52TOYS drove unmanned retail planes into airports and scenic spots to steal the business of Bubble Mart?

Tech 2023-10-15 04:38:32 Source: Network

China Business Daily (Reporter Ran Longnan's article/image)The well-known domestic trend toy brand 52TOYS has recently started testing its own unmanned retail machines.Recently, a reporter from China Business Daily noticed the appearance of the 52TOYS self operated unmanned retail machine in multiple airports in China

China Business Daily (Reporter Ran Longnan's article/image)The well-known domestic trend toy brand 52TOYS has recently started testing its own unmanned retail machines.

Recently, a reporter from China Business Daily noticed the appearance of the 52TOYS self operated unmanned retail machine in multiple airports in China. The machine mainly sells blind box products of its various IPs, attracting many tourists to purchase. Prior to this, only from the perspective of unmanned retail machine channels, the products of 52TOYS were more commonly seen in machines from external cooperation channels.

In response to this change, 52TOYS stated that this year, it has launched dozens of unmanned retail aircraft in various domestic airports, high-speed rail stations, and cultural and tourism attractions. At the beginning of the year, we judged that there should be a significant recovery in the cultural and tourism industry. Therefore, while steadily opening brand owned stores, we set a strategy to find new growth points for offline sales through cultural and tourism channels

Concentrated efforts on cultural and tourism scenarios

Recently, a reporter from China Business Daily saw a 52TOYS self operated unmanned retail aircraft at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.

The unmanned retail aircraft launched by 52TOYS at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.

Like other trendy brands of unmanned retail machines, 52TOYS' unmanned retail machines mainly sell blind box products. There are some popular and latest series of blind box products displayed in the machine, and the mode is not very innovative. However, the emergence of self operated unmanned retail machines is a new thing for 52TOYS.

I don't seem to have seen 52TOYS' own unmanned retail machine, "a passenger who was buying a blind box told reporters. Apart from offline stores, she usually only sees some of 52TOYS' products in other brands of vending machines. That kind of unmanned retail machine is a bit like a collection store, with many brands of trendy blind boxes inside

Another passenger added that it was also surprising that the unmanned retail plane was placed at the airport. I often see Bubble Mart drones at the airport, but I haven't seen much of the 52TOYS

The reason why passengers feel surprised is that the sales channel of 52TOYS is mainly through external channels of cooperation. According to data from 52TOYS, there are currently over 15000 external channels for offline sales cooperation, covering trendy boutiques, boutique toy stores, cinemas, bookstores, convenience stores, theme parks, etc., fully covering the consumption scenarios of young people.

Regarding the launch of self operated retail drones this time, 52TOYS told China Business Daily reporters that it is not really new. As early as 2020, the IP and product quantity of 52TOYS had already reached a certain scale, so it began to establish offline self operated stores of the brand and launch its own unmanned retail drones.

However, the number of launches before was not large, and this year we have indeed concentrated on a batch of launches. "The person in charge of 52TOYS said that at the beginning of the year, they judged that the cultural and tourism industry should have a relatively obvious recovery. Therefore, while steadily opening brand owned stores, they set a strategy to find new growth points for offline sales from cultural and tourism channels.

According to the person in charge, this year, dozens of unmanned retail aircraft have been deployed in various major airports in China, including Beijing Daxing International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport, as well as high-speed rail stations, cultural and tourism attractions.

Unmanned retail machines have become an important channel

In fact, for trendy gaming brands, especially for the sales of blind box products, unmanned retail machines have become an important sales channel.

Taking the well-known domestic trendy gaming brand Bubble Mart as an example, according to its financial report for the first half of 2023, in terms of offline channels, 120 new robot stores (i.e. unmanned retail machines) were opened in the first half of 2023, and the number of robot stores increased from 2067 to 2185. During the same period, Bubble Mart only opened 19 new offline stores in mainland China, with the number of stores increasing from 329 to 340.

For trendy gaming brands, the cost of opening an offline store is much higher than putting in unmanned retail machines. "A trendy gaming practitioner told China Business Daily that compared to ordinary product categories, trendy gaming brands often have high requirements for store design and decoration, and store decoration between different brands is" very voluminous ", and personalized themed design is a major trend. And the location of the store is often chosen in more bustling commercial areas, with higher rents. The placement of unmanned retail machines is much more flexible, and the attributes of blind box products are also more attractive to young people for instant consumption, so many brands will launch their own unmanned retail machines

The offline store decoration of trendy brands is becoming increasingly "complicated". The picture shows Bubble Mart's global flagship store.

As the practitioner mentioned, the reporter noticed that in addition to the strong investment of Bubble Mart in robot stores, trendy gaming brands such as IPSTATION and Jinli Naqu have also placed unmanned retail machines in shopping malls, subway stations, and other scenes.

Multiple trendy gaming brands have launched their own unmanned retail machines.

In fact, I prefer to buy from unmanned retail machines because it's completely random, "trendy gaming enthusiasts told reporters. If it's an offline store, many consumers usually choose their favorite styles through shaking boxes, pinching boxes, and other methods, leaving behind some" crazy "ones. Unmanned retail machines push boxes in order, which is relatively fair

52TOYS has also previously released some products on unmanned retail machines through its external channels of cooperation. Many industry insiders believe that the launch of its self operated unmanned retail machine is a major measure for 52TOYS to establish its own channels and strengthen its brand mentality.

The offline sales channels of 52TOYS are mainly through external channels, which means that many consumers do not have high brand awareness. Another industry insider told reporters that many consumers only focus on where they can buy a product, but rarely know which company the product belongs to. Having more self operated channels will help consumers further understand the brand image of 52TOYS

In fact, in addition to launching self operated unmanned retail machines, 52TOYS is also steadily opening brand owned stores, and this year, it has also partnered with cultural and tourism attractions to establish flash stores or specialty stores. For example, the Sui Tang Luoyang City, which collaborated with Luoyang City, deeply participated in the large-scale immersive offline "Crossing" activity of the "Sui Tang Luoyang City National Wind Crossing Festival" launched during the 40th China Luoyang Peony Culture Festival, integrating its original IP super activated maids, PandaRoll chubby children, Sleep, and others into the scene, and setting up flash stores.

The offline sales of 52TOYS adopt a 'dual track parallel' model, which actively expands its own channels while collaborating with external channels. "The relevant person in charge of 52TOYS stated that from a revenue perspective, their strategy of combining with cultural and tourism scenarios is currently effective, so they will continue to maintain this strategy and seek cooperation with more cultural and tourism scenarios.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is sourced from the internet. The copyright of the text, images, and other materials belongs to the original author. The platform reprints the materials for the purpose of conveying more information. The content of the article is for reference and learning only, and should not be used for commercial purposes. If it infringes on your legitimate rights and interests, please contact us promptly and we will handle it as soon as possible! We respect copyright and are committed to protecting it. Thank you for sharing.(Email:[email protected])

Mobile advertising space rental

Tag: 52TOYS drove unmanned retail planes into airports and scenic