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The simplest form of blind box marketing is when consumers buy a package from a brand containing unknown products. If that sounds like a bit of a gimmick, think again — in China, it’s become a huge business that is growing fast, forecast by Mob Research Institute to be worth 30 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) by 2024.
The challenge is how to make blind box marketing work effectively for fashion and luxury brands. One luxury name that’s already tested the waters is Lanvin, which created a blind box lottery on its Wechat mini program for Chinese Valentine’s Day in August.
Collectible designer toys – chaowan – are a hit with consumers across China. But attention is fleeting.
Chinese consumers enjoy the social and surprise elements of blind boxes. One blind box enthusiast named Amy, 29, working in an internet company in Beijing, traces it back to her childhood instant noodles, which would come in surprise shapes: "I don’t know what will be drawn before opening it. The whole process is full of uncertainty. It's so exciting!"
However, she’s wary about how many brands are jumping on the trend. “Blind box products are not customised enough. Even the packaging of many seems perfunctory. Brands need to improve the experience."
Lanvin, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, set the bar low for entry to its Chinese Valentine's Day lottery last August. Participants only needed to pay 200 yuan to join in. Team or group games could also be played, attracting 50,000 players within a month and pushing up Lanvin’s Wechat views five-fold.
The blind box phenomenon has spawned all sorts of spin-off concepts. Chinese menswear brand GXG, Soybean Sprouts Aquatic Products and toy blind box market leader Pop Mart launched a three-party joint series, titled the Giant Blind Box Challenge, which included a blind box experience storyline and randomly assigned mysterious doll characters who would deliver to participants’ doors. This series also included a collaboration with a local Japanese restaurant chain, which created themed eateries where consumers receive blind boxes with clothes when they dine: fashion and food brought together.
Avoiding blind box disappointment
Once the initial excitement of opening a blind box is past, a consumer’s perception of its merits is linked to the quality of the products inside. That can be where disappointment sets in. According to analysis by iiMedia Consulting, more than 30 per cent of consumers interviewed felt that the quality of the products did not reflect the price of the blind box. For brands, blind boxes should be an extra chance to connect with customers — call it the icing on the marketing cake — rather than a means of offloading inventory.
In 2010, French luxury brand Hermès launched Petit H as an offshoot atelier that creates upcycled products from surplus materials, often for pop-ups or exhibitions but also sold through the brand’s website. Petit H Surprise boxes, the most costly priced at $1,875, were first launched in 2015, demonstrating that the blind box concept, executed with care, has a real appeal for the premium luxury consumer.
Hermès offers a return service for customers who are not satisfied. For fashion in particular, when sizing may be inappropriate for a blind box customer, a generous return or exchange policy is essential.
Blind boxes that tell stories
Blind boxes can help build customer loyalty and brand image. For luxury brands, they offer an opportunity to tell stories, building a deeper cultural and emotional resonance with customers beyond the face value of the products.
Collaborations can strengthen and freshen the narrative. In 2020, Tommy Hilfiger collaborated with rapper Vava and singer Ma Boqian to create a limited edition blind box. Unlikely collaborations add to the sense of playful narrative: In 2020, Karl Lagerfeld and Tsingtao Brewery created a blind box as part of its joint Night Owl Muse series. In China, blind boxes have also been launched by CCTV variety show, National Treasure, which celebrates the country’s cultural heritage.
However, there is some concern that the blind box phenomenon in China may be exploiting the consumer. Early in 2021, the China Consumers Association highlighted how blind box consumption has gambling attributes. The Chengdu Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Sichuan Province called for transparency in blind box lotteries, including indicating to consumers the probability of winning limited edition products.
Xia Xia Becky, a luxury fashion enthusiast, points out that the concept of blind boxes has been around for centuries. “Blind boxes existed in Japan in ancient times. Leftover fabrics were sold randomly, with even gold woven fabrics [included], which were considered symbols of luck and blessing.”
If that element of magic and emotional connectivity can be injected into the luxury blind box concept, the possibilities are endless. Ivy Yu, a brand marketing consultant based in France, says that the target customer for the luxury blind box is not necessarily the high net worth consumer. Blind boxes, she says, have the potential to “widen the customer base and at the same time gain a wave of public attention."
In China, those consumers who like blind boxes are certainly committed. Tmall reports that nearly 200,000 shoppers spend more than 20,000 uean ($3,133) a year on blind boxes. Whether the bullish forecasts for growth in the blind box market turn out to be true remains to be seen, but significant numbers of Chinese consumers right now are still enthralled by the concept.
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