Taobao’s ‘ugly’ goods find a growing market among China’s young consumers
Items that might have once been seen as unmarketable are going viral online as shoppers embrace quirkiness and novelty over conventional aesthetics
Products widely considered “ugly” or “bizarre” have gone viral online in China as millions of young consumers embrace the items’ quirky humour and distinctive character.
Cumulative sales of such products on Taobao – an e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group Holding – have surpassed 230 million yuan (US$34.3 million) since 2020, when Taobao launched its so-called Uglies Award to celebrate creatively unusual goods, the platform said recently without specifying exactly what constitutes an “ugly” product.
This year also marks Taobao’s second Treasured Uglies Art Exhibition, themed “Ugly, But Mine”, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where the company is based. The exhibition, which covers an area nearly twice as large as last year’s inaugural event, will be open from Saturday to September 27.