At the moment, there is a product that is difficult for more and more young consumers to indulge in-blind box.
On January 26, the China Consumers Association issued a consumer warning on its official website, pointing out that there are four major problems in the blind box market:
1. Merchants over-market and consumers tend to be "addicted".
2. The merchant is suspected of false propaganda, and the goods on hand do not match the propaganda.
3. Product quality is difficult to guarantee, counterfeit and inferior products, "three noes" products appear from time to time.
4. Consumer disputes are difficult to resolve, and after-sales service needs to be improved urgently.
Criticized by the China Consumers Association, what exactly is a blind box?
When did the blind box style start to emerge?
Why can people be allowed to buy again and then throw money in?
How can we avoid the pits in the blind box market?
Buy hand can not stop
what is a blind box?
Blind boxes originated in Japan in the early 19th century. Every New Year, Japanese department stores randomly select several different products, put them in a paper bag, and sell them at a fixed price. They also gave it an auspicious name: lucky bag .
In 2019, a product similar to a lucky bag began to be popular in my country. At first, various small dolls were put into boxes for sale. Consumers did not know which doll was in the box before purchasing, only after purchasing Only the box can be opened to determine the style of the doll, so it is called the "blind box".
Today, not only dolls, but also in many consumer areas such as catering, beauty, books, stationery, etc., a "blind box wind" has blown. It seems that everything can be blind box.
The blind box sales model has captured the hearts of countless consumers.
Why does the blind box charm make people keep buying and buying?
Take the most common doll blind box as an example. Many people feel that they are "very addictive" and can't stop once they buy it.
These blind boxes come in many styles, each set basically consists of 12 different dolls, and the price usually ranges from 39 yuan to 69 yuan.
The sales staff told reporters that because the blind boxes are designed into series of different styles, each series ranges from a set of dozens to dozens of styles. Consumers are often obsessed with collecting a complete set of blind boxes. .
However, since the probability of each doll in a set is different, it is impossible to predict which doll is in the box before opening the box, so there is great uncertainty when buying a blind box, and consumers can easily buy it Repeated blind box.
In order to collect a set of dolls, many consumers have to repeatedly buy a lot.
The salesperson said that the dolls in these boxes are also divided into ordinary models and hidden models. The blind boxes of ordinary models usually have no room for appreciation. However, if the hidden blind boxes with a probability of 1/144 are drawn, they are in the second-hand market. The value usually rises from 5 times to dozens of times.
Under the stimulus of this highly differentiated value, many consumers who pursue hidden dolls will continue to buy them, hoping that they will be able to draw hidden dolls.
Blind box salesperson:
Some people spend 5000-7000 yuan, just to buy a hidden item, they just buy a box, and only one (hidden item) comes out of each box.
Some blind box enthusiasts told reporters that buying blind boxes is uncertainty. Consumers often hope to get their favorite styles after unpacking the boxes.
Driven by curiosity, in pursuit of the image of dolls, or stimulated by similar lottery tickets, many consumers quickly become crazy fans of blind box consumption.
Consumer: It
will be addictive. I'm okay. My friend basically buys several of them every day.
Consumers:
Many friends around are relatively addicted. Maybe they wanted to buy one, but in the end they bought several. They may still be the same (doll).
Who are the "blind box fans"?
According to sales data from a well-known blind box company, among blind box consumers, 18-24 year olds account for 32%, 25-29 year olds account for 26%, and among all blind box buyers, female consumers account for 75%.
7.4 billion! Why can blind boxes make people consume crazy?
According to the survey, the scale of my country's domestic blind box industry market in 2019 was 7.4 billion yuan, and this figure is expected to exceed 10 billion this year (2021).
Why can blind boxes make people consume so crazy?
Mao Lihua, a member of the "Source News" expert database of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, Associate Professor of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University:
Young people are actually more curious, and the extraction of blind boxes can best satisfy this curiosity. When you face a box , You don’t know what it will be. This kind of uncertainty will make people very excited and looking forward to it.
In our brains, this uncertainty is actually closely related to the reward system.
When we are faced with uncertain things, the brain will secrete more dopamine, so it will show people's preference for uncertainty.
Experts also said that buying a blind box has a return on every investment.
Although it may not be proportional to the investment, it will also bring people a kind of psychological compensation or satisfaction
.
And human beings have an orientation to pursue perfection, so
they prefer to collect complete sets of things
.
Data shows that an average of
200,000 consumers in
China
spend more than 20,000 yuan on blind boxes
every year
,
and some people even spend millions of dollars a year to buy blind boxes.
