Weekly summary 34/2020

Hi,

this is a summary of what was going in the doll world in the 34th week of 2020, as far as we at Dollstudio & DS Doll Europe were concerned.

1) Novel Coronavirus situation.

a) The pandemic situation in general. The amount of daily new infections still exceedes a quarter million per day on average. Most active hot spots are India, Brazil, the U.S., and Colombia.

The number of total confirmed cases has exceeded 23 million; as of today, it is at 23,408,376. So far, 809,098 deaths were recorded.

In the past weeks, there were relatively few new cases in mosts parts of Europe. At least in some countries like Spain and France, the Chinese virus seems to return (~3,000 new cases/day). Germany is recording the highest rate of new infections per day since August.

Parts of New Zealand are in a partial lockdown, again (level 3, so at least some people can go to work).

b) Impact on the doll business. Sitation in a nutshell:

Recently, several Chinese manufacturers have announced to skip basic QC (= quality control) measurements like factory photos. That applies, for example, to the new miniature dolls from Doll Forever and Doll House 168. For us, the value of factory photos is mostly to spot configuration mistakes before the is being shipped. Also, it gives the customer an idea what he can expect. That is especially helpful if a waiting time between two and three months is involved. However, normally the Chinese manufacturers consider the factory photos as a QC step and part of their QM (= quality management). What exactly is the message if this QC step is being skipped? At least this pushes the doll business back half a decade when factory photos were not mandatory yet. Imho, it is a move in the wrong direction. Though, it is a very Chinese move.

Also, in several cases, Chinese suppliers have become slow to respond, forget to send out memos about product or customization updates or have stopped to respond at all to questions. Some seem only to process confirmed orders, but nothing else. This applies, for example, to HR Doll, Happy Doll (from wholesale) and certain Jinsan agents.

The increasingly inacceptable shipping conditions start to take their toll. Since Fedex stopped to transport sex dolls, U.S. turnover has shrunk significantly. Even though UPS Worldwide Expedited covers quite nicely at moderately higher costs, U.S. customers seem to want Fedex.

Similar situation for EU destinations. Not a lot of customers are willing to accept 50-60 days waiting times just for transit. Also clearly notable: Customer do not purchase any expensive dolls. Demand for the high end segment with Gynoid Tech, DS Summit, Sinio-doll with R+S and Ildoll with H.R. and the new Top-sino sub-brand is virtually non existant. Remaining demand from customers focuses on low-cost items, most notably fabric dolls, miniatures, and torsos.

Last but not least, the first shipment with the UPS special line which is about to exceed the estimated 50-60 day transit time. Clearly, this raises a problem for proper order fulfilment.

All in all, the situation is not so much different from the semi-standstill from February/March this year as far as the doll business is concerned.

2) New arrivals.

This week, six new heads were introduced:

• Dollsfrance ›Patricia‹ head (WS7) - TPE
• Doll Sweet Summit ›Alexa‹ head - silicone
• Doll Sweet ›Summer‹ head - silicone (S-level makeup)
• SE Doll ›Kareena‹ head (SE no. 074) - TPE
• Irontech ›Nuru‹ head - TPE
• Xycolo ›Muyao‹ head (沐瑶, Mù yáo) - silicone

Also, one new body style was released:

• New arrivals: Doll Sweet DS-168 ›Summit‹ aka ›Alexa‹ - silicone / ~168 cm / ~33 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) Technical updates and dolls in development.

For some technical reasons, Piper silicone dolls has temporarily suspended provide moveable eyes ball option.

EX Doll is developing a new model line called "Clone Series" (克隆人系列). The first prototype from this cooperation with photographer and Twitter artist Wanimal912 is called Jie (婕). It is a 166 cm doll with a body weight of ~39.5 kg which further explores 3D technology to provide better skin textures and body details. On the domestic Chinese market, this doll is offered for 69,800 Yuan (~$10,100 USD plus shipping).

Also, Sino-doll has launched a spin-off brand called Top-sino. The new sub-brand is targeted at the high-end market and currently consists of one 159 cm (5ft2') model with a body weigth of ~34 kg (±3 kg) and a 163 cm (5ft4') model with a body weight of 34 kg (± 3kg; all measurements are manufacturer specs). The Top-sino dolls will feature a new skin surface finishing called "Hyper Realistic Sex Doll RRS Version". Among other features, this new dolls will come with enhanced movable eyes, standing without bolts, six ultra soft body part options, customizable vagina depth, and hinged (jointed) fingers. For the Top-sino lineup, new heads are released. The first one is called T1 aka ›Miyou‹, the second is T2 aka ›Milu‹, and the third is T3 aka ›Miya‹. However, the Top-sino model line is still in a pre-production stage and Sino's official shop does not list them yet. Expected pricing will be in the range of Gynoid Tech or above.

All these new developments from China are fascinating, though the question is if currently there is an active market for super expensive high-end dolls.

4) Latest blog posts.

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

• 23.08.: New photos with Sino-doll SI-160/E body style and S31 head aka ›Chris‹ with R+S
• 22.08.: New photos with Xycolo XC-153/E body style and ›Muyao‹ head
• 21.08.: New photos with Doll Sweet DS-163 Plus body style with ›Summer‹ head
• 20.08.: New photos with Doll Forever FIT-155/F body style and ›Victoria‹ head
• 19.08.: New photos with Irontech Doll IT-168 body style and ›Nuru‹ head
• 18.08.: New photos with HR Doll HR-166/AA body style and ›Audrey‹ head (HR no. 16)
• 17.08.: New photos with SE Doll SE-167/E body style (= SED 080) and ›Kareena‹ head (SE no. 074)
• 17.08.: New photos with YL Doll YL-171/L body style and ›Patricia‹ head (Dollsfrance WS7)
• 16.08.: New photos with Sino-doll SI-162/D body style and S30B head aka ›Linyin‹ with R+S

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)

5) Factory photos and shipped dolls.

This week we had no recently completed dolls.

More completed dolls from the backlog. These dolls already live in their new homes:

• This Climax Doll CLM-100 Plus+ with ›Una Carha‹ head travels to Missouri
• This Climax Doll CLM-R3 lower body torso travels to Connecticut
• This Doll Sweet DS-163 Plus body style (replacement) travels to Germany

6) 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. Sino-doll SI-160/E
2. WM Doll WM-163/C
3. Silicone Art Body M
4. YL Doll YL-155/D
5. YL Doll YL-151
6. Piper Real PI-160
7. YL Doll YL-155 custom
8. WM Doll WM-162/A
9. Sino-doll SI-162/D
10. Xycolo XC-170/E

Dollstudio US

1. Xycolo XC-170/E
2. Sino-doll SI-160/E
3. Irontech IT-168/B
4. WM Doll WM-65
5. Doll Forever FIT-135/K
6. JY Doll JY-163
7. Sino-doll SI-162/D
8. Happy Doll HA-140
9. Doll Sweet DS-168 ›Summit‹ - Alexa
10. Climax Doll R3

Dollstudio DE

1. WM Dolls WM-140
2. Doll Sweet DS-168 ›Summit‹ - Alexa
3. Piper Fantasy PI-130
4. YL Doll YL-171/L
5. Gynoid GT-162/D
6. Doll Sweet DS-167 ›Evo‹
7. Doll Sweet DS-152 ›Summit‹ - Jodie
8. Gynoid GT-172/D
9. Doll House 168 EVO-160
10. Doll House 168 EVO-170/E

Sandro

https://twitter.com/DollStudioEU/status/1297540384910909440?s=20