The power of blind boxes over consumers For the audience, unboxing videos are an entertaining content, for brands a money-making machine

We live in a society of images and the constant need to share on our social media the latest item purchased or experience tried. If we add to this that almost ancestral feeling of anticipation, similar to what we felt as children on Christmas morning in front of gifts, we witness a true performance that combines emotion with the marketing call to action. It is on these premises that unboxing is based, which, since the turn of the millennium, has become a viral phenomenon first on YouTube, focusing particularly on electronic items and toys, and later landing on next-generation social platforms, turning into a full-fledged product placement experience.

The Unboxing Experience, which over the years has established itself as a growing trend, creates storytelling around the packaging content that keeps the viewer glued to the screen, leveraging the wow factor. And it hardly matters whether the content is from The Row, Prada, or Asos; the experience is both transversal and democratic: watching UGC creators open a package they bought or received as a gift gives us a dopamine release due to curiosity about the unknown, turning unboxing into a cathartic moment. Empathy, audience connection, and authenticity are the ingredients that hook potential consumers. Social media calls and companies respond: thus, investing in a promotional strategy becomes crucial, making the packaging recognizable with an attractive aesthetic. The distance between box and product has shrunk.

The Unboxing Experience

It could only be Made in China—the evolution of this trend: selling products via social media is a profitable business in the country, which does not seem to ease its grip despite the period of general consumer distrust caused by the economic crisis. It is a race to grab the lucky package with blind box livestreaming. Viral on Douyin, the Chinese twin of TikTok, the live streams offer buyers the opportunity to win a larger number of prizes at a low cost in a dynamic similar to gambling. To mitigate the risks of addiction that consumers might face, the Chinese government issued a decree regulating sales, excluding minors and requiring sellers to disclose the odds of winning. But what exactly does it involve?

Viewers, with a small amount of money, buy low-value items hidden in “blind boxes.” The seller opens the boxes live and shows the contents: based on what’s inside, players may receive another box and another chance to win. The pastime involves significant waste, balancing between online infomercial and amusement park activity—a digital mall exploiting the consumer-spectator’s boredom in an escalation that pushes them to buy, accumulate, and discard, as documented in the recent Netflix documentary Buy Now. The common denominator for success is the low price of items, ranging between 1 and 10 dollars.

The Euphoria Behind the Screen

“People are looking for alternative ways to participate in the consumption economy without a major impact on their wallet,” said Ivy Yang, e-commerce analyst and founder of the communication agency Wavelet Strategy, in an interview with the New York Times. “They want something that offers a sort of economic thrill.” Thus, the phenomenon not only provides a sense of community through interaction but also addresses a period of restrained spending. Although the items in question cost less when purchased directly on Taobao, one of China’s largest e-commerce sites, the experience is not the same.

“Buying directly from online stores doesn’t offer the same emotional value,” said Xu. “I can feel adrenaline skyrocket when the streamer opens the bag.” In cases of popular video-selling creators of blind boxes, live views can reach tens of thousands in a single night. If the streamer’s excitement at a lucky draw is the engine, the collective euphoria of viewers watching and commenting behind the screen is the pivot. The business is lucrative: a Chinese streamer stated she earns around 110 dollars per live, a figure well above the national average salary.

The blind box phenomenon, although driven mainly by younger generations, represents much more than a trend. This form of purchase reflects the desire for control in times of information overload, and ignoring its roots would mean failing to understand the deep anxieties driving its spread. In a sense, speculative commerce responds to this need. “I believe blind boxes reintroduce a useful friction in the consumer experience. When something comes too easily, we tend to value it less,” explains Jerry Kwok, former LVMH analyst in Hong Kong. “Intentional friction, combined with surprise, makes the experience and what’s inside more valuable and memorable.”

An Expanding Market

But what happens when lotteries leave the screens and land in the real world? Riding the wave of the phenomenon, in 2024 Shook opened in Milan, the first blind box store in the city, as stated on its Instagram profile, offering small collectible items with themes ranging from anime to K-pop. The same year saw the opening of the second space by Pop Mart International Group, which chose Milan as the first Italian hub. The Chinese giant, specialized in toy sales, in addition to offering licensed products such as action figures from The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Disney, Minions, PowerPuff Girls, has capitalized over time on “blind boxes,” making the diversification of gamification proposals its cornerstone. Let’s not forget the Labubu, whose irresistible charm attracted consumers from the start, but it was the blind box format that turned them into a worldwide success. When buying a Labubu, surprise was the true protagonist.

Plastic figurines and creatures with the most varied textures, contained in small cardboard boxes, are sold for around 10-15 euros each. The company, founded by Wang Nin in 2010 as a variety store in Beijing, has expanded globally over the past 16 years: following the paths of Shein and Temu, Pop Mart became the latest Chinese retailer to target American consumers. Later collaborations with international artists and brands followed, and the numbers speak for themselves: revenues in the first half of 2024 reached 642 million dollars according to Forbes, up almost two-thirds compared to the same period the previous year. According to Eva Zhao, the Group’s Marketing Director, Milan has inserted itself into this landscape as a starting point for Italian expansion, with Rome as the second step and further openings planned in Bologna and Florence.

Social media, once again, not only function as amplifiers of trends but also as active competitors fueling the model around which consumer society revolves. Demand and supply are the actors involved in a program of intermittent wins, the emotional dynamic is the means that keeps the buyer engaged and inclined to continue purchasing in hopes of winning. The ultimate goal is to generate as much profit as possible, with evident costs for our planet.