Text/Xinyi Wang
One ordinary weekend afternoon, opening a variety show, Fat Pear began to assemble new building blocks.
This has become her usual form of leisure on weekends.
After trying digital oil painting, cross stitch and other handmade leisure methods, in August 2020, Fat Pear aimed at assembling blocks, trying for the first time to start with relatively cheap domestic bricks, and then entered the pit, the state of "unable to extricate itself".
The number of young people who fall in love with building blocks like fat pears has surged in recent years.
And the "tycoon" who assembles the building blocks is undoubtedly the famous Lego.
Lego Street View series
Disney, Minion, Harry Potter, Star Wars and other IP series impact the player's desire to buy, and from time to time with a series of new products, continue to tease the player's purchase stickiness; in addition to IP, construction, machinery, racing and other types, so that players with different hobbies find their favorite here; in addition, from 1.5 years old to 13 years old + grouping, but also accurately cover players of all ages... Coupled with factors such as design and bite, LEGO has become the leader in building blocks.
In addition to Lego, the domestic building block army that smells this trend is also actively catching up, and the heat is gradually rising.
At the beginning of July last year, the Chinese and foreign toys all-media center launched a popular vote called "my favorite domestic building block brand", more than 30 domestic building block brands have appeared, and on social platforms such as Little Red Book and Weibo, the recommendation of domestic building blocks is often visible, and in some domestic building block Taobao stores, many building blocks can get thousands of monthly sales, some even more than 10,000...
More choices of particle size, gradual improvement in the quality and design of building blocks, fast new speed on the brand, relatively cheap prices and large price ranges, diverse styles and IP joint names, rich purchase channels and other factors, all make domestic building blocks gradually seen by players, and form a purchase habit.
On the shelves of a supermarket in Guangzhou, the domestic building blocks are dazzling
Fat Pear showed One Entertainment Observation (ID: yiyuguancha) the cost of assembling blocks for a year and a half, as of February 2022, she spent nearly 7,000 yuan on domestically assembled blocks, given that most of the building blocks have a unit price of less than 100 yuan, and there are also "wool wool" ways and activities from time to time, fat pear has dozens of blocks.
The heat wave among young people has never subsided, and the building blocks are also a microcosm representative, just like another Legoland announced the settlement in Changyang Town, Fangshan, Beijing, the whole network will immediately care about the feelings of Universal Studios, and the building blocks market is grabbing attention without fear.
As the Lego boom heats up and the "Chinese Lego" is gradually seen, it may open a new outlet.
"China Lego": early development, relying on the national tide, but also chasing IP
The development of domestic building blocks is not too late.
In 1994, enlightenment bricks were established, there are Pokémon, Nezha, submarine column and other IP authorization, product age classification from 2 to 12 years old or older have been covered; Wange building blocks were established in 1995; 2003 established Bangbao puzzle, one of the income is similar to Lego toys, and listed in 2015; also founded in 2003 Guangdong Senbao Culture Industrial Co., Ltd., in 2013 set up "Senbao bricks" into the building block category, on February 8 this year, Senbao bricks got the head is the road investment fund , Alibaba, Honghui Fund A round of financing; in 2014 Bruker was established, and from 2018, successively got six financings, last May, obtained Yunfeng Fund, Legend Capital and other investors 600 million B round of financing; and loz Lizhi Although Baidu Encyclopedia shows that it belongs to the brand of Lizhi Group (Germany) Co., Ltd., according to Tianyancha information, it belongs to Guangdong Zhenfeng Science and Education Toys Co., Ltd., which may also be regarded as a domestic building block to some extent.
Senbao brick financing history
Kaizhi bricks, Goody bricks, Star Castle bricks, Yuxing Demon King, Pinqi, lelebrother... Just search for the keyword "building blocks", Taobao will appear a large number of related stores.
The activity of the market and the favor of capital have proved to some extent that the market space of Chinese building blocks, the needs of users and the future prospects are sufficiently clear.
Not only the number, domestic building blocks are also actively seeking their own development and unique advantages.
In terms of building blocks, there are the main small, micro-particle enlightenment, Senbao, Star Castle, etc., there are also the main medium, large and medium particles of Bruker, etc., the difference in particle size also affects and determines the brand play and the difference in audience.
It is worth noting that the building blocks are obviously not the patents of children, as a kind of tide play, the assembly blocks also attract adult players. For both children and adults, design is an important part of attracting them to buy.
In this regard, IP authorization or co-branding is one of the main sources of domestic building block design.
At present, the IP joint names on sale of Pinqi include Astro Boy, Xiaopeng Motors, Holmes and Linglong; Keeppley has Chinese Aerospace, the Forbidden City Court, Detective Conan, Crayon Xiaoxin, HelloKitty, Naruto, Doraemon, Yin and Yang Division and other series; Senbao has obtained the authorization of Shandong Ship, "The Wandering Earth", Ultraman, "Detective Chinatown 3", "Emergency Rescue" and so on... From animation and movies to national aerospace and brands, the tentacles of domestic building block IP cooperation have reached many fields.
Keeppley Palace Court Series
Compared with Lego, domestic building blocks in the choice of IP, for the national pride sentiment of the grasp is more in place, the effect is relatively significant, for example, according to Taobao data, Senbao building blocks of Shandong ship assembly model monthly sales of 1000 +, Keeppley's Chinese manned space station building blocks also have 900 + monthly sales.
In addition, the successive authorization of domestic film and television IP such as "The Wandering Earth", "Emergency Rescue", and "Detective Chinatown 3" has also affirmed the market value of domestically assembled building blocks to some extent.
