As the head of the domestic blind box brand, the "tide play the first share" bubble Mart through the blind box economy to soar, carrying Molly, Dimoo and other series of IP fever development. In the three years from 2017 to 2019, Bubble Mart's revenue soared from 158 million to 1.683 billion, and its net profit increased by nearly 300 times, and when it went public in Hong Kong in 2020, its market value once exceeded 100 billion. However, with the gradual retreat of the blind box economy, problems such as bad after-sales service, large deceit, insufficient spare parts, and poor quality control have come to the fore, which has crushed consumers' trust and enthusiasm for the brand little by little. The blind box fever that had lasted for many years seemed to be retreating silently, and then faded, and then there was the aura of bubble Mart that seemed to shine forever.
The author | Liu Shunxin (Cultural Industry Review Author Group, Researcher of Sanchuanhui Cultural Tourism and Sports Research Institute)
Editor-in-chief | time
Edit the | peninsula
The source | Cultural Industry Review
"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what the next one is.
The classic lines in the movie "Forrest Gump" also reveal the reasons why the blind box economy has become more and more popular in recent years. Mysterious, exciting, decompressing, unknown... All the qualities that fascinate the younger generation so much.
With the blind box economy becoming popular, there is also the bubble Mart known as the "first share of the blind box".
Founded in 2010, the initial main business of Bubble Mart includes blind boxes, secondary yuan peripherals, and IP derivatives of independently developed goods and domestic and foreign trend brands. However, after 5 years, Bubble Mart, as the terminal for selling cultural and creative products, has not improved much in performance.
Until 2015, Bubble Mart introduced a toy doll called Sonny Angel, and monthly sales quickly exceeded tens of thousands, and many limited editions were sold out. Bubble Mart, which suddenly smelled the blind box business opportunity, thus harvested the "printing machine", opened and hung all the way, and introduced the story of the blind box, which then leveraged the billion-level market.
But success is also a blind box, and defeat is also a blind box.
False publicity, many defective products, shop fraud, after-sales inaction... Business problems are constantly emerging and intensifying. Will frequent complaints, constantly criticized after-sales and quality, become a gust of wind to extinguish the blind box fever? And will it drag Bubble Mart to the end of the highlight moment?
Night's Guardian Return Event
In January 2022, SKULLPANDA, one of the five major IPs under Bubble Mart, launched the fifth generation of night city series blind boxes, which contain 12 regular models and 1 hidden model, with a unit price of 69 yuan and a complete set price of 828 yuan, of which the sampling probability of the hidden blind box "Night Guardian" is 1/144.
As a blockbuster IP, the Night City series of blind boxes sold out shortly after their debut.
However, after receiving the blind box, many consumers found that the hidden version of the series "Night Guard" had flaws, and then contacted Bubble Mart to return to the factory to replace. However, after dozens of consumers sent back the defective blind box, they were refused to exchange the goods by the official customer service on the grounds that they were "inconsistent with the genuine product", and they were asked to provide evidence by providing an unbox video or sending a video back.
△ Hidden "Guardian of the Night"
What's more, some consumers find that the unpacking video recorded by the brand side is not recognized by the brand side in the actual rights protection process - the brand side tells that the six sides of the full express package need to be recorded before opening the box.
△ Many players said that after the Night Guardian returned to the factory, they were officially told that it was not genuine (source: public account "New Entropy")
Some consumers said that after the replacement was fruitless, Bubble Mart returned the courier, but found that the returned dolls were inconsistent with the sending, and the boxes and cards were not returned.
For this, some consumers believe that when Bubble Mart deals with a part of the return to the factory after-sales, it only exchanges and re-issues the consumer's defective blind boxes, resulting in inconsistent returns and sent dolls. Because many consumers find that after their blind boxes return to the factory, the old flaws are gone, but the new flaws appear. Some consumers believe that it is purely because the quality control of Bubble Mart has been declining in the past two years, resulting in even the blind box after returning to the factory, it is difficult to avoid flaws.
On March 11, Bubble Mart staff explained the matter, "the specific reasons for the error in identification are still being investigated, because it is a hot series, different batches of goods from a number of factories, there may be some slight differences, the initial problem is due to the time difference in our internal synchronization of information in this regard."
In the context of the Oolong incident and Bubble Mart's unrepentant after-sales attitude, this explanation seems somewhat perfunctory and lacking in sincerity.
Behind the 7,000+ complaints, bubble mart that is frequently named
The recent night guardian return to the factory incident is actually just a microcosm of bubble mar fever in quality control, after-sales and other issues. Search for "Bubble Mart" on the black cat complaint platform, there are 7627 complaints. In contrast, its competitors 52TOYS and Cool Tide Play have only 32 and 4 complaints. Bubble Mart's complaints are varied, and according to the author's summary, they mainly focus on the following:
Quality issues
Many consumers said that there were defects in the blind boxes they received, including basic quality problems such as Cat Star Man, Night City, Dimoo Pet Vacation Hidden Model, etc. there were mismatched versions, flaws, and even missing accessories.
