Text 丨 Qi Qi, author 丨 Tian Huanzi, Editor 丨 Wang Shi
With the fading of underground street culture, Japan, Europe and the United States and other countries and regions have gone through the peak period of tide. The number of consumers is stable and entertaining themselves in the circle.
In China on the other side of the ocean, the blind boxes quickly became popular. At the same time, the “concept” of the tide played quickly became popular in the Mainland. Various types of tide -playing business changed qualitatively and officially became the business of IP consumer goods.
In China’s current population structure, consumer entities are changing. The 15-39-year-old echoing baby tide has gradually become the consumer force of society. This generation of intergenerational people has a strong desire for consumption, and the demand for “personalization” has become a new consumer change. In this context, subcultures have the opportunity to rush to the mainstream culture.
The popularity of the blind box is like the fire of the stars, igniting the public’s enthusiasm for the tide, and the fried shoes, the blind boxes, and the fried hand have become a popular way to play.
The in-depth report of the 2020 Tide Intelligence Industry predicts that based on Japan’s 2020 penetration rate as the benchmark, the space of the core audience of the 15-39 years old is estimated. It is expected that the size of the Chinese derivative retail market in 2020/2025/2030 is 363/659/117.1 billion yuan. Derivative retail and adapted entertainment market size was 639/1021/193.8 billion yuan.
The tide play industry lit by the blind box has become a new flow of capital. How can it be defined by the market?
Fire auction
The news stayed here with a pink rabbit avatar, and she asked the exchange information of the bubble Matt doll in the group. “Labubu’s sunflower and DIMOO Gemini change Labubu Van Gogh, the rose skeleton and the DIMOO Libra are there any wow.” But no one responded to her.
This “Happy Auction Group together” formed by 195 people, after freely brushed nearly 12,000 news, finally silently silently settled at 23:12, but the master A Xing was still very busy at this moment, she had to hurry up, she had to hurry up Before the time is dawn, all the photographed dolls were sorted out so that they could be sent to all parts of the country tomorrow. The time was very tight and there were a lot of dolls. of.
Almost 4 hours ago, an unusually hot online auction was held in the group, about 3 hours.
At 19:29, an appointment with Rubi Aite, “The auction of tonight is starting!” The announcement issued by Rubi indicates that the doll is relatively mixed, basically one or two in each series. The price except some hot models. Other styles 5+2 shots … The announcement also previewed the auction preview at 8:30 tomorrow night.
After the announcement, A Xing sent a panoramic view of a doll to take tonight, which was covered with dense dolls.
“Start”, A Xing informed everyone, “Come here”, someone responded soon, and then A Xing posted a small gift to tell everyone “deduction 1”, the group became hot instantly, and the screen was full. Get up, the atmosphere began to ignite, two rounds of gifts were delivered, and the auction officially started.
“5 black housekeepers +2”, less than a second, someone bids 20 yuan, one minute later, A Xing started to cut the price from 45 yuan, and some people began to increase again, and it was about to fall around 50. , 54 twice, 54 three times “, in the end, the doll price was 54 yuan. Someone in the group lamented that it was too low.
The auction continued to be hot, and every two minutes, A Xing had a doll taken away by a foreign baby friend.
The 24 -year -old Rubi is the second one to enter this group, because she likes blind box dolls. She and the owner met as friends online. “At the beginning, she wanted to make auction. After she finished shooting, many friends also wanted to do it, so I kept it. “When the auction was in progress, there were constant friends who were looking for a superior to friends from Weibo, and it was pulled in by friends. At present, the number of people in this group is still going. Increase.
The division of labor in the auction group is not clear, and even a little casual, but since the establishment of the group, it has been held almost 10 times. RUBI said that the auction is held from time to time, but it will be previewed in advance. Just ask her to make an appointment. And the baby friends who gather here, they have many baby in their hands. They do n’t want it for a long time, or they are repeated. They usually sell themselves and are more troublesome. When they come here, they can sell them at one time. It’s also let go. “
Rubi found that the average auction price in the group was a bit low. Unless it was hot or out of print, it would be higher than the original price, but it would not be much higher. Buying and selling blind box dolls is at a loss, but she still enjoys the fun of drawing boxes. In her room, more than 100 blind box dolls have lived. Among the hundred dolls, she already owns. She hasn’t bought much recently, unless she encounters likes again.
