{"id":18436,"date":"2021-03-16T11:42:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T03:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=18436"},"modified":"2021-05-27T14:22:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T06:22:57","slug":"blind-box-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2021\/03\/blind-box-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind Box Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introducing blind box and the craze behind.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ella Lang in Chongqing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter Liu Tianyu caught\na glimpse of Molly\u2019s giant statue outside a shop in August 2019 when she was\nwalking through the streets in Beijing. She then bought her first blind box\nwith a Molly doll inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Liu is a student\nwith no income, she has spent approximately RMB \u00a52,500 (US $380) so far on\nbuying blind boxes. The 19-year-old girl is now a big fan of blind box toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The standard market price\nof a blind box toy is RMB \u00a559 (US $9). Liu now has 41 figurines in her\ncollection and will keep on buying more in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI glued my favourite\nfigurines on my desk. Looking at them from time to time has become my daily\nroutine,\u201d Liu says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI glued my favourite figurines on my desk. Looking at them from time to time has become my daily routine.\u201d <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Blind box toys are\nfigurines packed in boxes with the same design. A series of blind box toys\ncontains 12 different designs. Each set includes one limited edition that only\nappears in 1 out of 144 boxes. Buyers do not know which figurine they will get\nuntil they unpack the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a consumer, Liu thinks\nthat uncertainty and surprise are important factors that make blind boxes more\nirresistible than other toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI probably will not buy\nthe figurine if I know exactly what I will get. The element of surprise in\nblind boxes is just alluring,\u201d Liu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncertainty and surprise\nalso motivate Liu to keep buying blind boxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not lucky. I did\nnot get even one limited edition from all 41 blind boxes I bought. But the joy\nI have every time I open the box makes me buy more and more,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booming Market in China<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blind box has become\npopular among the young. Collecting figurines has become the most popular hobby\namong consumers born after 1995, surpassing trendy trainers and video games,\naccording to a buying\nbehaviour report<\/a> in 2019 by Tmall, the largest cross\nborder E-commerce platform in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same report shows\nthat nearly 200,000 consumers spend around RMB \u00a520,000 (US $3100) a year on\nblind boxes, and some even spend RMB \u00a51 million (US $155 135) a year to buy\nblind boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Blind boxes in a Pop Mart store.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompared with those who\nspend tens of thousands of yuan or even more on blind boxes every month, I am\njust a rookie blind box toy collector,\u201d Liu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not obsessed with\ncollecting all figurines in one series, and I never buy limited editions at\nhigh prices in second-hand markets,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Single\u2019s Day\nshopping festival in 2019, more than two million blind boxes were sold on\nTmall, with sales of RMB \u00a582.12 million (US $12.6 million). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Report of Produce & Sale Demand And Investment Forecast On China Toy Industry (2021-2026)<\/a> conducted by Qianzhan Intelligence, a Shenzhen-based business consultancy, the market for blind boxes is estimated to reach RMB \u00a525 billion (US $3.8 billion) in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the Popularity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPop\nMart\u2019s product designs capture consumers\u2019 attention and make them keep\npurchasing. \u201cI bought my first blind box because of its cute design,\u201d says Katy\nDong Wenjing, who has just become a blind box toy collector last summer.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leading blind box\ncompany cooperates with many Hong Kong artists to create popular figures.\nMolly, Pucky, Labubu and many sought-after figures were given birth under the\nbrushes of Hong Kong artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A Molly series.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMolly,\na little girl with big acid blue eyes and pursing red lips, is the Midas touch\nfor Pop Mart.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by Hong Kong\nartist Kenny Wong, Molly is the most popular toy figure, generating 27 per cent\nof revenue in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nApart\nfrom selling original blind boxes, the toy company also collaborates with a\nvariety of brands such as Naruto, Pok\u00e9mon and Harry Potter.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dong\u2019s favourite blind\nbox toy is a palm-sized figurine of Rapunzel from the Disney movie Tangled<\/em>.\n\u201cAs a big fan of Disney, I was so excited about the series,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am expecting more\ncollaboration with other brands in the future, and I will surely buy blind\nboxes of my favourite characters,\u201d Dong says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blind box buyers are likely to purchase the same series over and over until they get their desired piece. \u201cI bought the same blind box five times. After getting Jasmine, Moana, Tiana and Mulan, I finally got the Rapunzel figurine in the Disney princess series,\u201d Dong says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dong\u2019s five toys in the Disney princess series. (Photo courtesy of Dong Wenjing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am expecting more collaboration with other brands in the future, and I will surely buy blind boxes of my favourite characters.\u201d <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Shen Luxi, assistant\nprofessor of the Department of Marketing at the Chinese University of Hong\nKong, explains blind box\u2019s marketing mechanism with consumer psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlind boxes give people\na taste of satisfaction and curiosity. And that will motivate people to keep\nrepeating the activity. We call this positive reinforcement in psychology,\u201d she\nsays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shen points out that the\nmystery packaging brings customers extra joy. \u201cYou can think of blind box as a\npackaging strategy that has another layer of fun. You get to guess what\u2019s in\nit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cImagine\nif all Christmas gifts are wrapped in transparent paper, that will kill the\nfun. You still get the gift, but you do not get the fun,\u201d Shen adds.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Bonita Wong <\/em>
Sub-edited by Agnes Lam<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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