Stress relief and squeezing are very popular, and the emotional value business is becoming popular

"Squeeze toys" are currently very popular among young people in China. The author explores the reasons behind their popularity and the social impact, and points out that this is actually an emerging emotional value business.

Following blind boxes and bracelets, pinching has become another trend among young people.

At present, Nienie has swept all major social platforms. On Xiaohongshu alone, there are nearly one million notes about Nienie and more than 100,000 related products. On Douyin, multiple Nienie live broadcast rooms have been launched, and various Nienie appear in the user's field of vision. On Bilibili, there are many video tutorials on how to make Nienie, giving users a novel experience.

Why is Nie Nie so popular among young people? Which businesses are profiting from the popularity of Nie Nie? Why is the emotional value business reflected by Nie Nie so popular?

1. A single stock is sold for thousands of yuan, where is the magic of pinching?

Recently, a blogger @Eleven (crazy buying pinch version) on Xiaohongshu shocked many netizens with a video of unboxing a pinch worth 15,000 yuan. In this video, there are many shapes of handmade pinches, such as cat paws, rice balls, fried dough sticks, and donuts. The blogger said that these pinches were bought from the auction market. There are more than 20 pinches in the video. The average price of each one is about 700 yuan, which is much higher than the market price of a single pinch of dozens of yuan.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

The reason why the squeezing toys are so popular is not only because of their cute and diverse appearance, but also because of their soft and elastic feel. When curious people outside the circle try to open the door to this new world, the most common thing they hear is "Once you squeeze this toy, you will never forget the feeling."

As a decompression toy, kneading or squeezing produces a sense of elasticity and comfort that can make people feel relaxed and happy. In the fast-paced modern life, many people face work and life pressures, and kneading provides a convenient way for people to release stress anytime and anywhere and enjoy a moment of relaxation.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

From a psychological perspective, humans perceive the world through touch at a certain stage in childhood, but many behaviors are interfered with by their parents. This need is not met in childhood, so when they grow up, they will have a desire to pinch. Cute and soft things can often make people's emotions positive, which is expressed in professional terms as "cute aggression". Pinching happens to have the two characteristics of "cute things" and "pinching", which makes people deeply addicted.

At present, silicone pinching rings are the mainstream. They will neither melt nor harden, and can withstand various squeezes from people who pinch the rings. They are not only more durable, but also more diverse in hand feel and plasticity.

Water, mud, and cement are the three main feel of silicone materials. Water is the lightest and softest, and it feels like squeezing a puddle of water. It also rebounds the fastest, which is more suitable for consumers with less strength and is the first choice for many users. Mud rebounds the slowest and feels thicker, just like plasticine. Cement is in between the two, slightly more resilient than water, and has a moderate rebound speed.

However, the texture of silicone itself is sticky and it is easy to get dusty and sticky when pinching. In order to have a better experience, many shop owners will put a bag on the outside of the pinch. The materials of these bags are roughly divided into three types: PVC, EVA and food processing bags. Among them, PVC material is the best choice to restore the pinching feel and is also the first choice of many shop owners.

In fact, the kneading toys are not new. As a decompression toy, kneading toys have been widely used in daily life in 2022. According to data from the Tmall New Life Research Institute, the overall growth rate of decompression toys on Taobao Tmall in 2022 was nearly 40%. By 2023, kneading toys have become one of the fastest growing toy categories on Taobao in 2023.

Image source: Taobao screenshot

Searching for keywords such as "decompression toys" and "decompression artifacts" on e-commerce platforms will reveal countless related products, with prices ranging from a few yuan to hundreds of yuan. Among them, the best-selling small dragon Nienie has sold more than 1 million copies online. With the popularity of Nienie, this category has gradually become an IP-based product, becoming one of the regular derivatives of many IP developments.

From then on, Nienie began to be divided into two categories: authorized and unauthorized. The authorized decompression toys are mainly based on popular IPs such as "Egg Party", "Pig Man" and "Milk Dragon", while the unauthorized decompression toys have various shapes, including plants, food, and funny images.

2. The business behind Nienie

The currently popular pinching is more like a carnival in the handcraft circle.

For example, Zulala Nienie, known as the "Hermes of Nien Rings", is extremely popular in the circle. Not only is it hard to find one, but it is also sold at sky-high prices in the seafood market. In @Eleven (crazy buying Nien version)'s Nienie unboxing video worth 15,000 yuan, Zulala Nienie occupies half of the market, and two donuts (chimney cakes) were sold at a price of 2,900 yuan, which is enough to show the high popularity of Zulala Nienie.

@祖拉拉zulala is a handmade blogger on Xiaohongshu. Although she has only 56,000 followers, she can be called a top figure in the pinching circle. Under @祖拉拉zulala's notes, many netizens praised her, "If you are not popular, who will be popular! So beautiful", "As expected of Zulala!! The accessories are so luxurious~", "Hello, I am a policeman. You are arrested because your pinching is too cute. Stretch out your hand for me to catch", "The Zu God is here with the beautiful pinching tools ah ah ah ah", "The Pacific Ocean is the saliva I shed for Zu"...