A senior blind box player told the strange faction that there are many auction games similar to this kind of blind box doll, and in the eyes of Rubi, this auction group is very fun. Just exchanging excess dolls, I do n’t have to keep staring at all times. I do n’t have to spend much time. In addition to leisure, she only needs to help write an announcement notification person.
On Weibo, a single topic of a blind box has reached 570 million readings. The posts posted a total of 122,000 posts have exceeded the traffic of some popular stars.
From the early morning to late at night, the transaction information of “exiting the baby” here has almost no interruption.
With huge risks, he gathered great courage, almost cut off all other categories, leaving only the bubble Matt, who only left the blind box, almost “defined” with his own strength and brought the Chinese tide market. In the eyes of Rubi, the pumping box changed dolls just like it. It looks good, let alone these dolls from the hands of a designer. In her opinion, there is no definition of Chao Play.
These 3-4-inch dolls are well-behaved and funny, but they do not carry any story content and values of the story, and the trading games prevailing between young baby friends seem to be given new meanings to these dolls. A “soft currency” that cannot be defined in a social relationship.
Tide playing is a circle
Although the value of the blind box doll, although it is maverick, it has some commonality with the “prodigal” hand.
As a student, he began to be obsessed with anime, participated in the exhibitions in various places, and started buyers. Almost all of the enthusiasts in hand will go through such a process, and Li Qi came here. As a 12 -year heavy hand -made enthusiast, if he has a very good degree, he scored 9 points for himself.
Now, the cabinets in his family are full of various characters, One Piece, Light Voice Girl, DC Cat Woman, Obiwang, SABER … Take some beautiful pictures, and then put it in a special display cabinet. If you can’t put it, stay in the box, and even don’t even disassemble it.
The market price of the hand has changed greatly, and it is normal for the rise and fall. More than 600 Cat Woman bought by Li Qi has now fallen, and the most expensive one has been 2000. No sealing, sold 3900, that one is really fresh, but it is not a role that knows, maybe a little impulsive. “Not long ago, he followed the Internet on the Internet. Many, but with the dispersion of the compound heat, it has collapsed half.
After 95, players chopped their hands, showing that the consumption of hand -made categories increased by 189.7%year -on -year, becoming the most popular consumer product of young people.
Li Qi said that the popularity of the product, the amount of shipments, the limited product, the hype of the merchant and the player will affect the price of the product. There is a word in the hand -made and toy circles, “Eye Period”, almost determines whether the player is purchased.
In Li Qi’s opinion, whether it is hand -in or blind box, these dolls are ordinary industrial flow products, which are not artworks, but as long as players like it, these are not important. Once the character is bought, there will be a kind of character. The wonderful response of the second dimension entered the three -dimension. When I am tired of going home from get off work, Li Qi will open the cabinet and stand carefully in front of these characters. Sometimes I think of the plot, so I am happy to immerse, and the tiredness will sweep. Li Qi penetrated into Li Qi’s three -dimensional world.
Compared to the happiness in the first year or two, in recent years, the enthusiasm of Li Qi’s opponent has faded, and the price of the hand -made price is getting expensive. In the past 9,800 yen, I could buy a good hand -made hand -made hand -made hand -made. It takes 20,000 yen, so now he pays more attention to the prices of hand, and the degree of importance of workmanship, eye fate, and brand will decrease in order.
There are more and more hand -made hands, the fatigue value is rising, and the desire to collect has added additional troubles. Since graduating, he moved three times, which was more troublesome at a time, and there was no place to place it. The family advised him to buy less. Many people who play together have retreated, and their enthusiasm is also declining, but he still wants to be retained as a hobby. He suppress this way of fading is to reduce the frequency of buying.
