(Yicai Global) March 8 -- China’s ‘mystery’ or ‘blind’ box market, where the exterior packaging is the same but the contents are different, has become very popular in recent years. But it can lead to impulse buying and other forms of excessive consumption and needs to be better regulated, delegates to the ongoing meetings of the country’s top political and legislative bodies are suggesting.

‘Blind’ boxes mainly appeal to children and adolescents who are very impressionable and keen to keep up with the latest trends, said He Yunhao, director of the Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Nanjing University as well as chief expert at the Jiangsu Historical and Cultural Research Base.

Vendors should make clear the value of the goods inside the boxes and the proportion of boxes that contain the most sought-after items before they can go to market, he said.

A third-party monitoring mechanism is needed to keep a tab on what is in the blind boxes, said Yang Xuemei, president of Huanghe Science and Technology University. A list of prohibited items, such as live animals, should be issued.

China’s first regulations on the sale of blind boxes were released by Shanghai on Jan. 14, stipulating that the price of a single mystery box must not exceed CNY200 (USD31.70), that they cannot be used to boost the price of ordinary products and that they cannot be sold to children under eight years old. Chinese toy maker and the country’s largest seller of blind boxes Pop Mart’s share price [HKG:9992] has since tumbled 20 percent.

Editor: Kim Taylor