BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — On Dec. 31, the final day of 2024, Cui Zhijun and his pals visited “guzi” retailers in Beijing’s Wangfujing Xiyue Shopping Center, wearing anime-character costumes. As a fan of the anime sequence “Naruto”, this was his distinctive manner of welcoming the New Year.
The phrase “guzi,” a homonym for the English phrase “goods,” refers to badges, acrylic determine stands, playing cards and different merchandise that includes ACG (animation, comedian and sport) tradition parts.
Like Cui, many younger Chinese individuals are attracted by the rising “guzi consumption” phenomenon and are keen to buy “good moods” — paying for the emotional worth of the guzi.
GOODS & GOOD MOODS
“The pleasure that guzi gives me is that it offers me a new way to interact with friends old and new, and it’s also a hobby that makes my life more fulfilling,” Cui stated.
Most guzi value not more than 100 yuan (about 13.9 U.S. {dollars}), and essentially the most generally seen ones are badges of round 15 yuan every. Just a few uncommon guzi could attain costs of greater than 1,000 yuan.
In current years, with the rise of the ACG business, an increasing number of younger folks, particularly Generation Z and youthful generations, have develop into eager on amassing guzi merchandise.
This rising pattern has created recent enterprise alternatives. Dimension GO, a guzi retailer model, opened its Wangfujing Xiyue retailer in November 2024. The retailer noticed greater than 1 million yuan in turnover throughout its first month.
“My favorite character is Imai Lisa. She is a character in a music game,” stated Feng Gu, a cosplay fanatic. “I like her because of her character. I think she is like an older sister who is very sunny and caring.”
Feng stated that, aside from amassing related guzi, she additionally likes to take part in cosplay team-building actions, primarily based round a selected franchise or story — known as “IP”, that means “intellectual property.” At such occasions, everybody attire up as totally different characters within the IP, and takes pictures or information movies collectively.
Another guzi fan surnamed Song, born in 2010, additionally made new pals via guzi. She stated that she as soon as participated in an offline guzi blind-box exercise and located it onerous to get the piece she wished. Then one other participant occurred to have the very piece of guzi and generously gave it to her. She felt significantly completely happy and grateful. Song stated they exchanged contacts and nonetheless be in contact, speaking about guzi and their favourite IPs.
Dang Qiong, affiliate professor on the faculty of journalism and communication at Guangxi University, stated ACG tradition has a robust attraction to younger folks, particularly youngsters, and guzi-related communities can meet their emotional wants for idols and favourite IPs.
Young folks discover pals with related pursuits, gaining a way of belonging via sharing and exchanges, Dang stated, including that the acquisition and show of uncommon guzi has now develop into a manner for them to specific their identification.
According to a McKinsey survey, 64 p.c of Chinese customers connect extra significance to emotional consumption, and that is evident amongst younger customers specifically.
“GUZI FEVER” ONLINE & OFFLINE
In current years, guzi has develop into wanted by many younger folks, each on-line and offline. Because of the astonishing value of sure restricted version merchandise, additionally it is nicknamed “plastic gold”.
According to information evaluation supplier iiMedia Research, the “guzi economy” will proceed to develop within the subsequent few years, with the general market dimension anticipated to exceed 300 billion yuan in 2029.
Guzi has sparked heated discussions on-line, with related matters seen greater than 10 billion instances on Douyin, the Chinese model of TikTok. On the Xiaohongshu platform, the web page views of guzi-related matters have exceeded 2 billion.
In addition to the web discussions, the social capabilities of guzi have supplied offline purchasing malls new choices for enhancing buyer movement and stimulating consumption vitality.
According to a analysis report of Zheshang Securities, greater than 60 core enterprise circles in additional than 20 first- and second-tier cities in China have been creating landmarks for ACG-related consumption.
These enterprise areas not solely encompass guzi retailers, but additionally maintain associated flash-mob actions to supply recent experiences, in addition to alternatives for guzi lovers to speak.
Shanghai Bailian ZX inventive middle, a shopping center that includes ACG tradition, has welcomed greater than 15 million clients inside 18 months of reopening in January 2023, holding greater than 700 occasions. The whole gross sales income in the course of the interval exceeded 500 million yuan.
“Compared with online consumption, customers choose offline consumption to save waiting costs, have a better shopping and after-sales experience, and obtain more emotional value during the process,” stated He Zhiwei, Beijing director of Dimension GO.
With the fast growth of home animation and cell video games in China, the cultural and artistic industries and IP derivatives are welcoming a bigger market area.
Compared with merchandise imported from Japan and different nations, home guzi not solely has its personal benefits when it comes to value and logistics velocity, however can be gaining recognition for its personal cultural worth.
In many guzi shops, home IPs occupy a big proportion, resembling prize-winning cell video games Honkai: Star Rail, and Genshin Impact.
Dang, the affiliate professor, believes that as a way to obtain long-term growth of the business, it’s essential to concentrate to the cultural values. Meanwhile, the commercial chain may be expanded by enriching product classes and innovating enterprise fashions, resembling growing digital content material, IP-derived companies and immersive experiences, to create extra cultural worth and a greater consumption expertise.