△ Source: Bubble Mart Taobao official website review
Refusal to refund, refusal to exchange
Many consumers have reported that Bubble Mart has been delaying in not giving replacements in the case of defective goods having returned to the factory; even "the official instructions refunded within 7 working days, but after a few months have not received a refund", or refused to refund on the grounds of "online box unpacking does not support 7 days without reason for return", but the blind box has been "missing arms and legs", can it be regarded as "no reason"? Refusal to refund and exchange goods, which also occupies the vast majority of the reasons for complaints, not only violates the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, but also violates the basic integrity of the merchant.
Customer service attitude is bad and inaction
Although there is a customer service system, but bubble mart customer service looks more like a chicken rib existence, bad attitude, delivery delays, do not solve the problem, when encountering problems, has been refused to give a specific processing completion time, and after many consultations by consumers, and pushed the ball to say "consumers remember the wrong single number" and other excuses, exposing the imperfection of bubble mart after-sales links or even useless.
In addition, the complexity of the blind box after-sales process also makes consumers very "big". In view of the special attributes of blind box products, merchants often require consumers to record a complete unboxing video to prevent consumers from maliciously returning goods after purchasing a blind box that they do not like. From the perspective of merchants, this is also a normal way to protect their rights and interests, and it also increases the difficulty of after-sales. In addition, the special commodity attributes of blind boxes also lead to more detailed or even complex after-sales rules than other products.
According to China Business Daily, the details of Bubble Mart's after-sales rules write that in addition to the need to shoot open the box video, detailed identification criteria are also listed for defects, such as "slight functional defects (part breakage / unstable standing)" must be "standing but shaking, and the gap is ≥ 1mm", "appearance defects (scratches or scratches / surface dirt or oil stains)" must be "scratches and scratches / dirty oil stains that can be seen on the front≥ 1 scratch, scratch scratches that can be seen on the front≥ 3 or 2 dirty oil ≥", etc. Such a harsh and complicated determination also makes many consumers abandon the after-sales service with a stoic "forget it".
In addition to the after-sales problems that have attracted much attention, Bubble Mart has also been criticized for many "bad styles".
In the past 315, Bubble Mart was exposed and named by the China Consumer Association and CCTV because of the joint hype with KFC.
In the blind box package jointly launched by Bubble Mart and KFC, in order to collect the whole set of dolls, you need to purchase at least 6 KFC packages. Judging from KFC's previous release statement, this blind box series sold 263,880 copies in some stores across the country, a total of 43,980 sets, of which the probability of rare hidden models appearing is 1:72. In order to collect the whole set, some consumers once spent 10494 yuan at a time to buy 106 blind box packages, and the degree of fanaticism was staggering, and even the "eating" service appeared.
This is similar to the milk pouring incident caused by the fans chasing the stars in May 2021, but this time it is not blindly chasing the stars, but blindly "chasing the baby", wasting food, and also leading to a very unhealthy commercial ecological environment.
Although the subsequent commitment to "in the future with the food industry authorized cooperation, all custom blind box business to eliminate possible food waste" and other related commitments, but Bubble Mart's statement is undoubtedly an afterthought to cope with the matter, such obvious hunger marketing, before the launch is destined to cause consumers to the hidden money fanatical pursuit and the resulting food waste, Bubble Mart is desperate to attract attention, in order to expand the market and take risks, so that the apology gesture made is just a public relations self-help forced by the market.
Against Disney, how big is the gap between the "blind box first stock"?
For the prosperity of China's trendy toy culture, the rapid rise of the "first share of tide play" bubble mart and the blind box economy driven by it are actually a new form of cultural consumption, whether from the innovative development of tide play culture or the drive of related markets, it is worth rejoicing.
From the satisfaction of consumers, the huge market it has shows that the blind box is indeed quite attractive to consumers, whether it is to cater to the psychology of human gamblers, release the pressure of contemporary people's lives, and enjoy the surprise of opening the blind box, all of which find reasons for the gradual growth of the blind box market, lay the groundwork, and also add new tricks to the cultural consumption of the younger generation and the enrichment of spiritual and cultural life.
From the perspective of cultural dissemination, the blind box consumption represented by Bubble Mart has entered the market with a new cultural attitude while pursuing high efficiency, and also through new attempts such as IP co-branding and integration with traditional Chinese culture. Among them, the Bubble Mart Journey to the West series reinterprets the story of Journey to the West through Molly, who has returned from the Western Heavens, paying tribute to the classics with the Western Journey Tide Play Idol Group, and also showing people the spiritual power of diverse cultures.
There is also the Molly Palace Rui Beast series based on the image of some Rui beasts in the Palace Museum, and in the Moly Palace Rui Beast series theme exhibition held during the Spring Festival, cultural elements such as spring festival, traditional Rui beast, and tide play are integrated;
As the official partner of Beijing International Design Week, it was exhibited at the Fayuan Temple Historical and Cultural Block Station, colliding with the spark of blending the IP of the tide play with the old Beijing culture and the fashion texture of the tide play, and realizing the integration of contemporary trend culture with Chinese literary masterpieces, urban culture, zodiac folklore and other multicultural cultures.
