Investigating the impact of online information provision on the market price of blind box

Abstract

The worldwide popularity of blind boxes is growing rapidly. A blind box contains one of a series of products, which is not revealed until after a consumer receives and opens it. This separation of the transaction and fulfillment processes creates a mystery and excitement when purchasing a blind box. Thus, online information provision plays an important role for consumers to understand blind box and generate their willingness to pay. This study investigates the link between the format of online information provision and the market price of a blind box, focusing on a comprehensive examination of the linguistic characteristics of sellers’ product descriptions. This study finds that a U-shaped relationship exists between the subjectivity, diversity, and readability of the blind box product description and its market price. This calls online sellers to use an “extreme-point” approach when crafting their product descriptions. However, the findings suggest that an inverted U-shape relationship between ambiguity and the market price. That is, online sellers should provide the necessary information but in a brief way to keep the mystery of blind box. In addition, the findings suggest that ambiguity of the product description plays the most important role in affecting the blind box price. However, when a blind box is open, ambiguity does not play a significant role, and the impact of diversity is reversed. The findings offer guidelines for online sellers to implement their optimal information provision strategy to enhance the product attractiveness and increase consumers’ willingness to pay and thus their financial performance.