When I was studying before, Li Qi often ran to Shanghai to watch the exhibition. Will he miss each CCG (China International Animation Game Expo), and he has become busy after work. He hasn’t gone for 4 years now, but this year, this year, but this year, this year, this year, but this year, this year He decided to go to Wonder Festival Shanghai and Shanghai International Trend toy Exhibition, “These two are toys, the former hand -made, and the latter is playing.”
Li Qi does not understand what the difference between hand -made and tide play is, “This kind of defined thing is too controversial, in fact, I don’t understand the tide.”
Zhou Biao, a former fried shoes player, didn’t quite understand. What exactly is the tide play? “I’m sometimes surprised, why is this stuff so expensive.”
The university is a hobby training base. Zhou Biao also likes to watch the NBA at that time. “The sneakers worn by the stars are particularly good -looking.” By the later AJ, then the offline guide buyers were directly pulled into the WeChat group. In this way, since 18 years, he began to enter the “world of shoes”.
If there is activities in the group, there will be a notice, and he will snatch it. By 2019, he started to hoard a lot of shoes. If you can earn something, put your shoes on the stir -fry platform. Half a month passed, and he did not sell a pair. The shoes were out of date and ignored it. From mid -20 years, he decided to give up the fried shoes.
Later, Zhou Biao suspected that fried shoes should be the door industry chain. Compared with small retail investors like him, those professional shoe institutions and platforms were bound deeper. They. “And offline stores, Zhou Biao found that these stores will sell some shoes that cannot be bought on the market. Under the limited hunger marketing, everyone will grab it. You can only go to those speculation platforms or other stores to buy. “
After paying 20,000 to 30,000 tuition fees, Zhou Biao decided to do a good job in his professional field. “Stir -fried shoes really do not make money for individuals, unless you are on the official website of Nike or Adi. When you reach a pair of particularly good shoes, you will sell the good price, and I won’t fry in the future. “
Young people will grow up slowly, but there are always young people, stir -fry, hand -made, blind boxes … These trend hobbies exclusive to young people are being opened up by the word “tide play”. What is it, most of the players immersed in it still have no clear understanding.
However, the imagination space of the capital market for the tide market has been opened. According to Tianyancha, as of November 30 this year, more than 260 tide -related companies in Mainland China have added at least 800. In addition to Bubble Mart, brands such as 52TOYS, IP Station, and IPSTAR Play Planet have also been favored by the capital market.
Data show that the scale of China’s retail market in 2019 is about 20.7 billion yuan, and it is expected to increase to 76.3 billion yuan in 2024. Another data also illustrates the problem. In 2019, China ’s GDP growth rate was 6.11%. In the same year, the growth rate of the game market was 47.86%. Sun Yuanwen, the founder and CEO of TOPTOY, believes, “When a market grows, it is more than double the growth rate of GDP. There is no doubt that this is a blue ocean industry.”
Unthically defined soft currency
The blind box launched the first shot in this dark forest, and opened a Chinese battlefield about “IP-strong channels” with “weak IP-strong channels”. Since then, the term “tide play” has been widely mentioned.
It is understood that the original meaning of the tide is Art TOYS or Designer TOYS, that is, artist toys or designer toys. However, in fact, the concept of “tide play” that has been quickly on fire in the Mainland has experienced localized “transformation” and evolved in the direction of “Chinese tide play”.
Compared with Japan’s mature IP pan -entertainment industry relying on the animation industry and the United States to rely on the film industry, China is still in the rapid development of dental language. Players’ market share is still limited.
Data show that in 2019, the market size was 20.7 billion yuan, and Matt’s revenue was 1.76 billion yuan, and the market share was 8.5%. The 2-5 market share was 7.7%(European company), 3.3%(Hong Kong company), 1.7%(Japanese company), and 1.6%(American company). The gap between the first few players’ market share is not so large.
