Gifts / Sports & Toys

Cards are a well-deserved new "top-tier" in the toy industry in recent years. Channel dealers have not hesitated to use various phrases such as "very popular", "best selling products now", "children love them" and other phrases to describe cards. , And call it a hot toy in the toy market in recent years. A small card can help a company's annual revenue exceed 1 billion yuan or even 2 billion yuan! According to estimates by industry insiders, the scale of the domestic card market has exceeded 10 billion yuan!

Although there are still many problems in the domestic card industry, the hot sales of genuine cards and the layout of more companies all indicate the better development prospects of such products. What about the card market? According to toy manufacturers, the market is very hot and the products are selling well. However, a closer analysis will find that the card market is truly "hot" mainly due to the top brands and their products, and the important factor that affects product sales is IP.

▌Market·Top brands occupy a large share

In the domestic toy industry, brand concentration is low, that is, few single brands can occupy a monopoly position in a certain type of toy market. However, in the card category, there has been a significant clustering effect of top brands. When the reporter visited, it was found that whether it is a stationery store, toy store, or Wal-Mart and other chain supermarkets, only the card tour produced by Kayou (Shanghai) Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kayou Culture") is currently on sale. card.

Cao Gongming, an expert consultant of our magazine and general manager of Beijing Ledi Haocheng Trading Co., Ltd., told reporters that the hottest card market is Kayou, and he also buys goods from Kayou. "I have made other brands of cards before, but the sales are relatively average. Card Games is very professional in making cards, and coupled with more IP, it has become the most popular card brand in China." It is not only Cao Gongming. , Many channel dealers mentioned that they mainly distribute cards for card games.

A card practitioner who did not want to be named mentioned that the annual revenue of card game culture can reach 1 to 2 billion yuan, while the annual revenue of the second-ranked card brand may be only tens of millions of yuan, which is dozens of times in the middle. The gap, not to mention the third and fourth place, and the brands that have just started, take up even less share.

▌Channel·Offline volume to expand online

The above-mentioned card practitioners told reporters that the card unit price is relatively low, and it generally depends on the volume to increase overall sales. Therefore, most brands will give priority to offline channels for distribution, especially schoolside stores, stationery stores, Supermarkets, convenience stores and other channels that children often go to. In addition, other new channels for card sales, such as Zhishang, Mu Jiu Shi Zawu She and MINISO are also new channels for card sales.

Shopping malls used to be the main positions of big-name toys, and it seemed that they didn't match the cards. However, from the "Sino and Foreign Toys Manufacturing" hand-in-hand with key shopping malls released the "Shopping Mall Best-selling Toys Ranking List for the First Quarter of 2021", the card not only enters the market channel, but also sells well, and has been on the hot sales list of many shopping malls ( See pages 30~33 in this issue for details).

In addition to cooperating with channel vendors, card companies have also opened offline flagship stores. According to the reporter's understanding, Guangzhou Jason Animation Culture Co., Ltd. is preparing a brand flagship store, and the first offline flagship store of Kayou Culture will also open in Guangzhou Grandview Plaza in June. Opening a flagship store can display all the cards of the brand in a more concentrated manner, especially allowing consumers to see the physical objects of rare cards; game cards can be tried and played on the spot, which can not only help brand promotion, but also promote sales.

Last year, after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it had a great impact on offline channels and also affected card sales. In order to alleviate the operating pressure brought by the traditional sales model to enterprises, card companies have adopted various measures, such as card game culture combined with the characteristics of the upgrade of new retail people and goods yards, and try to use the unmanned retail smart sales model card twisting machine. This model is similar to unmanned vending machines, which not only opens up sales channels for the entire category, but also greatly reduces front-line personnel and costs.

On all e-commerce platforms, "card" is used as a keyword to search. Except for the official flagship stores of Kayou and Kameng Cultural and Creative, most of the cards of other brands are personal stores. In the past, cards were rarely sold online, mainly because online was not suitable for single pack sales, and most of them were sold in whole boxes. The price of a pack of cards is relatively low, but the price of the whole box also ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan, which is not the price that children can buy with pocket money. However, due to the trend of omni-channel layout and the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, card companies are gradually expanding online channels. For example, Jason Animation’s card brand Jikasha has opened a mini program mall.

▲Guangzhou Gold Rush Walmart only sells cards produced by Kayou Culture

▲Online official card shops are still relatively few

▌Products and different prices IP affect sales

The reporter bought 3 packs of cards randomly at the stationery shop on the roadside. The price of the classic version of "Douluo Continent Wuhun Collection Order" is 1 yuan, including 1 SR card and 5 R cards. These 5 R cards have one character. Zhang is a duplicate; the price of the legendary version of "Douluo Continent Martial Soul Collection Order" is 5 yuan, including 2 rare cards and 4 ordinary cards; the price of "Fifth Personality-Mystery Mirror Collection Card-Deduction Pack" is 10 yuan , Including 3 ordinary cards, 2 rare cards, 2 rare cards, and 1 phantom card. It can be seen that the higher the retail price, the higher the number of cards per pack and the number of rare cards.

This price has increased compared to the previous two years. According to a previous report in the "Chinese and Foreign Toy Manufacturing" magazine, consumers can buy 1 pack (6-8 cards) for 2 to 5 yuan. There are many reasons that affect the price, such as the change of card printing process, the increase of IP authorization fee, and the increase of paper price. However, this slight increase in price does not affect card sales, and the real impact on card sales is mainly IP.

Kayou is currently the most popular card brand, and it can become the leading brand in the card field. Many people in the industry believe that it is inseparable from the acquisition of the "Ultraman" authorization by the card game culture. "Of all the cards in the card game, the sales of the'Ultraman' series are estimated to account for half or more." Cao Gongming said. According to data provided by Ningbo Little Elf Children's Products Co., Ltd., in the 30 best-selling stores of Elf General Mobilization in the first quarter of this year, the best-selling cards are "Ultraman" cards.

In addition to the "Ultraman" card, other hot-selling cards include the "Douluo Dalu", "Ye Luoli", "Full-time Master", "Broken Sky" cards and so on. In this situation, Cao Gongming believes that card gameplay is more of additional attributes, and children prefer to collect cards, especially in order to collect a set and constantly repeat purchases. The main reason why children want to collect cards is because they like the IP on the cards. From this perspective, card sales are somewhat similar to fan economy.

Since IP has a great influence on card sales, the more IP a company has, the more IP authorization cards it releases, and the better sales will be. Mr. Huang, who is setting up the card market, told reporters that because many well-known IPs with many fans have been taken down by the card game culture, small card companies have turned to cooperate with some niche IPs, which is a different way. .