"Are Jiangnan Blind Boxes very popular in America too?" Leng Zhiruo, who had been silent, asked in surprise.
"Oh, this little beauty knows about Jiangnan Blind Boxes too!" the boss said, a little surprised.
"Of course we know. You don't think blind boxes will only sell games in the future, do you? Jiangnan Blind Boxes' hottest items are the clothing blind boxes, which are filled with tons of beautiful clothes. They're so tempting that even European princesses specifically come to China to buy them!" Leng Zhiwen said with a giggle.
"Then I really don't understand. I'm only concerned with the game-related stuff!" the boss chuckled. "As for how popular Jiangnan Blind Boxes are here, just wait a few minutes and you'll see the business at the shop across the street!"
"Really?" Huang He had already noticed the shop. Unlike other shops in the mall, this one had a lot of people gathered at its entrance. They were lining up in two queues under the direction of staff. Roughly estimating, there were at least fifty to sixty people.
The majority of them were Black and White.
"Here he comes, Little John is here!" the boss suddenly exclaimed. Then, a Black man with an afro hairstyle walked into the store carrying a giant box. The crowd queuing outside instantly erupted.
A few minutes later, Little John came out pushing two whole shelves, both laden with various figurines, assembly models, and other collectibles.
"Aren't these items from the third series of Warcraft blind boxes?" Leng Zhiruo recognized them from afar as soon as she saw the items in the cabinets.
These were the third series of Warcraft 3 blind boxes, released in mid-May. In addition to the new skins for various units, as usual, the most crucial aspect of this series was the inclusion of 15 special maps, all of which were rare rewards.
This meant that in the third series blind boxes, the main staple product, the rare items, were these 15 special maps.
Through years of market analysis, the Jiangnan Group had a thorough understanding of user psychology.
They knew very well that for a game blind box product, common items were easily obtained, while deluxe items were too difficult. Therefore, what truly attracted users to purchase were the rare items.
These were the items that could be obtained with approximately one out of every ten boxes. They were the main attraction for players who could get them with a small investment.
Thus, the design efforts for the first and second series of game blind boxes were primarily focused on the rare items.
However, in the third series, the rare items became 15 special maps within the game. Furthermore, the corresponding physical products for these special maps were handcrafted diorama map kits. Each kit provided the necessary props to create a map, and it was a toy for manual arrangement.
To be honest, the cost was very low, not even ten yuan. They were just colored foam plastics. However, to obtain such a diorama map, one had to spend an average of 100 yuan to draw blind boxes. This truly made Leng Zhiwen very worried that the special maps would not attract players' purchasing desire.
Initially, this was indeed the case. The special maps did not seem to have much appeal. It wasn't until a week later that the sales of the third series blind boxes suddenly surged, selling five million boxes in a single day, totaling fifty million RMB.
This rapid sales momentum surprised everyone in the Jiangnan Group, setting a new daily sales record for a single blind box item.
Of course, according to the company's market department, the main reason for this historic record was the opening of online shopping.
Previously, buying blind boxes required visiting Jiangnan flagship stores or mobile stores distributed across the country, and often involved queuing for popular blind boxes, which was ultimately inconvenient.
But with the Jiangnan Mall, all blind boxes could be purchased directly online without queuing or waiting; a simple click of a finger on the mall was enough.
Out of the five million boxes sold in one day, three million were sold through the online mall, which was the best proof.
Of course, the online mall also had limitations, requiring a few days of waiting to receive the goods, unlike flagship stores where one could get them immediately. It could be said that both had their pros and cons.
But in any case, the third series of Warcraft blind boxes were indeed extremely popular, and their popularity was almost on par with the first series blind boxes.
However, Leng Zhiruo never expected that the third series blind boxes would become popular all the way to Los Angeles.
As Little John pushed out the two cabinets of goods, the people queuing immediately became agitated. They took out their dollars and shouted something, as if they wanted to buy everything in the cabinets.
Unfortunately, there was a purchase limit. Each American could buy at most one item. Therefore, Leng Zhiruo saw that most of the people at the front of the line chose to buy the handcrafted diorama map kits.
In less than three minutes, about fifty handcrafted diorama map kits in the cabinets were sold out, leaving only some common items and a few deluxe items.
The remaining dozens of players who didn't get them either left grumbling, or a minority chose to buy some common figurines and left. However, one particularly wealthy patron swept away all the deluxe items in the cabinets.
