Generation Z loves trendy things! (Part 2)

From philately culture to cultural relics collection culture, people's love for "collecting" has never changed. As a generation of young people gradually grows into the main consumer force in the market economy, Generation Z has grown into a must-win group for brand marketing. They have transferred their love of "collecting" to trendy toys. This article will analyze Generation Z's consumption preferences and development trends for trendy toys. Welcome to read.

In the previous article, we analyzed the inherent changes in the consumption needs and consumption characteristics of the main target users of trendy toys, namely the Generation Z group. Next, we will have a more in-depth discussion on their consumption preferences and development trends.

1. Only by grasping the hearts of trendy people can you make them willing to spend money.

Therefore, only by understanding which groups of people love trendy toys the most can we do a good job of marketing to them and occupy the minds of consumers. Among them, the top three driving factors that influence young people to buy trendy toys are naturally personal preferences for playing and viewing, limited collection, and IP cultural linkage.

Produced by Community Marketing Research Institute, data source: Crawley online quantitative research data

On the other hand, the factors that determine consumers' purchasing decisions are different and have changed greatly in the past one or two years.

In 2020, according to iiMedia data, trendy toy enthusiasts at that time paid more attention to the brand effect when purchasing trendy toys, and well-known brands were often their first choice; followed by appearance, price and packaging, which were almost the same, and at that time, the impact of other factors was minimal.

But just two years later, everything changed. When purchasing products, brand is no longer the first factor that consumers consider. Design, quality, and craftsmanship have become the top three considerations.

This is mainly due to the qualitative change brought about by the "trendy" attribute of trendy toys and the increased copyright awareness of consumers, because the so-called "trendy" naturally has unique originality, novelty and exquisiteness.

Produced by Community Marketing Research Institute, data sources: iiMedia, Clour

Therefore, under such a "trend", the design of trendy toys has become the most important factor for trendy toy buyers when purchasing, and they will also chase the designers of their favorite trendy toys, become followers and advocates, and naturally defend their originality and copyright, and have zero tolerance for plagiarism. The craftsmanship and materials used by the designer will naturally attract much attention. These are also important factors in their liking for designers and works.

Naturally, if designers and manufacturers use materials that do not meet national standards or adopt poor workmanship, once discovered by consumers, it will become a reason for trendy players to quit, which will not be worth the loss.

After that, there is the influence of IP culture. As both a purchasing driver and a selection factor, its influence is not small. The enthusiasm of an IP fan is hard to underestimate, and this is also what a designer and IP owner wants to protect the most.

The last factor is price. As one of the top 5 influencing factors in 2020, it has declined to fifth place in 2022, but it is also the only remaining factor.

This is mainly because the promotion of trendy toys often attracts consumers by launching so-called limited editions or hidden editions . Therefore, some scalpers take advantage of the situation and use consumers' collecting habits to collect a set or their desire for limited editions to drive up prices, which often makes the market price inflated and discourages some players.

2. Content is king, social sharing creates a new direction for future trendy play

It seems that scalpers know how to capture the hearts of consumers. As industry professionals, they naturally need to understand that only by taking "content as king" + "social sharing" can we truly create a new direction for future trendy toys and drive the industry forward.

After all, in the current environment, new entrants continue to increase, and the market is close to saturation. Therefore, if there is no major change, the tail participants will soon be eliminated. It is necessary to seize the characteristics of the blind box market, such as large development space, high stickiness of hand-made fans, and high repurchase rate of trendy toy buyers, and combine the operation model of circle sharing and social networking to expand the entire market pie, so that more companies can survive and develop.

Produced by Community Marketing Research Institute; Data source: Crawley Online Quantitative Research Data

Now is the best time for the widespread application of social media in the Internet era, breaking the boundaries of time and space for more niche circles. The establishment of online communities allows trendy toy enthusiasts to make friends and share their love through the Internet . "Planting", "pulling", "evaluation", "popular science" and other social sharing can be said to be a set of combos that will keep you dazzled.

Unintentional recommendations of products by appearance are the most "fatal", often winning the hearts of consumers without them noticing. Of course, key recommendations from influencers are also a powerful marketing tool, especially the popularization of knowledge by trendy play influencers in vertical fields. The second is other types of Internet celebrities, and finally the occasional recommendations from influencers that consumers follow.

In addition, recommendations among friends (especially recommendations among friends in the same circle) often have miraculous effects. After all, birds of a feather flock together. This is especially true in the field of trendy toys, which has very prominent social attributes.

Finally, we have to talk about the power of IP. Whether it is an animation, novel, film and television drama, game, etc., an IP can actually attract a group of fans of its own.

In this case, we need to understand what kind of publicity channels can help spread trendy social media.

First of all, social media is an important channel for young people to obtain trendy toy content, and Xiaohongshu is the undisputed first choice. Douyin, as an emerging social media that is popular both at home and abroad, is also gradually playing an important role. Douyin's high traffic, content power and e-commerce power have injected fresh vitality into the trendy toy segment. Bilibili, a gathering place for the second dimension, has also successfully entered the top five social media platforms, mainly relying on its own advantages in the integration of "content + channels + community circles".

Produced by Community Marketing Research Institute; Data source: Crawley Online Quantitative Research Data

However, the most "eye-catching" thing on trendy social media is "opening blind boxes". This is because of the psychological needs behind blind boxes: from a psychological perspective, you can "spend less money" to gain expectations and surprises through blind boxes. Showing off on social media or live-streaming the purchase and opening of blind boxes not only allows you to share this exciting feeling, but also makes others envious when you open the collector's edition, which makes you feel more satisfied.

Therefore, social media channels can be regarded as an important incubator for blind boxes, followed by brand channels for trendy toys, which mainly rely on brand official websites such as 19八3 and 52TOYS and channels such as the Cool Music Trendy Toy Community APP, which gather trendy toy enthusiasts and promote products while outputting content.

Finally, there are some trendy vertical apps that also play an important role, such as PaQu, DanQu, YuanQi Blind Box, Chao Wanjia, Crazy Doll City, etc.

These channels are frantically exporting the different preferences of young people for trendy toys, including but not limited to new product/blind box unboxing, evaluation/pitfall avoidance guide, trendy toy product/activity information, baby show/toy collection display, etc. In recent years, with the rise of national trends and national styles, some domestically produced products and content have also become popular in the field of trendy toys.

Blind boxes can open ancient figures; BJD dolls have also given birth to countless beauties in ancient costumes; more importantly, in the field of building blocks, the mortise and tenon structure building blocks with "national style" as the trend and the ancient Chinese architectural building blocks have become very popular.

What’s more interesting is that on social media, the process of assembling building blocks has also attracted more and more consumers’ attention and interest. This trend is not only popular in China, but also has attracted many overseas consumer groups on Douyin as the national trend IP has been exported.

Produced by Community Marketing Research Institute, screenshot source: Clour

In general, trendy toy marketing is an effective way for brands to break through their circle and efficiently reach the young consumer market.

Taking content as king, utilizing social circles, and leveraging this "love for IP" to help brands quickly capture the minds of Generation Z consumers is an important part of the further development and growth of trendy toys.

As the times change and Generation Z grows up, the fan base of trendy toys will further expand, and the overall retail market of trendy toys in China will also grow rapidly. I believe that the Chinese trendy toy market will not only have Pop Mart as a listed player in the entire industry chain, but also more industry leaders will join in, bringing our national trendy IP to the international stage.

Source: Community Marketing Research Institute (ID: Community_Marketing), insights into community consumption