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

In addition, on Xiaohongshu, you can see many notes such as "Zulala, you are indeed worthy of your reputation!", "What is so magical about the circle-pinching myth Zulala?", "Zulala, I heard you are very famous", "Share the skills of grabbing Zulala", etc. This shows how popular Zulala is.

In fact, there are many handmade bloggers in the pinching circle, such as @Hou Mi Nian Nian Agency, @Balloon No Dog, @Shishi Disaster Artist, @Mumu Nian Nian Studio, and @YYdi Nian Nian Edition. Some of them focus on clay-feeling pinching, while others focus on water-feeling pinching. Most of them are cute dessert-style in appearance.

Since pinching toys are all handmade and cannot be mass-produced, some popular items are in short supply, leading to scalpers maliciously driving up the prices in the second-hand market. This is particularly evident in the case of Zulala pinching toys. A Zulala pinching toy that costs around 100 yuan has even been driven up to a sky-high price of 9,500 yuan. Some netizens said, "Zulala is no longer a stress-relieving toy, it is a stable financial product."

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

However, as the style of pinching circles became increasingly outrageous, more and more problems began to emerge. The most notable problems were the lack of quality control, uneven quality of stores, and long delivery cycles. In addition, the pinching circles would become hard after being left for a period of time. If you bought them at a high premium, the cost performance was extremely low. In addition, the pinching circles have begun to see a price drop, and some netizens said that the price of pinching circles is collapsing.

In fact, Nienie belongs to the large category of slow-rebound toys, and the pioneer of this category is the Japanese brand iBloom, which is also the slow-rebound development company with the largest production scale and the highest brand voice in Japan.

It is understood that the company wanted to make new products that were completely different from the mainstream toy style at that time, so it began to choose to change the materials. During the inspection, the founder Kazuhiko Miyamoto noticed the memory foam, which is soft to the touch and elastic. If toys are made with this material, it will be completely different from the hard modeling toys and plush toys that were popular in Japan at that time.

After developing nearly 200 toys, iBloom finally became popular with a pod-shaped toy. This palm-sized slow-rebound toy has successfully captured the love of many consumers, and iBloom has become famous. Young female users are its main audience. To date, iBloom is no longer just an ordinary toy. Many users collect iBloom for fun, which makes iBloom firmly occupy the leading position in the market.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

In the domestic market, there are also powerful cultural and creative manufacturers who have made slow-rebound toys based on original IP derivatives. For example, Zhejiang Molin Crafts Co., Ltd. has created IPs such as "Coco Cat" and "DIS Rabbit" and used them to produce slow-rebound derivative products. Zhejiang Shangbos Brand Xiaohuang Management Co., Ltd. produces slow-rebound products through authorized IPs such as "My Emperor Cat" and "ViViCat". Since 2023, a series of IPs including Pig Man, Little Liu Duck, Loopy, and Line Puppy have launched slow-rebound products.

This is reflected in the market. In offline stores such as Cool Toys, Jiumu Sundry Shop, MINISO, and Sanfu, slow-rebound toys are becoming one of the categories they are focusing on expanding. Not only are they placed in more prominent locations in the stores, the product series has also gradually evolved from being dominated by IP derivatives to original designs.

3. Emotional value business is becoming popular

Behind the popularity of Nienie, it is more like an emotional value business.

In this fast-paced, high-pressure social environment, anxiety and depression are the norm for many people. In order to seek effective ways to relax, kneading has become a "secret weapon" for many young people to release stress, and many people are willing to pay for it to please themselves and release their emotions.

According to the "2024 China Consumption Trend Survey", 64% of consumers attach more importance to spiritual consumption, and young consumers attach greater importance to spiritual consumption. Consumers pay more attention to their own small world and increasingly pursue a sense of gain, value and meaning in consumption. Rational consumption and emotional life will become the basic aspects of consumption.

In fact, emotional value businesses are increasingly being sought after by young people, which is reflected in all aspects of life. For example, as an important category for emotional relief and release, functional needs such as "deodorization" are gradually weakening, and spiritual needs such as emotional healing and creating a sense of ritual are becoming more prominent. Similar to this are physical goods such as temple bracelets, decompression ornaments, flowers and plants.

In addition, virtual products such as tree hole chat, AI companionship, and game entertainment are also a type of emotional business. For example, the popular game "Finished! I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Women" last year focused on the emotional needs of men. Love simulation games such as "Love and Deep Space", "Love and Producer", and "Light and Night Love" have a large market among female users.

In general, it is no accident that NieNie is popular among young people. It not only provides certain emotional value, but also represents young people’s attitude towards life. It is foreseeable that as young people pay more attention to their own needs, more and more emotional value businesses will emerge.

References:

1. How did the popular "pinching" in short videos become popular in Japan｜New Voice Pro

Author: Claure

Source: WeChat public account "TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)"