Pop Mart Brand Analysis

Before blind boxes became popular, Pop Mart’s business was actually very bleak. It was only after trendy toys and blind boxes became popular that Pop Mart began to make a comeback.

Today we will not discuss why Pop Mart became so popular, but let’s talk about the business thinking behind blind boxes.

The logic behind the "blind box economy" is actually about selling a kind of surprise, satisfaction, and pleasure.

In fact, Alipay has already started using the "blind box thinking" a few years ago, and Alipay launched the "Collect Five Blessings Activity" at the end of the year.

You are looking forward to every lucky draw, but you don’t know which one it will be. There is always one that is the hardest to draw. Does this way of playing sound familiar to you?

Yes, that’s how to play with blind boxes.

That’s why Alipay’s “Collect Five Blessings Event” has gone viral, with everyone enjoying the process of collecting and the surprise after collecting them all.

Why are blind boxes so popular? What’s the logic behind it?

The first principle is "mental accounting"

Everyone keeps their money in different mental accounts.

For example, if you spend 100 yuan to buy roses for your girlfriend, you think it is worth it, but if you are asked to spend 100 yuan to buy a pot of roses to take home, you will think it is expensive.

Blind boxes make full use of your psychological account. If you are asked to spend 800 to buy a set of your favorite figures, you will feel distressed.

But if you change the way you play, you can have a chance to get your favorite figure with just a few dozen yuan. At this time, your mental account has changed. You are not spending money to buy figures but to buy surprises. You will enjoy playing until you get your favorite one or even a hidden version.

When you draw the hidden version, the value may exceed 800 yuan, but you are still very happy and satisfied.

This is the psychological accounting at work. You spend the same amount of money or even more to get the same thing, but one person feels it is expensive, while the other feels happy.

Liu Run said in his book "5-Minute Business School": "The customer is not stingy, it's just that the product is misplaced in his mental account that he is unwilling to pay for.

In order to make customers transfer their mental accounts from unwilling to spend money to willing to consume, they have to change their perception of the product."

For example, if you are a lecturer selling career courses, and if you only want to improve your workplace skills, some people may think it is too expensive even if you sell it for 99.

In other words, if learning it can help you get a promotion and a raise, people will be willing to buy it even if it’s sold for 699.

Because at this time you are helping him to increase his salary, instead of spending money to buy workplace skills.

How to use psychological accounts for brand marketing : change consumers' original perception of products and change their psychological accounts from feeling that the products are expensive to feeling that they are worth it.

The second principle is "gambler psychology + curiosity psychology"

Blind boxes are like buying lottery tickets. The joy of winning cannot be expressed in words. More and more young people are beginning to pursue this kind of unknown excitement, that is, curiosity.

Sangcha, this name will make people curious. What is Sangcha? Do you also want to have a cup? It sounds weird and will make people curious. Today's young groups often like alternative and weird things.

In marketing, using some novel and rare methods can stimulate consumers' curiosity. Curiosity often triggers people's exploration and discussion, making the brand popular.

Wuling launched snail noodles and produced masks. Are you curious? That’s why everyone is talking about this topic.

The third principle is that everyone has a special feeling for something.

You may not understand why someone could buy thousands of dolls a year. In fact, everyone likes to collect. Collecting itself is a very happy thing. It can bring you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

For example, some people like to collect limited edition bags, some like to collect shoes, some like to collect stamps, and some like to collect bottles and jars.

I remember that when I was in junior high school, I particularly liked collecting candy wrappers. If I saw beautiful candies, I would have to buy them. I didn’t do it for the sake of eating them, but because I liked collecting them.

At that time, I watched "Dragon Ball" and collected seven dragon balls to summon mythical beasts. Then I started collecting candy wrappers. In addition to boring studies, collecting candy wrappers would make me very happy and it could be regarded as a kind of spiritual satisfaction.

Blind boxes also take advantage of two other psychological effects: "sunk cost" and "loss aversion."

When you spend a lot of time and money doing something, you will become attached to your previous efforts and think that since you have paid so much anyway, if you give up now, all your previous efforts will be wasted.

Just like “collecting five blessings”, you will not give up until there is the last one, you must get the last one.

I have already paid so much, I can't just give up like this, this is a sunk cost.

If you give up the previous investment at this time, you will feel that the previous investment has been lost. In order to prevent the previous investment from going to waste, you have to continue investing. This is loss aversion.

Therefore, blind box players keep buying, and they will not stop until they get their favorite or hidden ones.

Even if you spend a thousand yuan to get the one you like, it will bring you joy.

The random joy you get in the end can alleviate your previous losses and bring you a sense of satisfaction.

Pinduoduo makes full use of sunk costs and loss aversion. It gives you 99 yuan first and then you are 1 yuan away from getting what you want. At this time, you will feel it would be a pity to give up. We hate losses.

Then you will ask your friends or even strangers in the group to cut the money for you, and cut off a few cents at a time. When there are only a few cents left, you have already paid so much before. At this time, you will definitely not give up your previous efforts. You have to continue to find more people to help you cut the money. When you succeed in the end, you will feel a sense of accomplishment.

Then you will post it on your Moments, and finally you will succeed in bargaining. After your friends see that you really got it for free, they will also go and bargain for the products they like.

So everyone started bargaining like crazy.

The above is the application of "blind box thinking" in marketing. There is logic behind everything.

Author: Zhou Enyong

Source: Zhou Enyong