In 10 years, the scale of the "Ichiban Award" has grown to 30 billion yen

Source@和evil society

The "Lucky Draw" is popular mainly at convenience stores. In about 10 years since the start of the business, the business has grown rapidly to 30 billion yen. Although it is mainly engaged in the animation market now, it may also expand its business in the direction of three-dimensional idols in the future. Banpresto has an 80% share of the market, so let's talk about the background of the popularity of the company and the latest user trends.

■It started as a convenience store and grew rapidly

The first prize, which has been developed mainly for convenience stores and specialty stores, is known as a "lottery that never fails". The quality of the products has been widely acclaimed, and the scale of the industry has now expanded to 30 billion yen, which is the same or even larger than the toy toy industry of the past. Eighty percent of the market share in this market is Banpresto (note: because its trademark resembles a pair of glasses, also known as an optical factory).

"Ten years ago, we were selling mainly at gift shops and amusement parks in scenic spots, and our performance was not good. The performance has improved greatly after entering convenience stores in 03, and after 06 years, the company has invested in products such as Gundam (note: the company was acquired by Bandai in 06), and the consumer base has expanded. People who are new to anime have not yet been exposed to character goods, and this is our breakthrough. (Junichi Osashi, general manager of the Ichiban Prize Promotion Department of Banpresto Co., Ltd. / the same below.)

In his retrospective, Da Bo, who calls himself a "prize passer," said that after starting a business at a convenience store, he faced various difficulties such as selecting characters and developing products.

"Convenience stores are among the most quality-regulated sales places in Japan. Then, the company's previous practice is no longer applicable, and it is necessary to increase efforts to improve and maintain the quality of goods. As a result, the feedback received on our entertainment products shows that the quality of the products has indeed improved qualitatively. In addition, although there was a lot of opposition to male-oriented products at first, believing that the lottery had no selling point, in fact, male-oriented products have become a major driving force for the development of the "Ichibankao" brand.

■The Ichiban Reward Club has approximately 2.8 million registered users

Nowadays, there is an increasing number of "targeted consumers" who visit convenience stores specifically for the purpose of lottery draws. Due to the high reviews of the products, Banpresto alone now releases about 120 series of products every year. Behind its growth, there is a well-thought-out marketing approach.

"The free website 'Ichiban Club', which has been operating since '07, is officially open to the public. The website has about 2.8 million registered users, and the website collects information about users related to various products, surveys the satisfaction of various products, and obtains detailed data. In addition, you can search for products on the store website through the list of stores on the Guò website, which has been well received by users. ”

In addition to the above-mentioned figures, the company also conducts regular questionnaires and consultation meetings to strictly control the subject matter and quantity of products issued by the company. "Of course, we don't just take a marketing approach, sometimes we need to be bold and take on challenges. It's important to strike a balance. The optimal quantity of each commodity can usually be calculated, but there will always be errors. That error is a sign that there may be new customer needs. ”

Today, most of the themes of the products sold in this market come from the Banpresto company. In the future, the company will not only release anime character products, but also develop a series of music idol products.

"In addition to anime, we also need to vigorously develop products with other contents. This allows you to develop more new users. Moreover, the success of Ichiban gives us reason to broaden our horizons and develop more products in the future." ”

Let's wait and see what the future of Banpresto, which has created a new era in the character industry, will be held for the "Ichiban Reward" that it operates.

Translation: Bubble Green Tea

Proofreading: Keiko