What are the hazards of long-term indulging in blind box consumption?
Mao Lihua, a member of the "Source News" expert database of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, Associate Professor, Peking University School of Psychology and Cognitive Science:
In fact, long-term addiction to blind boxes is the same as indulging in other gambling games, and it may bring more serious psychology. problem.
Once addicted, it is not easy to get rid of this sense of dependence
. At the same time, if it is serious, it will affect all aspects of life, work, and social life.
This addiction will not only bring a relatively large financial burden, but also bring great psychological pressure and social life pressure, and even affect the health of young people.
Experimental demonstration: What is the psychological mechanism of blind box addiction?
American psychologist Skinner once did an experiment to simulate the psychological mechanism of human addiction to products such as blind boxes.
Skinner invented an experimental device that puts water and food outside the box, and inside the box is a hungry white mouse.
When the mouse presses the lever in the box, the food will fall into the trough in the box.
After many operations, the mouse became familiar with this rule and would press the lever whenever he was hungry.
But then Skinner changed the experimental rules. Not every time the mouse presses the lever to get food, that is to say, sometimes there is food, sometimes there is no food, the probability is completely random.
In this case, the mouse
does not know which time to press the lever to get food, it keeps pressing the lever for a long time
.
The
sales blind box, it is a replica of the experiment Skinner in the consumer market
.
Is the opening of the blind box for pets a surprise or a fright?
Nowadays, the blind boxes are no longer just dolls.
Recently, on some online shopping platforms, you can actually buy blind boxes for pets.
"Pet Living Blind Box" involves cats, dogs, tortoises, hamsters and other small animals, and the price ranges from a dozen yuan to thousands of yuan.
Some merchants even typed the words "Place an order if you can afford it, don't buy if you can't afford it" and "No refund or exchange" in the product description.
Some of these "commodities" were once hot, selling thousands of orders a month.
However, many buyers complained that
the actual value of the animals in the blind box was much lower than the price of the blind box
.
More netizens said that
keeping animals in blind boxes is a disrespect for life
.
Industry insiders pointed out that, on the one hand, live blind boxes
will cause harm to small animals
. On the other hand, due to the lack of quarantine, consumers are likely to
receive small animals
with
disease and bacteria , which will bury hidden dangers of hygiene and epidemic prevention
.
At the same time
, it is more difficult to defend rights under
the
overlord clause of
non-refundable and non-exchangeable
.
You thought it was a surprise, but others are clearing inventory!
In addition to the incorrect version of the blind box for pets and many hidden dangers, the China Consumers Association said that there are some operators whose products are not too hard and just want to take advantage of the marketing enthusiasm of the blind box.
Some operators even use blind boxes as a tool for "clearing inventory".
Xu Jiang,
a
staff member of the Consumer Guidance Department of the China Consumers Association:
An operator launched a new product with a gift package during the "Double 11" in 2019. At that time, he promised to send players the latest version of the month every month. However, when the player purchased the gift package, they found that the product they received was not the latest model of the month, but the old model in December 2019, so this caused consumer dissatisfaction and caused group complaints.
How can I protect my rights and interests in case of blind box consumption?
If it is really like the notice issued by the China Consumers Association, in the process of buying blind box products, we encounter situations such as incorrect version or product quality problems, how can we protect our rights?
Experts tell us that the essence of blind boxes is still a commodity, so when buying, we must establish the concepts of rational consumption, scientific consumption, and moderate consumption,
read advertisements clearly, sign the contract seriously, calmly and calmly save evidence, and rationally follow the law. Rights protection
.
Liu Junhai, a member of the "Source News" expert database of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, Renmin University of China Law School Professor Liu Junhai:
For companies, if they want to test this exciting blind box business model, they must be mindful of the general public. The gratitude of consumers and the belief in the consumer rights protection law must be in awe of market risks, and they must fully respect the consumers' right to know, choose, and fair trade in the blind box business model. Rights, security rights, privacy rights and claims.
In addition, the market will fail, and regulators should not fail. Use the legal powers of market access, administrative guidance and administrative supervision, etc., to combat fraudulent consumer fraud, and to protect the legality of consumers enthusiastically. rights and interests.
Finally, I still want to remind everyone that we can enjoy the fun of buying blind boxes, but don't indulge in it. You need to consume wisely and do what you can.
At the same time, when buying blind boxes, try to choose merchants with good reputation, high reputation, and perfect after-sales service for transactions, and properly keep relevant vouchers. In the event of a dispute, you can protect your legitimate rights and interests.