From the perspective of cultural output, Bubble Mart has also taken firm steps in the international market, with overseas business in more than 20 countries and regions, including Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, North America, Europe, etc., covering overseas online and offline channels. It is reported that on January 20, London time, Bubble Mart's first store in the UK was officially opened, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the center of London, which is also the first store of Bubble Mart to enter the European market. The global layout continues to expand, achieving the goal of Chinese tide play culture brands going overseas.
△ Bubble Mart opened its first store in Canada (Source: Ebang Power Network)
Therefore, as far as the blind box culture represented by Bubble Mart and its representatives is concerned, whether from the perspective of meeting consumer cultural needs or cultural output, its emergence represents the rise of a new type of cultural consumption form, promotes the economic transformation of trend culture, and is also the carrier of Traditional Chinese culture going overseas.
However, while constantly studying new tricks and expanding new ways of playing, Bubble Mart should not forget that it should return more focus to the product itself, and face its repeatedly complained product quality and imperfect after-sales service with a more frank attitude, which is the foundation of its long-term development, an unavoidable dilemma, and the basis for consumers to develop the next step of brand consumption and be willing to continue to pay for it.
It is true that in view of the special attributes of blind box products, their after-sales service will be more complex than the operation of other commodities, the rules are more detailed, and it also brings greater difficulties to the supervision of the industry. But that doesn't mean Bubble Mart can ignore consumers' after-sales needs based on the quality of its products.
From 2017 to 2019, the market value soared from 158 million to 1.683 billion, and the net profit that rose nearly 300 times at one point made many merchants red-eyed, it can be said that the soaring market value of Bubble Mart was held by consumers. The so-called "water can carry the boat, but also can cover the boat", if you continue to inaction after-sales service and insincere attitude to perfunctory consumers, then in the blind box market competition such as clouds, consumers' eyes are becoming more and more critical at the moment, enthusiasm retreats, market loss, will be the inevitable result.
Although after-sales processing is more difficult than other products, but with a sincere attitude to face consumers, bubble mart can do it, which includes increasing the number of spare parts, adding anti-counterfeiting marks and coding in products, setting up anti-counterfeiting inquiry systems, improving after-sales processes, improving after-sales service efficiency, setting up more appropriate, perfect and unified compensation plans, improving customer service attitudes and so on.
In a sense, the small blind box is actually not high in terms of material and other levels, it can be said that the product of the sales experience, consumers often value not the product itself, but the surprise and expectation of the moment when the blind box is opened, as well as a longer memorial. If you always avoid basic quality and after-sales problems, and blindly chase the expansion of business sectors and the expansion of new ways of playing, it is undoubtedly the end of the line.
According to reports, Bubble Mart will also develop a theme park in the next step, and has reached a cooperation with Beijing Chaoyang Park, which is authorized to use the "European Charm" project in the park and its surrounding streets and forests. At the beginning of its establishment, Wang Ning, CEO of Bubble Mart, said, "In another five years, Bubble Mart will become the most Disney-like enterprise in China, and will have a lot of valuable IP like Disney." ”
From this, we can see that Bubble Mart is quite ambitious. But don't forget, as an important part of blind box sales, if even the basic quality control and after-sales service can not be guaranteed, then the early design, publicity, IP research and development and subsequent sales, derivatives development, territory expansion will be a castle in the air.
epilogue
"To become the most Disney-like company in China." The bold words are still in the ears, the road ahead is long and obstructed, and Bubble Mart is already on the road. But before becoming Disney, Bubble Mart may wish to return to the product and come up with a sincere attitude towards consumers. After all, the after-sales service of Disney's cultural creation is far from being so bad.
Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account Culture Industry Review (ID: whcypl )
Industry Window and Top New Media [Cultural Industry Review] has operated and maintained more than 3,000 issues (lasting more than 8 years, spanning more than 3,000 days), and pushed more than 7,000 professional high-quality articles in the fields of culture, tourism and sports. 【Cultural Industry Review】Always adhering to the characteristics of authority, professionalism, accuracy, timeliness and practicality, focusing on the frontier dynamics and development thinking of culture, tourism, sports and other industries, facing the major issues in the development of the industry in the new era, integrating the observation and understanding of elites inside and outside the industry, it has received great attention and strong support from civil servants at all levels, responsible persons of enterprises and institutions, and elite practitioners at all levels from the central to local governments, and has also set up a smooth channel for communication between all parties, which is the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2. The State Administration of Radio and Television, the State Film Administration, the State Press and Publication Administration, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the State General Administration of Sport and other relevant departments, local and municipal governments, as well as important assistants of cultural, tourism and sports enterprises across the country. Welcome to subscribe to follow!