Marks & Spencer’s Paddington plush toy.Marks & Spencer
- M&S Christmas ad starring animated Paddington debuted on Tuesday.
- 15,000 stuffed toys made to tie-in to campaign sold in the 3 days since it launched.
- Over 100 are listed on eBay at an inflated price.
LONDON — Marks & Spencer has almost sold out of their special edition Paddington Bear toys just days after debuting its Christmas advert starring the children’s book character.
M&S said on Friday that it sold 15,000 Paddington stuffed toys since the advert debuted on Tuesday. The retailer has produced 50,000 of the bears and said it expects to sell out within a week. Eighty percent of sales have been online but many stores are sold out too.
Rob Weston, Brand & Marketing Director at M&S, said: “We know Paddington is a much-loved character so we purchased 10 times the amount of bears we would normally sell in a whole year. Our customers have completely fallen for our little bear and can’t get enough of him.”
The sales rush came after M&S debuted its Christmas ad earlier this week, timed to coincide with the release of the Paddington 2 film:
However, the Paddington sales rush may be fuelled by entrepreneurial salespeople rather than genuine fans.
Over 100 of M&S’ Paddington toys have already hit eBay at inflated prices. M&S is selling the stuffed bears in store for £12 but the going rate on eBay is around £25 — with one even listed for £50.
Paddington toys listed on the auction website.Screenshot/eBay
Some customer too to Twitter to complain of the shortages:
@marksandspencer are you guys restocking the plush paddington toy on your website anytime soon? 😩
— jas (@_jasdfghjkl_) November 10, 2017
Big thank you to @marksandspencer Liverpool Store Manager David for your help today. Unfortunately, #PaddingtonBear is still ‘out of stock’ 😩😩😩
— Justine (@js5471) November 9, 2017
@marksandspencer will you be restocking the Paddington bear toy anytime soon? pic.twitter.com/wvapFvACWg
— pagét (@Pajsparkle_) November 8, 2017
Marks & Spencer declined to comment further when asked about the eBay secondary market.
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