We’ve been lucky to have a guest visitor join us this week directly from the North Pole. Okay, not really the North Pole, but it’s Julie Haddon who not only was one of the leads for eBay’s Holiday Campaign, but is also one of our Social Media gurus, who will talk about the latest craze that is the Zhu Zhu Pets.

Take it away, Julie!

As you’ve probably heard about or seen, the popular Zhu Zhu Pets have taken over the world. Okay, well not the world but at least these endearing and fine-furred friends have become the hit toy this holiday season, attracting more than one million searches on eBay over Thanksgiving weekend alone. It’s been a breakout hamster hit reminiscent of toy crazes of yesteryear, such as Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids. A shortage of the Zhu Zhu Pets led to an increase in listings on eBay which grew at 10% per day.

Did you know that more than 100,000 Zhu Zhu Pets were sold on eBay in the first week of December (from November 30th to December 6th)? If you’re still not convinced, take a look at some of the statistics:

• On December 8, there were 39,994 listings for Zhu Zhu Pets
• Chunk is the most desired Zhu Zhu Pet character according to price points on eBay. At his highest price, Chunk is listed for $61 with other characters’ highest prices ranging from $42.29 to $58.

Pictures are worth a thousand words – especially when they are cute and techno. And I couldn’t summarize it any better than this map. Here’s a visual indicator of all U.S.-based transactions that occurred on eBay from November 1 to November 30, 2009.

I wonder if I’ll find a Mr. Squiggles, Chunk, Pipsqueek or NumNums under my tree on the 25th?

- Julie Haddon