Blind box collectors, a new type of gamer in a million-dollar industry

Photo by Jiang Jie/People.cn

Hardwired to be inquisitive, humans are prone to explore the “unknown.” While some take that curiosity to the sky or to the lab, others find pleasures in exploring smaller things in life, like blind boxes, a rising nova in the booming Chinese economy.

Mysterious fun

As the name suggests, a blind box is mysterious. There is no way to know what is inside, while the outside appearance only gives clues about what brand and series the item belong to, as the palm-size toys hidden inside the boxes are usually designer products.

The rules are simple. “It is sort of like winning lottery if you can get the item you want the first time. It is all about the excitement and mystery,” said Da Chang (pseudonym), a blind box enthusiast.

To add to the fun, each series of blind boxes often contain one special edition. On the cover, the special item is in shadow, while the others show themselves in full glory. However, these gamers need luck. Even crazy buyers who bring home a whole set of the series cannot guarantee they will get the special edition item.

According to POP MART, a leading lifestyle retailing company in China, also the giant in blind box collection sales, the percentage rate of the appearance of a special edition item varies for different series and it could be as low as 1/720.

Golden opportunity

Demand for the rare items is high and getting higher, as economic rules never fail.

Blind box giants like POP MART are flying high, too. In 2017-18, POP MART’s performance grew by 140 times. The revenue in H1 2018 was 161 million yuan, up 155.98%.

Of the top 10 most popular blind boxes, “Molly,” from POP MART is most popular. The doll with big eyes and her various collections have yielded over 230,000 trades on Xianyu, a second-hand sale platform under Alibaba, with an average trade price as high as 270 yuan (the original price was between 59 and 79 yuan).

According to Xianyu, some 300,000 people traded their blind boxes on the platform last year, pushing up trade volume to over 10 million yuan. The monthly production of blind box-related products also tripled. Some people can earn up to 100,000 yuan from second-hand blind box trades. One particular blind box saw its price soar from 60 yuan to 2,350 yuan, nearly 40 times the original price.

Even blind box-related videos can share the huge popularity and huge internet traffic data. On Bilibili, a video-sharing website, videos of people tearing open blind boxes can receive an average view of over 250,000; on Douban, a Chinese social network, almost all posts about blind box can receive some 400 replies.

Gaming for youth

“This is really a game for youth only,” said Da Chang.

“I once saw a kid asking for one particular toy on display. However, the salesperson could not help with that, so the kid cried his eyes out. His grandparents could not understand either,” she recalled. “You do not always get what you want, and that is what makes the opening part so exciting.”

However, young people will never stop trying to edge their way to their dream toys – in spite of shop warnings like “DO NOT SQUEEZE.” It has almost become a routine practice for some people to shake the boxes as a way to weigh and measure what might be inside the boxes, which, according to some, is also part of the fun.

While some try to take the sweet feeling and guessing away from the blind boxes with their own hands, many just leave it to fate. On online shopping platform Tmall, nearly 200,000 users spent over 20,000 yuan on blind boxes in a year.

For blind box lovers, they are not going after the potential money behind some of the palm-size toys – though their passion does provide a strong boost to the businesses. They are attracted to the lottery-like excitement, while others have an emotional attachment to the toys.

“They carry feelings from the past, like how you felt at that time when you chose to bring home this particular one. Since you can’t see them when you buy them, this destiny-bound feeling gets stronger, and the emotional bond gets stronger, too,” said Da Chang.