Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Ma Shuxuan
Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee
Due to the increase in the number of trucks, Guangzhou Xinguang, which is close to the end of the year, is always very congested at night.
From the time the restriction was lifted at 10 p.m. until the early morning, hundreds of doll machines carrying the "dream of getting rich" were transported from Panyu, Guangzhou, to the whole country and even around the world by truck.
"It is now the peak season of 'Shuangdan' (Christmas and New Year's Day), and the shipments in the park are relatively large, and trucks leaving the park at night have to queue up," an employee of a doll machine factory in Panyu Xinshuikeng Village told Times Finance.
According to the incomplete statistics of the local people, in addition to the fact that most of the Japanese doll machines are not manufactured in Panyu, basically more than half of the doll machines in the world are produced in Panyu.
Large holidays such as National Day, winter and summer vacations, and "Double Dan" are the peak seasons for doll machines. During the peak season, the villages where several doll machine factories in Panyu gather often have factory overtime and trucks queuing up. At the same time, because the production cycle is at least half a month, "large companies will also have customers queuing up to place orders, and orders delivered at the end of December may be placed in November at the earliest."
Since a large number of Taiwanese manufacturers came here in the 1990s to build factories, Panyu has become the largest gathering place in the gift machine industry represented by the doll machine, and even the entire amusement equipment industry. Some data point out that in 2018, there were 2,000 game machine electronics factories related to Panyu doll catching machines. In the entire Panyu District, there are more than 100,000 employees engaged in the production and manufacture of game machines such as doll catching machines.
According to times finance and economics, most of the doll machine factories in Panyu are concentrated in Longmei Village, New Water Pit Village and Old Water Hole Village. Between the villages of Sanjo, a Star Power Animation Industrial Park, which is mainly based on the game animation industry, was officially opened in 2009.
Image source: Network
To some extent, Panyu is a well-deserved "doll machine capital".
Walking into the Star Force Animation City early in the morning, the park is basically full of cars, and the shops that operate animation games such as electronic equipment and entertainment facility production are the most important components of the park.
Panyu Star Force Animation Industrial Park, Times Finance/Photo
"At most, cars have to queue up to enter the park, and we usually have no place to stop at night." Zhou Xiaojun, chairman of Guangzhou Jixingbao Animation Technology Co., Ltd., who entered the Xingli Animation Park in the early days, told Times Finance. He is from Jiangxi, a military background, and is one of the earliest manufacturers of doll machines in Panyu.
Although Panyu is the world's largest producer of doll machines today, in fact, the doll machine originated from the entertainment version of the "steam excavator" in the United States 100 years ago, and initially, the principle was to let children get candy through operation. Gradually, the candy digger evolved into a prize grabber, and this form of game was introduced from the United States to Japan.
From the United States to Japan, how did the doll machine take root in Panyu?
In the 1990s, attracted by the policy of reform and opening up, Taiwanese manufacturers with Japanese doll machine production technology have built factories in Panyu, where labor and rents are relatively low, even in 2016, when the doll machine was hot, the rent was only 14 yuan per square meter / month.
Engaged in the doll machine business for many years, Zhou Xiaojun and many Taiwanese who came to Panyu have dealt with, "In the early years, those Taiwanese who drove jets and wore liberation shoes were many billionaires, and they started by selling game console programs such as doll machines outside." ”
Although he is not a native of Panyu, he has obtained the extremely difficult to obtain the agent resources of Taiwan's Wuma Bank, and Zhou Xiaojun has gradually become a leader in the doll machine industry. "Panyu does not engage in regional discrimination, and there are opportunities when you have the ability and resources." After working here for nearly 20 years, Zhou Xiaojun has witnessed the various stages of the doll machine in China from budding to hot, and he has long faded the speculative mentality common to most doll machine entrants.
According to his recollection, in the beginning, in the overwhelming video game city, the doll machine was just a "standard" with no sense of existence.
"In the early years, every home appliance play city basically had a doll machine, but the focus of everyone playing was not the doll machine." A senior practitioner in the gift machine industry told Times Finance. Until the centralized rectification in 2012, Panyu game machine practitioners began to focus on the doll machine with lighter speculative attributes.