In less than 20 minutes, the common figurines in the cabinets were also sold out. Both cabinets were completely empty, and the customers had all dispersed.
"In 20 minutes, Old John can earn at least 5,000 US dollars!" At this moment, the boss of this shop said enviously. "Now you understand why I asked you to find a way to mail blind boxes to me from China! Little John makes over 5,000 US dollars in pure profit every day because he controls the supply, while my shop doesn't even earn 5,000 US dollars a month."
"So, young man, you must take my words to heart and help me get various game blind box items when you return to China. But remember, they must be unused Chinese redemption codes, otherwise, they won't sell!"
"Also, don't keep the boxes. If you keep the boxes, they become merchandise. When you mail them, write that they are toys for your relatives, so they can likely be tax-exempt."
"If you get a common item, I'll pay you an extra 10%. If you can get a rare item from the third series, I'll give you 10 dollars per diorama map. If you can get a deluxe item, it's 100 dollars per box as a bonus, what do you say? Consider it!" the boss said enticingly.
A rare diorama map had a drop rate of 10%, meaning it cost an average of 100 RMB to draw one box.
But now, the boss was offering a 10 dollar bonus per box. This meant that if Huang He obtained a box and sold it to the boss, he would earn 80 yuan, which was almost the value of a rare item. This benefit was quite astonishing.
However, thinking about it another way, if Huang He, as an intermediary, could earn 10 dollars per box, then the boss, as the seller, must be earning twenty to thirty dollars or more per box. This meant that the selling price of a rare item in the US would be around 50 dollars!
As Huang He was mumbling about this, a player came over with three boxes of Warcraft 3 diorama maps and said to the boss in English, "Boss, here's 6 dollars, please help me input three Chinese redemption codes!"
"Alright!" The boss walked over with a smile, sat down at the shop's computer, opened the oo game center, logged out of his account and password, and returned to the login page.
Then, he gave his seat to the customer. The customer quickly sat down, skillfully entered his oo account and password, logged into his oo account, and then entered the Warcraft 3 game through the game column on the left side of the oo game center. xxs壹贰
My goodness, a computer in Los Angeles was installed with the Chinese server game client from thousands of miles away. This scene was truly surreal.
What was even more surreal was that after the customer logged into the game, he gave his seat back to the boss and began to unbox the three boxes of diorama maps he had purchased. He found the redemption code plaques attached to them and handed them to the boss.
The boss then opened the customer's redemption code interface, entered the 24-character Chinese redemption code, and helped activate the corresponding special maps for his account.
The entire process was seamless. In less than two minutes, all three redemption codes were activated. He then calmly accepted the 6 dollars from the customer, clearly not his first time doing such a business.
"Damn, inputting 24 Chinese characters to earn 2 dollars, boss, you're going to get rich!" Huang He couldn't help but say with some envy.
Those struggling writers who typed online every day in the future only earned about 20 yuan per 1,000 characters, but this boss earned 100 US dollars per 1,000 characters, which was equivalent to the income of a top author.
"Hehe, small money, just small money. Opportunities like this are rare. The most profitable thing is to get the first-hand blind box supply!" the boss chuckled. While he was still trying to entice Huang He to get him supplies, three more customers walked into the shop with items, requesting Chinese redemption codes. Clearly, they had just bought things from the shop next door and came straight here.
The boss's prime location was thus evident.
Huang He took the opportunity to give Leng Zhiruo a look and then said, "Little brother, doesn't it lag when you play on Chinese servers in America?"
Leng Zhiruo quickly translated it into English.
"What's it to you!" the other party replied domineeringly.
"Cough cough!" Huang He coughed and then said, "I have all the skins, including special maps!!"
"You're lying!" The young man was startled. Huang He then patted the boss's shoulder, signaling him to move aside. He sat down at the computer and, with a series of operations, switched to another account. He then displayed his skin page for everyone to see.
As expected, all 75 special skins from the three series of blind boxes released so far, as well as the 15 special maps, were lit up on this page.
"Why is your page gold? Ours are all black!" the players exclaimed upon seeing this.
"Normal. As long as you activate all the skins and special maps, the entire page will turn gold. This is the unique honor for having all skins and special maps!" Huang He said casually.
"God!" The domineering young man immediately knelt down. The boss quietly walked behind Huang He and said, "Brother, are you selling this account? I'll offer 5,000 US dollars!"