The sequelae of "3·15" have not yet dissipated, and after half a month, Bubble Mart's financial report was released, and this year's report card seems to be particularly eye-catching.
According to the financial report, in 2021, Bubble Mart achieved revenue of RMB4.49 billion, an increase of 78.7% year-on-year; adjusted net profit of RMB1.002 billion, an increase of 69.6% year-on-year; and net profit attributable to the mother of RMB850 million, an increase of 63.2% year-on-year.
Frequently "poured cold water" by the outside world
The surprise of opening the blind box for a moment is an indescribable happiness, and in the eyes of some people who like the blind box, the "hidden version" and the "scarce model" have become a throbbing bet. Bubble Mart just bet on the social field, with the help of Platforms such as Little Red Book, Weibo, and Douyin, it successfully broke into the psychology of the audience, seized the tide play logo, and became an irreplaceable brand recognition.
But since it is a bet, winning and losing 50% of each, the carnival is over, and the brand that can stay is destined to have a baptism.
The second basin of cold water is a quality control issue. Through the search of the black cat complaint platform, the number of complaints of Bubble Mart reached 7676, of which "hidden models have flaws" were introduced. On the Little Red Book, consumers who purchased defective blind boxes have never stopped complaining.
The third basin of cold water is the chronic disease that has always existed in the blind box market - hype. As a shortcut from "zero purchases" to "countless purchases", Bubble Mart, sitting on the first chair of the blind box, naturally had difficulty withdrawing.
During 31.5 this year, CCTV exposed the joint blind box between Bubble Mart and KFC. The blind box contains six regular models and a hidden model, and the probability of hidden models appearing is only 1:72. In order to collect the whole set, many people find someone to eat for them, and they are tempted on the edge of morality. What's more, some people hoarded packages and bought 106 copies at a time, amounting to 10,494 yuan, to speculate. It is understood that on some second-hand platforms, the MEGA treasure series, which focuses on the high-end market, has a price of 4999 yuan and has been speculated to 100,000 + one.
Not all blind boxes are "MOLLY"
When the future of the blind box development is uncertain, Bubble Mart has already begun the second half of the road.
According to statistics, Bubble Mart currently has more than 85 IPs, and 7 major HEAD IP revenues exceed 100 million in 2021, which has also been questioned by the outside world as its over-reliance on a single large IP, and the new IP innovation and attraction are insufficient.
For the full year last year, MOLLY achieved revenue of 705 million yuan, an increase of 97.6% year-on-year. In addition to Molly, DIMOO and SKULLPANDA, the two major IPs, achieved revenue of 567 million yuan and 595 million yuan respectively in 2021, an increase of 79.8% and 1423.8% respectively year-on-year. In 2021, the new high-end tide play product line MEGA Treasure Series achieved revenue of RMB 178 million.
It is worth noting that in 2021, Bubble Mart began to focus on its own designer IP research and development, that is, PDC (Pop Design Center), for this part of the IP, the company enjoys full intellectual property rights, including the development and sale of trendy toys and the right to license additional monetization opportunities, with higher profit margins. PDC has achieved initial results, and among the IP addresses launched by PDC, MINICO, Ono, Gum Monster, etc., Xiao Sweet Bean achieved revenue of RMB162 million, an increase of 458.1% year-on-year, and Ono's single series revenue was RMB52.2 million.
In terms of online channels, Bubble Mart box pumping machine achieved revenue of RMB898 million, an increase of 92.6% year-on-year. The Jingdong flagship store and the Tmall flagship store achieved revenue of 143 million yuan and 599 million yuan respectively, an increase of 296% and 47.5% respectively year-on-year.
Finally, the landing of the strategy of going to sea. According to the financial report, according to the revenue division of channels, the wholesale and other income outside the Chinese mainland in 2021 has increased from 74.2 million yuan in 2020 to 137.4 million yuan in 2021, an increase of 85.2% year-on-year, mainly due to the expansion of overseas markets and brand promotion in different overseas countries.
"Bubbles" are fragile and stiff to play
If Bubble Mart uses a blind box to open the era of tide play, and using IP to tell a new story is the "first share" to go to the market, then at the moment when the tide play market is expanding, "Bubble" is undoubtedly the side that is squeezed.
According to the "2021 China Trend Toy Market Development Report" released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, from 2015 to 2020, the compound annual growth rate of China's tide play industry is as high as 36%, and the market size is expected to reach 47.8 billion yuan in 2022. In the tide play market, in addition to focusing on the first echelon of bubble mart in first- and second-tier cities, other tide play brands include 52TOYS, IP small station, twelve building culture, cool tide play, Ruolai, 1983 and other brands, in the high-end and sinking market, high price and low price, online and offline and other fields, different brands fill the blue ocean market. According to statistics, the number of domestic head players alone has exceeded 800.
In addition to the entry of tide play brands, many design brands that have seen the IP fever have also joined the market. According to statistics, most of the more than 800 brands settled in Lockerr, the TIDE PLAY IP platform, are studios or independent designers. People remember that Molly, who once helped Bubble Mart become very popular, was precisely by a designer, and who can deny that it will not be the next Molly who beats Moll?
At the same time, with the fire of the NFT, the "perfect matching attribute" of digital collection and tide play IP has once again ignited tide play. In November last year, Ruolai and AntChain jointly launched a digital collection. Less than a minute into the start, 10,000 digital collections snapped up. This rhythm of dancing in the wind makes many investors hold the coin and wait and see.
Tide play replicable marketing templates, lowering the market threshold. Driven by the rising trend culture dividend, even if there are more and more brands entering the game, but the tide play market is only opened a small part, the domestic audience's cognition of tide play has a serious gap, the bubble will always be squeezed out, if there is no special product for brand support, the end of bubble mart is visible to the naked eye for a short time.
(This article was first published on the Titanium Media APP, intern editor | Ji Xiaoling)