Reversal of policy for new Chara Cosme releases follows survey showing immense dislike for randomized merch purchases.
Bandai is one of Japan’s biggest anime and video game publishers, which dovetails nicely with their role as the country’s largest toymaker. However, Bandai doesn’t just leverage the appeal of its anime and game casts into making plushies and figures, as they also have a cosmetics division, called CreerBeaute, that offers character-themed makeup products.
For example, CreerBeaute is getting set to release cosmetics powder, for use as eye shadow, blush, and the like, inspired by the Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu franchises, both of which have massive female fan followings. The packaging is designed to look like a concert or fan event ticket, and each powder is based on the hair or image color of a specific character, with a total of 16 Idolish7 vocalists split across two groups and 10 Touken Ranbu sword boys, each priced at 770 yen (US$5).
Nobody was shocked when CreerBeaute said that the Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu Chara Cosmetic (as the line is called) would be offered for sale on a randomized basis. If anything, it’s become the default expectation that moderately priced variation-on-a-theme fan merchandise is only going to be available through a gacha/blind-buy format. In a surprising move, though, Bandai has now announced that they’ve changed their mind and doing away with the random sale model for the Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu, and that fans will now be able to buy the exact versions they want.
The announcement was made on April 30 through both the CreerBeaute official Twitter account and on the Lifestyle Bandai website. Bandai says it came to this decision after internal discussions, and it’s so committed to the idea that fans should be able to pick which items they’re buying that the company is actually delaying the release of the products (likely because new packaging needs to be designed/produced), with the Idolish7 Chara Cosmetics now slated for release in August and the Touken Ranbu ones in September.
Though not specifically mentioned in Bandai’s announcement, the change comes in the wake of a recently conducted survey in Japan in which participants overwhelmingly said they dislike random purchases. With more than 85 percent of the survey participants being women, the results could definitely be seen as a warning sign for the idea of randomized Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu-related cosmetics.
Getting into the business side of things, from the seller’s standpoint one of the major advantages of a gacha/blind-buy system is that it encourages fans to make a larger number of purchases, as they chase after randomly getting their most desired item out of the group. As such, Bandai is running the risk of making less money per fan by letting them immediately lock in on the items they really want. Despite this, Bandai has said that they will not be raising the price of the Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu Chara Cosmetics, and they’ll still sell at their originally announced price of 770 yen. Even this, though, might be the wise economic move on Bandai’s part, as in the same survey mentioned above the vast majority of participants also said that disappointment at randomized merch has lessened their enthusiasm for a series of franchise, which could hurt their long-term profitability.
Aside from repackaging and delayed shipping to stores, there’s one more issue the switch to non-randomized sales is causing. With blind-buy merch in Japan, stores often offer the option of buying a complete box set that guarantees one of each version, and some stores had already begun taking preorders for Idolish7 and Touken Ranbu boxes. For those who have placed such orders, Bandai is recommending contacting the store/chain directly to ask about the status of the preorder and possible cancellation options.
Source: Lifestyle Bandai via Oricon News via Otakomu
Top image: Lifestyle Bandai
Insert images: Lifestyle Bandai (1, 2, 3)
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