Labubu craze hits London on Singles' Day with AliExpress live shopping show

(Corrects paragraph 2 to show Pop Mart is based in Beijing, not in Hong Kong)

By Helen Reid

LONDON (Reuters) -Labubu dolls were flying off the shelves on a shopping livestream in London on Tuesday as Alibaba's AliExpress brought China's Singles' Day shopping frenzy to Britain, tapping into the worldwide craze for collectible Pop Mart toys.

Pop Mart's Labubu, Crybaby and SkullPanda dolls - sold in sealed "blind boxes" that conceal which figurine is inside - have become a global hit, fuelling a surge in revenues for the Beijing-based company which is borrowing from the Disney playbook to turn the trend into long-term growth.

AliExpress hired 23-year-old British influencer Anna Williams, who has 1.3 million followers on TikTok, to co-host four daily two-hour livestreams with fellow influencer Mary He, which the company expects will sell around 10,000 toys by Friday to shoppers following on the AliExpress app.

POP MART SALES SURGE IN BRITAIN

Sales on the platform's official Pop Mart store in the UK rocketed 1,500% in October compared to a year ago, according to Bonnie Zhao, general manager at AliExpress UK, and sales of collectible toys overall were up 300% in the first half of this year.

Broadcasting in front of a display of Pop Mart toys, Williams and He opened mystery boxes and showed viewers products including Labubu "why so serious" clown dolls and blueberry-scented Hacipupu gummy bear dolls, priced from 11 pounds to 74 pounds ($15-$99).

The toys have become fashion accessories, worn as decorations on bags and with a thriving resale market.

Livestream shopping started in China but Western brands like Zara and IKEA have also tried out the format which aims to entertain shoppers and drive sales with well-known hosts offering special deals.

"It's still in its early days but we have seen a huge increase of brands doing live shopping, especially since TikTok Shop launched in Spain, Ireland, Italy, Germany and France," said Carmen Muley, who was a host on the first AliExpress livestreams for the Spanish market in 2016 and now advises brands on live shopping.

($1 = 0.7451 pounds)

(Reporting by Helen Reid. Editing by Mark Potter)