Weekly summary 27/2020

Hi,

this is a summary of what was going in the doll world in the 27th week of 2020, as far as we at Dollstudio & DS Doll Europe were concerned.

1) Novel Coronavirus situation.

The Coronavirus pandemic progresses without slowing down. Today, the number of confirmed cases was at a total of 11,416,541 with 534,267 deaths worldwide. On some days in the past week, over 200,000 new cases per day were reported worldwide. So total numbers keep climbing.

Epicenters remain to be located in the U.S., Brazil, and India; recently, also South Africa passed the five-figure-mark per day. The situation in Europe and mainland China remains relatively quiet.

However, a lot of reports about long-term effects are coming in. Not all who are recorded as 'recovered' can be considered healthy. Many suffer from tissue damages in lungs, heart, kidneys and stomach, and there are lots of reports about neurological problems, from loss of taste and smell to phantom pain in the limbs. The Chinese virus is a nasty beast, and evidence hardens that it actually came from a lab.

Regarding the doll business, lead times to make a doll are now approximately the same as before the pandemic. Shipping is still expensive, usually freight costs exceed the costs of the doll. For shipping to the U.S., most agents use new Fedex IP (International Priority) which is very fast, typically less than a week from mainland China to an U.S. destination. For shipping to EU destinations, freights costs are lower, but shipments take much longer, typically 6-8 weeks.

For Germany, VAT rates were temporarily reduced from 19% to 16% (starting at July 1st). This is an economic intervention to increase end customer demand. People are supposed to spend their money, not to save it. Since Germany also suspended the legal requirement to file for bankruptcy until September 2020, a lot of dead business keep on running. This is intended to avoid an unmistakable wave of corporate failures and unemployment registrations. We will see in a couple of months if these economic interventions by the German government will work out, but a lot of people are currently very nervous about loosing their jobs and rather keep their money together than spend it for consumption.

2) New arrivals.

This week, two new heads were introduced:

• Doll Forever ›Sayuri‹ head - TPE
• SE Doll ›Jordy‹ head (SE no. 049) - TPE

Also, one new body style was released:

• New arrivals: Gynoid Tech GT-180 body style aka Model 8 Android / silicone / ~180 cm / ~34 kg (this is a limited edition doll)

Last but not least, one new torso was released:

• New arrivals: Climax Doll R5 lower body torso - TPE / ~12 kg

As always, you can follow the latest updates in our Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/DollStudioEU

Also, we have the New products listing on all three Dollstudio websites. It is sorted in reverse chronological order, so the latest additions to our portfolio are on top of the listing:

• Dollstudio US - http://us.dollstudio.org/new-products
• Dollstudio EU - http://eu.dollstudio.org/new-products
• Dollstudio DE - http://de.dollstudio.org/new-products

On Dollstudio EU, there is also the New arrivals timeline http://eu.dollstudio.org/timeline with a slightly different display style.

3) Latest blog posts.

Our (almost) daily blog posts feature mostly new photo sets, showcasing dolls and heads in various configurations.

• 05.07.: New photos with Sino-doll SI-162/D body style and S34 head aka ›Megan‹
• 03.07.: New photos with Xycolo XC-163/E body style and ›Charlene‹ head
• 02.07.: New photos with SE Doll SE-167/D body style and ›Jordy‹ head
• 01.07.: New photos with Piper Silicone PI-160/G body style and ›Akira‹ head by Piper Doll
• 30.06.: New photos with Ildoll IL-160 body style and C29 head in silicone
• 29.06.: New photos with Doll Forever FIT-145/F body style and ›Sayuri‹ head
• 28.06.: New photos with Xycolo XC-163/C body style and ›Vala‹ head

These blog posts are mirrored on the Latest blog posts section all three Dollstudio websites. It is sorted in reverse chronological order, newest posts on top:

• Dollstudio US - http://us.dollstudio.org/blog
• Dollstudio EU - http://eu.dollstudio.org/blog
• Dollstudio DE - http://de.dollstudio.org/blog

(EU and US sites in English, DE site in German)

4) Factory photos and shipped dolls.

• This Climax Doll CLM-72 with ›Maria‹ head travels to Texas

5) Weekly Top 10 Dolls.

Based on our website access stats, here is the weekly report: What's trending this week?

These stats reflect what our (potential) customers are interested in; however, it does not indicate conversions. The stats are broken down by the geographical distribution area, so this might give some insight about varying regional tastes or preferences.

Dollstudio EU

1. Xycolo XC-163/E
2. Xycolo XC-163/C
3. Piper Silicone PI-160/G
4. Xycolo XC-153/E
5. Sino-doll SI-162/D
6. Doll Forever D4E-165/I
7. Doll Forever D4E-165/B
8. Xycolo XC-170/E
9. Doll Forever D4E-146
10. Doll Forever D4E-135

Dollstudio US

1. Sino-doll SI-162/D
2. Hitdoll HI-145
3. WM Dolls WM-157/B
4. JY Doll JY-165
5. Ildoll IL-160
6. Irontech IT-165/A
7. Climax Doll R3
8. SE Doll SE-150/E
9. HR Doll HR-159/D
10. Piper Fantasy PI-130

Dollstudio DE

1. Xycolo XC-163/E
2. Gynoid GT-180
3. Gynoid GT-162
4. Xycolo XC-170/E
5. Sino-doll SI-160/E
6. Piper Mini PI-100
7. WM Doll WM-100
8. Xycolo XC-153/AA
9. WM Dolls WM-166
10. Hitdoll HI-105

Sandro

https://twitter.com/DollStudioEU/status/1279778515265732608?s=20