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In the world of high-stakes investing, the “next big thing” may look less like a chatbot and more like a Labubu (9992.HK) doll
“It’s really just supply and demand,” Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and founder of Ghostwrite, told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor. Brian Sozzi to the Unfiltered opening offer podcast (see video above; listen below). “The demand half of the equation works when you get to that intersection of culture and commerce.”
The gamification of commerce is the second most disruptive economic force in the world today, according to Luber’s co-authored white paper “The blindboxing of everything.” This isn’t just sneakers and trading cards, but an evolution in how products capture the cultural zeitgeist.
Take Labubu, the mischievous monster taking over global markets. Its success was no accident: it was the mix of culture and commerce, fueled by the “thrill of the hunt” that traditional retail is now struggling to replicate.
Major brands like Starbucks (SEX), Lids, and even French cookware company Le Creuset have already taken a page out of this collectibles playbook as they figure out how to manufacture the same level of consumer interest and Internet disruption.
For investors, the investment thesis is as simple as Econ 101, per Luber. “If there’s more demand for something than you supply, that product will sell for more,” he said.
While mass-produced goods like Labubu can be overproduced, the high-end trading card market has “a real shortage,” added Luber, who described the hobby as a “false financial asset.”
Unlike Labubu dolls, the rarest trading cards are the most valuable. The top end of the market is currently “going crazy”, with six of the most expensive card sales in history in the last six months alone, all surpassing the $5 million mark.
To understand this shift, investors should look at StockX. Founded in 2015, StockX revolutionized the secondary market treating consumer goods such as sneakers, trading cards and electronic products as stocks, while offering market pricing and real-time authentication. StockX is a private company with a assessment communicated of more than 3 billion dollars.
Even if collectibles are becoming legitimate asset classes, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted. Luber himself describes the industry as “nascent” and “day zero.” The infrastructure is still maturing, with marketplaces and companies like Fanatics and Professional Sports Authenticator, which handles ratings, just beginning to professionalize the landscape.
