Disney’s Mickey Mouse is Making Money in China

Disney has managed to enter into the Chinese market long time ago. In the 1990s， Disney movies such as Snow White were released simultaneously in Beijing， Shanghai and the US. But until 1986， Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck’s broadcast officially open a door to China. After that， Disney became a household name in China.

At the end of the 20th century， Disney began to develop its consumer goods industry such as clothes， book and stationery. Its unique style was welcomed by many children in China， which created a huge profit for Disney， and showed a prospect of the Chinese market.

Public figures show that currently， sales of Disney in China are about USD 2 billion annually. The industry believe this number will be increase after world’s largest Disney retail store opened in Shanghai on May 20th.

The Biggest Disney Retail Flagship Store

On May 20th， the biggest Disney retail flagship store opened in Shanghai. It located in Lujiazui area， which is a prime location of Shanghai. It covers an area of 5000 O and consists of a retail area and outdoor plaza of the Disney theme. Plus a large number of tourists and the Oriental Pearl Tower， Disney has a high expectation for this flagship store.

Our journalists visited this store on May 19th， in there， a lot of Disney goods let people immersed in the fairy tale world. Behind these goods are Disney characters， which are souls of Disneyland. In Disneyland Theme Park， over 50% profits are from Disney character-related goods instead of tickets.

In Shanghai Disney retail flagship store， there is a limited edition Mickey Mouse doll sold at the price of RMB 240， which is not cheap. Large numbers of customers， however， have decided to purchase it at the first day of its open-ing.

Why people would like to spend hundreds of money to buy a doll？ It’s inner sense of identity， according to Disney.

Finely Made Content

A best-selling Disney commodity first of all， needs a good story.

Disney has a strict standard for script and its production. Sometimes a script needs to be amended for dozens of times， hundreds of times or even be cut at the final moment. Given a good script， then a bunch of ‘imagineer’ of Disney would make a fantasy. After that， Disney’s sci-tech department would realize the fantasy by high-tech means. Of course， not every fantasy can be realized， but for those realized， the effects are very cool.

Disney’s top animators would spend several months just to achieve a fur effect soon afterwards. In addition， Disney has a very strong music production team. Do not underestimate animated film songs. Disney’s ‘Let It Go’even won Oscars.

Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse， Donald Duck， Goofy， Snow White， Mermaid Princess， Cinderella， Large White， Captain America， Iron Man and Green Giant got high recognition by the audience thanks to these superior stories. Inner sense of recognition is highly important， because that’s the reason why people would like to spend money.

Disney not only has animations， it also has a lot of live-action movies， for example， the famous ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ series. These contents created a large number of virtual characters， songs and movie scenes. Therefore， Disney began its business model.

Disney’s first profit point， of course is box office. Think about Hundreds of millions of box office earnings by ‘The Avengers’， which is still on hot showing now and the number will be increased later. Since these characters are highly recognized by people， some fans even believe that they are real persons in life， and want to be them. Therefore， Disney develops character-related consumer goods including costume， stationery， toys， furnishings， publications， music drama and educations.

“We would subdivide Disney characters according to different consumer groups， for example， Q version of Mickey series is classified as infant & children product line. These Q version character related infant costume， daily necessities then are classified as infant & children product line. And then is adolescent market segment. Compared with infant & children， adolescent has girl series and boy series. Girl series are mainly related to princess. Disney uses the image of princess to design stationery， clothes， accessories and food. Whereas， boy series use cartoon images such as“Cars” to develop car toys that boys like.” A senior Disney staff disclosed.

Disney offers consumer goods not only for kids but also for adults and even middle aged and elderly people. Its princess series attractfemale too. And some princess series or Mickey Mouse related household articles are mother or even grandmother’s favorites. Of course， Disney’s business landscape also includesmale market. After its purchase of Marvel， characters of the avengers’ alliance series， such as Green Giant， Iron Man， Thor and Captain America are definitely favorite virtual character formales. These characters related consumer goods such as clothes and furnishings then become goods that male customers would buy. Meanwhile， middle aged and elderly people would buy a lot of souvenir medals for the most memorable role at their childhood. This is not obvious in the Chinese market， but in America， too many elderly people would like to spend money on these goods.

“Besides goods， there are movie characters. Movies will be dropped， but music drama can be performed all the time. Fine music works such as ‘The Lion King’ and ‘High School Musical’ are made as music dramas to make money for Disney worldwide and will never be dropped. In a similar way， there is Ice Dance Disney， which means the above characters wearing ice skates to perform. Disney can authorize relevant professional performance team， and wait for the money.” the staff said frankly.

In terms of the most concerned theme park， actually， it is just a part of Disney business. It is classified as tourism. Disney has theme park and passenger liner. They are operated based on the same principle： make a live-action for those virtual characters and scenes. The theme park has ticket， catering and consumer goods profits， and over 50% profits come from twice-consuming of catering and consumer goods.

“Many people only concern about theme park， actually， it is just a part of Disney business. Disney business also includes movie， consumer goods， tourism， hotel， publication， stage performance and etc.” the staff added.

Culture Expansion

China is not an English speaking country， which made Disney feel that it needs to make a further expand in culture. Therefore， in particularly， it created Disney English in China， which is not only a high-profit children education industry but also a way to cultivate Disney fans， for these children may be Disney’s future customers.

Aimed at students aged 2 to 12 years old， The Disney English creates an environment full of its classic Disney characters. Each classroom is based on the character of Disney， such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs， The Lion King， Toy Story， Donald Duck， Goofy and Disney’s beloved character―Mickey Mouse. Children and adults alike have felt a special connection with Disney.