Times are tough and budgets are squeezed, so it is perhaps no surprise that the runaway success story in Toyland this Christmas is Squishmallows, the squidgy, huggable pillows-with-a-face that became a viral sensation on TikTok.
The £8 toys are flying off retailers’ shelves with UK sales up 300% this year and stores on track to sell 4m. This pattern is being repeated around the world as total Squishmallows sales doubled in less than a year to surpass 200m this summer – a success story that Frédérique Tutt, toy expert at market researchers NPD, said reflected the staggering “power of social media”.
