Instead of the supposed excitement and mystery, many fans just want the item they want.

Between capsule toy machines and blind-box figures, pins, and other trinkets, you could say this is the golden age for random-purchase fan merch in Japan. Part of the appeal, ostensibly, is the excitement born from uncertainty, since you won’t know what you’ve got until after you make the purchase, but are fans really happy about this arrangement?

To investigate, Tokyo-based consulting firm Hamaru Strategy conducted its Consumer Opinion Survey on Random Goods, collecting 35,866 online responses between March 38 and April 3. 85.7 percent of the respondents were women, and 84.6 percent were working adults.

The initial results of the survey have been released, and the most eye-catching statistic is how overwhelmingly the respondents say they dislike random purchases, with 89.9 percent saying they dislike or hate the system, and only 2.9 percent having positive feelings about it.

Do you like random purchases?
● I strongly dislike them: Chosen by 61.5 percent of respondents
● I dislike them: 28.4 percent
● I like them: 2.4 percent
● I strongly like them: 0.5 percent
● I neither like nor dislike them: 7.3 percent

It’s not like this is a case of non-fans simply dismissing the idea of random purchases without ever trying them for themselves, either. The majority of the respondents, 52.7 percent, said they’ve made random purchases of fan items more than 40 times, meaning that “I don’t like the system” is an opinion they’ve arrived at based on ample personal experience.

When asked why they dislike random purchases, the top response was, predictably, “I might not get the item I want,” chosen by 98.5 percent of survey participants in the dislike/strongly dislike demographic. This was followed by “It ends up costing me more than it would to buy the item if it was sold normally” (91.6 percent) and complaints about rampant scalpers (85.4 percent). Somewhat touchingly, 80.9 percent of respondents also said they feel bad because, with random-character merchandise, if they end up with an item they’re disappointed with, there’s another fan out there who would have loved to have it for themselves.

▼ Somewhere out these is someone whose favorite Rayearth character is Ascot.

Of course, manufacturers have an economic incentive to offer items as random purchases, since it encourages fans to make multiple purchases in order to get the item they want. Perhaps understanding this, when the survey asked participants what sort of system they’d like to see either instead of or offered alongside random purchases, 89.7 percent said they’d be willing to pay a higher price in order to be able to choose the exact item they want. 55 percent said they want the option to purchase a complete, no-duplicate set, which is something that many stores offer for blind-box items, but isn’t available for capsule machine toys. 40.4 percent said they’d like manufacturers to set up some sort of official framework through which fans can exchange unwanted items with other purchasers, and 16.8 percent said they’d like to see some sort of discount on price kick in as you continue to make purchases and chase after the item you really want.

The idea of an option to pay extra and specify which item you want has some complexities. On one hand, 63.3 percent of the respondents said that they’ve purchased a model of an originally random-purchase item that they wanted from a reseller, paying more than the original sale price. That suggests that manufacturers are leaving money on the table, since the majority of the participants are willing to pay higher prices as long as they can be sure of getting what they want. On the other hand, manufacturers would have to double the price in order to make up for a lost sale resulting from a buyer not having to make a second purchase, which might be too much of a markup for customers to stomach. Adding another layer to the situation is that 85.2 percent of the respondents said that they’ve had times when random-buy merchandise has dulled their enthusiasm for a series or franchise, raising the question of whether the extra cash from multiple purchases is worth eroding interest in the work itself.

It’s worth pointing out that the survey questions specified that they were not asking about consumers’ opinions on trading card packs or video game loot boxes, which have their own quirks related to scarcity, competitive balance, and other factors. And again, with the survey participants being overwhelmingly adult women, it’s possible that the responses would be different among men or teens. At the very least, though, the data shows that not everyone enjoys the leap of faith required for capsule and blind-box toys.

Source: PR Times
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