the visitors come for the fashions. “The store is gorgeous but I especially love the clothes,” says 24-year-old Zhang Yuanyuan, clutching an “I’m an Icon” tee and little black dress by Sex And The City stylist Patricia Field. “The majority of our traffic has been single girl shoppers in their twenties – most of whom never owned a Barbie as a kid,” reveals Barbie Shanghai marketing manager Kaman Poon.
The pink cherry on the cake is the top-floor Barbie Café, created by Greek-Australian restaurateur David Laris. Here, you can graze on sophisticated versions of American diner classics, like a Barbie Burger or Fashionista Salad. To drink, there’s a Classic ‘59 Milkshake; alternatively, the B Bar mixes up Barbie ’Tinis and Malibu Barbie cocktails. So far, so seriously glam – but only time will tell whether the Middle Kingdom can indeed teach an old doll new tricks.
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