Why is the attractiveness of products covered with “masks” so much more attractive?
Editor’s note: This article is from the WeChat public account “Analytical Science” (ID: enfodesk), author: Struggling.
From the vending machines in the aisle of the mall, the boutique toy store to the convenience store around the company’s residence, young men and women are crowded with food and fast fashion, as well as various blind boxes such as figurines, cosmetics, clothes and books.
Recently, this “blind box wind” has spread to live pets. 9.9 yuan can extract the speculative psychology of precious pets, but behind it nourishes a bloody industrial chain. On the one hand, there is a fierce crusade by public opinion, on the other hand, there is the helplessness of increasing orders for “blind pet boxes”.
Why do ordinary products become more attractive after being covered? Why is the blind box so that people can’t help but explore the answer to the question of “guess what’s inside”?
1 The origin and rise of blind boxes
Blind Box, originated in Japan, is inspired by “Fuku Bag” and “Gacha”, and is a trendy play derived from anime characters.
Blind boxes of the same series often have the same appearance, but before opening, consumers cannot know what kind of products they have bought. The simple noodle set card game popular more than ten years ago is actually similar to the blind box.
2019 is a very popular year for blind boxes in my country. Blind box products represented by Bubble Mart have attracted many consumers.
Near blind box stores and vending machines in major shopping malls, there are always young consumers who can’t wait to open the box in their hands after completing the purchase and take out the “hard-won” treasure. In a blink of an eye, you will see exquisite photos of the protagonist of the blind box on social platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu, and the po master affectionately calls them “my baby”.
Blind box of a po owner on the Xiaohongshu
More and more toy figures have joined the “blind box family”, and more types of products have begun to be sold in this way. The blind box economy has attracted widespread attention.
2 The addictive password behind the blind box
On December 20, 2020, “Blind Box First Share” Bubble Mart went public in Hong Kong. Its prospectus mentioned that the net profit of the company has increased by more than 280 times in the past three years, and the consumption potential stimulated by the blind box It can be seen.
Especially for some brand retailers, the “blind box model” has many things worth exploring and learning from. Today, let’s rationalize the “addiction code behind the blind box”.
2.1 Incentive mechanism, it’s unstoppable
Blind box is a product with uncertainty. It mostly adopts the form of “fixed style + hidden style”. At the same time, less popular styles will be added, which will bring greater enhancement to consumers’ shopping process. Challenging makes him even more cherish the products he draws.
The sense of surprise when the answer was revealed stimulated the human brain to secrete dopamine. Consumers may feel that they are full of European spirit, or they may become “black-faced players”, but people always have the gambler psychology that wants to be big. Pursue greater wins when you win, and look forward to turning your luck next time when you lose.
This kind of psychology combined with the lower unit price of the blind box products and the characteristics of being launched in series have stimulated consumers’ desire for shopping and collection, thus realizing the frequent repurchase of blind boxes.
Forbidden City Series Blind Box
This kind of incentive mechanism is very attractive to Gen Z. Gen Z usually has a higher acceptance of new things and is willing to pay for emotional needs and pursue unknown adventures.
Blind box product merchants therefore target consumers to young people. According to the official user data provided by Bubble Mart, women aged 18-25 are the main force in blind box consumption, and consumers aged 25-29 account for 26% of the total.
At the moment when marketing tricks emerge endlessly, the emotional threshold of consumers has increased.As far as households are concerned, they need to pay attention to their experience in the consumption process, introduce appropriate incentive mechanisms, accurately locate target consumer groups, play tricks on the sales side, and achieve a psychological connection with consumers.
2.2 Social sharing, creating a fun community
In the era of mobile Internet, social platforms provide consumers with greater communication space. Consumers’ willingness to share increases with the convenience of communication. Groups with similar hobbies can find each other in the online space, forming ” Interesting Community”.
Blind box players will share their shopping results in the community, combine their own hobbies and abilities to “change the baby” and other secondary creations, and upload the results to the online space to gain group recognition and self-satisfaction.