According to the Research Report of Zhejiang Business Securities, with the data of the United States in 2019, the large space for maturity formats, the IP adaptation of film and television entertainment and derivatives of China’s all -aged mature formats, and the theme parks corresponding to 42.03 billion yuan and 426.5 billion yuan for the theme parks are expected to be 42.03 billion yuan and 426.5 billion yuan, respectively. The overall IP derivative market space is 846.7 billion yuan.
Under the temptation of huge market space, corporate players on the market try to define what is “Chinese tide play” first.
Earlier, defining domestic tide play, what must not be around is Bubble Mart. It comes out by its core product blind box. It is launched in advance before the niche consumption “breaks” and welcomes the scale growth. Until one of the secrets.
However, the outside world’s question of the blind box business or the doubt of the business has not been cut off. Wang Ning explained to the outside world to explain to the outside world that what he does is a tide business rather than a blind box business. He believes that the image of “molly” in the box is a tide play. The traditional IP has different content and the image -free IP, but it also has the value of companionship, and the value of such companionship requires the significance of the buyer after purchasing it, and the blind box itself is just a marketing. And sales means.
However, the definition of domestic tide play is reduced. In such a huge market that represents foreseeable future, many competitors come to seize the share.
Offline retail TOP -level player TOPTOY launched by the independent sub -brand, which is positioned as a Chaotan collection store, Toptoy tries to attack on one side of the strong channel of Bubble Matt. What needs to be faced is that in the current weak IP in the domestic market, the dispute over channels is still the focus of the competition in the market today. By.
For the definition of tide, Sun Yuanwen, the founder and CEO of TOPTOY, does not think that the bubble Mate is doing a tide -playing business. Sun Yuanwen understands the tide playing is “IP derivatives with content and values.”
However, the facts are that these products without content and values have grown up new content and values under the marketing methods of blind boxes. Digital blind box enthusiasts tell the Qi Puppets that these dolls are cute and different series have different characteristics. The stimulus and surprise brought by the box will add the meaning of the doll, and once these dolls are possessed, they will produce similar emotions with pets. In addition, they will not care whether these dolls are from the hands of famous designers, themselves themselves, themselves themselves themselves, themselves themselves. Like the most important.
Blind boxes and products seem to be difficult to distinguish who is giving stories and content, and just look at the field of blind boxes. According to data from the Headao Research Institute, the market size forecast value of the Chinese blind box market in 2019 is 2.88 billion. If this data The error is not too large, which means that the market share of Bubble Mart in the field of blind boxes is 47.2%(the revenue of Bubble Mart’s blind box revenue of 1.36 billion yuan in 2019) is far exceeding other tide players.
It is not difficult to find a rule in the field of blind boxes, hand -made, or fried shoes. Interactive or games accompanied by the process, unique pumping box+players are similar to auctioned stir -up, hand -made and fried shoes are also fried and sold for sale. In the circulation market, this attribute with “IP” circulation interaction will it be the hidden gene of “Chinese tide play”?
The different soft currency gameplay is not yet defined by a hammer, and it is waiting for the market to excavate.
At the end
The opportunity to find the wind and move, and they gathered in the field of tide. Standing entrepreneurs and investors stand in front of this “potential style”, what is the tide play? How should I play?
At the confused stall, most players may be benchmarking all generations and tap the IP to continue to realize; benchmarking Legao, precipitating unique “language” system; benchmarking Disney, maximize the value of high -quality IP commercial value.
It is true that this is true. Wang Ning used to say that Bubble Mart was going to be “Chinese Disney”. Now that he has changed, he likes to use a record company to analogize. In the process of operating TOPTOY, Sun Yuanwen’s most reference learning object is universal.
Under these “standard answers”, is there another way to play in China?
The IP pan -entertainment industry chain of China and Japan and the United States is very different. The domestic tide game industry reveals the corner of the iceberg. The metaphor is the reef or the blue ocean. What about the combination of gameplay?
Note: Rubi, A Xing, Li Qi, Zhou Biao in the text are a pseudonym.