In addition to IP authorization, a major feature of domestic building blocks is the development of national tide.
In addition to the above-mentioned IP cooperation with the Forbidden City, Chinese architecture, streetscapes, characters, etc. can be seen in many brand products, Jiangnan Water Town, Chinatown, Chinatown, Urban Village, Huipai Architecture, Qingyi, Wusheng, Bawang Yuji, etc. can all appear in front of the player through the splicing of large and small brick particles... This may also be one of the biggest competitiveness of domestic building blocks compared with foreign brands.
Image source: Network
In the case of IP is not absent, the national tide style highlights its own characteristics, domestic assembled building blocks are being seen by more and more users.
Only in the Little Red Book, under the keyword search of "domestic building blocks", there are a large number of planting notes, many of which have thousands of likes, inquiring about the purchase route, planting grass Amway other brand building blocks, mutual price comparison and so on appear in the comment area.
"China Lego" is releasing their imagination space to capital and all parties.
"China Lego" owes a flashpoint
Even if domestic bricks can occasionally set off a national tide, it is clear that no challenger can stand on the same ladder with Lego and compete with audio.
In addition, the domestic building blocks that are not too late in development do not have the fate of the blind box in the tide play track.
The reason why domestic building blocks failed to burst into flames is because of how far they are from Lego.
In many views that discuss the difference between LEGO and domestic building blocks, materials, quality, product content, etc. are involved, and for building block enthusiasts, the sense of assembly experience cannot be ignored.
Some players said that the material of domestic building blocks is too hard, and it will hurt to finish a model; some players said that some domestic building blocks are not easy to disassemble, and the tools assigned with them may not be easy to solve.
Building block pellets
Fat Pear told YiyuGuancha that sometimes she spells a particle block of less than 800-900 grains in one go, and her fingers will be very painful, and there has also been peeling. The less comfortable experience is likely to discourage some players from buying back, which in turn will affect the brand's stability to users.
In addition, one of the major attractions of Lego is the pursuit and continuous development of IP, such as the launch of limited and out-of-print products, and the focus on model playability.
Lego's "Harry Potter" series, which sold more than 50 sets between 2001 and 2011, shows an average return on investment of 6.82%. In 2018, LEGO restarted the "Harry Potter" IP and continued to launch new products. Various scenes and elements such as Wizard Chess, Fox, Hedwig, Transfiguration Class, Potions Class, Herb Class, Magic Spell Class, Burrow, Diagon Alley, etc. have been made, and Hogwarts Castle composed of thousands of particles has also become the heart of many fans.
In contrast, the development of domestic assembled building blocks for IP is more short-term and does not form a sustainability, most of them are only one or a series, and the follow-up update of IP is not much, which will actually weaken the continuous blessing of IP for the brand, and will also lose some users because of IP. Coupled with the influence of its own sound volume, it also restricts the space and space that limited edition products can play, affecting the brand to produce greater benefits.
However, the good news is that domestically assembled building blocks are improving their original strength, and work harder in design and details to improve ornamentation and playability, as mentioned above for the development of national tide elements, and such as loz Lizhi will launch corresponding theme building blocks every festival, dolls, architecture and other elements may be included; at the same time, accelerating the new frequency is also the strength of domestic building blocks, loz is new on the 24-28th of each month, with more and faster new products to attract user stickiness.
Loz Li Zhi Christmas Cottage
The sales channels of domestic building blocks are also more flexible. In addition to the common Tmall, Taobao, Jingdong, Pinduoduo and other e-commerce channels, many shopping malls of the tide play stores and other stores also have these brands settled, users can more easily access these products, which also provides a convenient and efficient channel for the promotion of products.
In addition, there are also many brands that use building blocks as the starting point to target the industrial layout. For example, in addition to the above-mentioned Blu can layout "building block +" ecology; Bangbao Company and many domestic universities for in-depth cooperation, explore the role of building blocks for the improvement of the quality and ability of children aged 3 to 12 in the field of science, to carry out corresponding research and research, and cooperate with kindergartens, primary and secondary schools to form some "industry-university-research" cooperation projects; the popularity of building blocks has spawned the purchase demand for "peripheral" products such as building blocks cabinets and dust covers, and the surrounding industries are also being pulled.....
Even so, the development of domestic building blocks is still low-key in most cases, and the social heat of not being able to replicate blind boxes is also a pain point for them.
After all, the size of the building block is larger than the size of the common blind box doll, which means that it needs more space. At the same time, although the unit price of domestic building blocks is not expensive, the price range is larger, but large, large particles, exquisite or need a certain cost, which also forms a certain consumption threshold. Moreover, people buy blocks most likely for the purpose of building or collecting, of course, there will be a premium, but when a building block is built, it may lose the opportunity to shoot again, after all, few people will want to buy a well-built building block model, there is no fun of building, transportation is also a big problem...
Senbao's Model of the Shandong Ship Aircraft Carrier
But fortunately, although young people have not created a queuing effect in the building block world, gifts between friends, or facing the situation of choosing gifts for children, building blocks are becoming the choice of more and more young people.
Can this wave of "gift giving fever" among young people continue to inject topics into the development of "China Lego"? At a time when young people living alone have become a common phenomenon, can the assembled building blocks of "killing time" take advantage of this trend to stride into the dividend period? With the successive landing of Legoland in many places in China, the further diversification of building block use scenarios can stimulate domestic building blocks to seek more ways to break through? ......
"China Lego" may be waiting for the eve of its outbreak.
*Note: The fat pear in the article is anonymous