Paqu APP Community
Merchants need to make good use of social platforms to build brand communities, so that users’ word of mouth can attract more consumers to their products. Xiaohongshu, Station B, Weibo, Official Account, Taobao “Good Species Grass”, etc. are all channels that can be used for dissemination.
In addition, rich content forms such as graphics and videos can present products in an all-round way, convey consumer experience, and stimulate willingness to share.
Community users are precious private domain traffic and high-value users of the brand. For these consumers, conducting user operations in line with their behavior preferences is conducive to enhancing consumer brand recognition and achieving more order conversions.
2.3 Instant gratification, increase consumption frequency
The improvement of the logistics system and the convenience of online shopping have made consumers increasingly demanding immediate satisfaction.
In the addiction model composed of four parts: “trigger-action-diversified returns-investment”, from trigger to action is the key stage to achieve consumption conversion, and consumers can easily obtain The product is the key to completing this link.
The opening of online and offline channels enables instant consumption of blind boxes. The advantages of the two complement each other and increase the frequency of consumer consumption.
After being attracted by the exquisite decoration and rich product display of offline stores, consumers can have hands-on experience such as “shaking the box” and complete quick purchases. At the same time, the high-density blind box vending machine in the mall has also added offline contacts.The frequent exposure in the consumer’s vision promotes the completion of consumer behavior.
Blind box vending machine under Bubble Mart line
The establishment of online channels such as Mini Program Mall and Tmall Mall frees consumers from being restricted by time and space, and can place orders at the moment they are attracted by product news, effectively promoting blind box consumption.
During Double Eleven in 2020, Bubble Mart’s total sales on Tmall exceeded 142 million yuan, becoming the first brand flagship store in the Tmall toy industry to enter the “Double 1.1 billion yuan club”.
Blind Box Mini Program Mall
In addition, blind box product apps such as “Paqu” have launched the “Online Shaking Box” function. Consumers can make preliminary guesses about the product based on relevant prompts, complete the “intelligence investment” in the “Addiction Model”, and move offline The combination of “shake the box” experience and convenient online shopping methods can improve the shopping experience while realizing consumers’ immediate satisfaction of their needs.
Shake the blind box online
2.4 Product and service, the core cannot be ignored
The popular blind box model is being used for reference by more and more businesses. Clothing, shoes, cosmetics, food, etc. are all sold in this way, but you need to pay attentionYes, the blind box model is not a panacea. While borrowing this form, we need to pay attention to the quality of products and services.
Fortune bags are a common way in the FMCG industry to stimulate consumption, increase fun, and reduce inventory pressure. The principle is the same as that of blind boxes, but the value of the product is often higher than or equal to the price.
For FMCG, in the absence of a strong IP cultural connotation, consumers’ emotional needs will be reduced, consumer psychology will become more rational, and the relationship between products and prices will be more measured .
Sephora blind box
Although consumers are obsessed with the uncertainty of blind boxes, they also have their own psychological expectations. When reality and ideals are in sharp contrast, they will feel dissatisfied.
For example, after “Lucky Box” became all the rage, it was complained because the products generally did not match consumers’ expectations. After spreading through social platforms, many potential customers were dissuaded from it.
Merchants should actively collect consumer feedback, understand the shortcomings of blind box products and make adjustments to better utilize the advantages of this type of sales.
Beep Beep “Lucky Box” related video
As an emerging sales model, blind boxes inject vitality into the consumer market. Based on an effective incentive mechanism, with appropriate products and services, it can not only create a fun experience for consumers in the shopping process, but also increase sales for businesses. Way.
In the process of adopting the blind box model, merchants need to carry out precise user positioning, actively dialogue with consumers, improve shopping channels, improve product service quality, promote healthy consumption growth, and achieve a win-win situation for all parties.
Looking at the larger brand retail field, in the digital age, only through accurate insights into user portraits; through data-driven continuous optimization of product services and user experience links; throughOnly by implementing more refined and personalized user touch interactions in the user operation process can it better attract users, improve conversion, expand brand awareness, and ultimately achieve the performance of branded retail companies and the dual-line growth of the brand.