Many people have a speculative mentality to enter the field of doll machines.
In 2012, a doll machine with a price of only two or three thousand yuan attracted a large number of manufacturers and dealers because of its small investment, low threshold, short return cycle, and swinging to make money.
From movie theaters and supermarkets to restaurants and subway stations, doll machines have become pervasive. According to incomplete statistics, when the doll machine first emerged, the new customer rate could reach 98%, which means that the merchant does not even need to consider the user retention rate and the repurchase rate, even if there is no repeat customer, the doll machine can also generate good income.
The founder of the new doll machine retailer brand Ka laku has calculated that a doll machine has a 90% chance of recovering costs in 2-5 months, and from the overall situation of the industry, 5 machines can achieve 5,000-6,000 yuan per month. The data shows that in 2016, the doll catching machine market was valued at 1.6 billion yuan, and in 2017, Kalaku carried out 3 financings a year, with a valuation of 400 million yuan.
In Zhou Xiaojun's memory, it was a period of barbaric growth of doll machines, and the industry achieved "explosive development".
In 2017, a large number of online doll grabbing projects emerged. Entrepreneurs who are looking forward to the rapid hematopoiesis of the doll function have purchased hundreds or even thousands of doll machines.
Cai Min, chairman of Guangzhou Guwei Animation Technology Co., Ltd., which is stationed in Panyu Xinshuikeng Village, once mentioned, "When exaggerated, some guests can ask for 3,000 units in a single order." ”
For a time, the Android system alone had more than 100 online doll products. In order to save logistics costs, some customers even rented a venue in Guangzhou to place doll machines and operate them.
"A large-scale factory can produce up to a hundred units a day," Mr. Zhou said. In other words, in order to complete a large order of 3,000 units, a single large-scale factory has to work overtime for at least a month.
The freshness of consumers makes speculators invincible, even inferior machines with poor experience have become "gold digging machines". Some Panyu industry insiders estimate that since 2014, the annual output of the entire Panyu doll catching machine can achieve 50% growth.
However, as the experience deteriorates, consumers quickly stop paying.
"Obviously, a high gripping rate is set, but the parts cannot reach the accuracy required by the copied program, resulting in an unstable gripping rate, sometimes not twenty or thirty times." Xiao Zou, who once opened a doll machine shop, told Times Finance. The machines he bought are all three or four thousand, just one or two weeks ok, the number of times running will have a variety of problems, and consumers who come to play often have a poor sense of experience.
In fact, the production of doll machines is not as simple as the outside world thinks.
"The doll machine is actually very esoteric, in terms of programming, it is a combination of electricity and transmission, and in the manufacturing process, it needs very precise hardware, copper and chips." Zhou Xiaojun introduced to Times Finance.
In the doll machine manufacturing industry, Zhou Xiaojun is traditional and adventurous. According to him, a four-seat doll machine in Jixingbao sells for 14,000 yuan, while the same model on the market only sells for 4,000 yuan.
"Our materials are basically imported, the program is through tens of millions of times, or even hundreds of millions of times of calculation, most people hold a fluke psychology to buy cheap doll machines, but buy these things to make money, the sense of experience is not strong, revenue can not be guaranteed." In Zhou Xiaojun's view, in the future, the doll machine store will really make money will still follow the law of two and eight - "Two out of ten people make money, and eight people can't make money." Five or six of them did not make or lose money, and two or three of them lost everything. ”
In addition to consumers becoming picky, the menacing new crown epidemic has also accelerated the "cooling" of the doll machine market.
After the epidemic, panyu doll machine eliminated some manufacturers that rely on patchwork and shoddy manufacturing, and the remaining enterprises, especially the head enterprises, are aware that the future trend of the industry is inseparable from differentiation and precision. Since the gradual resumption of offline entertainment in mid-2020, it is obvious from dealers to manufacturers that the epidemic has helped the good nature of the doll machine industry.
Wang Biao, CEO of twelve buildings where the Internet celebrity "clamp machine occupation" is located, once mentioned, "The whole industry is slowly getting better, and some better brands will come out." Zhou Xiaojun also said, "The industry's high-quality resources are limited, and enterprises that lack core competitiveness will gradually be eliminated." ”