Physical sales are inflated due to Jewel case version?

Quote from gerrard174

Noticed recently that most of the 4th gen GGs are releasing jewel case or light versions (some with member versions) which is priced extremely low. These versions basically explain why the sales of 4th gen GGs like NMIXX, IVE are so huge. StayC has jewel case verison also. Le sserafim is releasing the jewel case too.

This makes the physical sales not comparable. aespa has 3 versions but none of them are priced extremely cheap. Their jewel case i.e. synk dive is very expensive too. Kep1er also didnt have jewel case version.

Edit: Any way to split the sales by versions so that the 4th gen GGs sales are more comparable?

What's the price of jewel cases, $8 and below?

The only way to separate is by looking at the hanteo realtime and writing it down each day. So you're probably out of luck for past albums unless someone recorded it on Twitter.

Multiple versions = increased output of supply. Cross high supply with high demand from K-pop fans (especially ones from big groups) and we get large sales!

There! I put my term's worth of economics into good use!

No? 600k sales is 600k sales

Not really. I don’t think the number of ppl I.e casual fans who won’t buy an album if it’s a few dollars more will affect sales as much as you think they would. But mine is as much a speculation as your stance.

Also why will you split sales lol. Jewel case is valid album sales.

Next why don’t you argue that some groups albums are more easily available in target and wallmart while others aren’t hence they’re sold more. All of this is extremely silly because those are the choices a company makes.

Since everyone operates differently you’ll never be able to compare anyone to anyone else so just quite doing so I guess lol.

Quote from gerrard174

No one doubt the sales volume. Each copy sold is a sale.

BUT to those people who drag aespa for selling lesser than IVE, imo is not a fair comment at all.

I mean you could argue also about how many version an album has too but who has the time to track the sales of each version.

Quote from gerrard174

No one doubt the sales volume. Each copy sold is a sale.

BUT to those people who drag aespa for selling lesser than IVE, imo is not a fair comment at all.

It is very fair. (Not the dragging part but it’s entirely valid to say someone sold more if the numbers are there) It was SM’s choice to price albums higher.

You can’t argue based on some random speculation that aespa will sell more IF they had done this and IF they had done that.

In the end they didn’t. The end numbers matter.

Gaon doesn't distinguish the types of album versions?

4th gen Stan’s are something else. They will fight for the smallest distinctions so they can make the next thread HIGHEST SELLING 4TH GEN GIRL GROUP FOR $12 ALBUMS EVER

Quote from better-than-sex

Gaon doesn't distinguish the types of album versions?

Only different media: CD, Vinyl, Cassette, KiT

I do think it helps because Cbars and people collecting photocards can buy more albums for the same amount.

How much? I don't know

Quote from gerrard174

I bought all 4 recently at the following prices

NMIXX USD12

Love dive USD12

Le sserafim USD8

Stayc USD12

Nmixx light version is actually SUPER cheap considering it is not jewel case, it comes with the same thick photobook as the blind package without the box and lenticular card only. Perfect to bulk buy for photocards and preorder benefits (i have 30+ new ones need to get rid of them..)

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where did you get the price? A quick search on Ktown gives me this.

NMIXX 8.84 USD

LOVE DIVE 8.87 USD

Lesserafim 6.29 USD

StayC 9.94 USD

Anyway, a sale is a sale. Maybe it does contribute to selling more because cheap version does not deter buyers from buying for collections or fan-sign. But, I don't think it's the cheap version that affect sales this much in 2022.

I seen most GG hanteos sale double their previous released. They do improve. however, I think it's mostly have to do with the way Hanteo recorded their sales this year. Wait for next Wednesday to see Gaon confirm my suspicion.

Quote from gerrard174

MTE. I thought of this cause recently i'm bulk buying Le sserafim and IVE's Love Dive for photocards. Then i suddenly realised since NMIXX, all 4th gens that i follow are selling cheaper albums.

It's funny because K-pop sells albums because they aren't jewel cases. But then you have jewel cases increasing sales.

Quote from gerrard174

Pricing in my country may be different due to import tax & exchange rate. But yea, lesserafim's still the cheapest

What's the change for Hanteo?

I suspected they recorded close to Gaon. The gap is way closer in 2022 unlike any other years. Maybe more stores sign up for Hanteo affiliation. We will see.

Quote from gerrard174

U dont get my point,is okay. The effect is mostly seen with fanbase bulk-buying. When fanbase / c bars bulk buy, they have a pool of money to use. With the cheaper versions available,obviously majority of the pool of money will be used to buy this.

More units can be bought and hence sales higher

I noticed most top 4th gen have been doing this since NMIXX explosive sales with ligh version. Just want to point out that AESPA did not have a cheaper version of their albums. They have 3 versions but all 3 are expensive as hell

And? Unless the album costs $50 fans will still buy their albums no matter how much it costs.

All the companies are doing some tricks to inflate sales. SM is no different it’s just JYP is smarter.

Also Aespa is a one year old group with a national hit, they had a solid fanbase who had enough time to purchase.

The physical markets grew up so much in 7 months. It’s pointless to drag aespa‘s Salss anyway.

not just the ggs, bgs do the same or use individual member digipacks to inflate sales and it obviously works since - for example - NCT Dream has sold 1.66 million on hanteo for Glitch mode and their digipacks ver sales make up nearly 600k of that total

I thought this was common knowledge by now. Cheaper versions do make a difference. K-pop fans do bulk buying so they setout a budget before pre ordering. If the budget is $100, you can buy only 6-7 regular priced versions but you can buy 12-13 cheaper versions.

More often than not these also tend to be individual versions so that let's akgaes get to do their own thing for bragging rights.

These cheaper versions are also beneficial though for some fans who want to have something from their faves in their collection but don't have enough money.

Quote from gerrard174

I bought all 4 recently at the following prices

NMIXX USD12

Love dive USD12

Le sserafim USD8

Stayc USD12

Nmixx light version is actually SUPER cheap considering it is not jewel case, it comes with the same thick photobook as the blind package without the box and lenticular card only. Perfect to bulk buy for photocards and preorder benefits (i have 30+ new ones need to get rid of them..)

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Love Dive is a single, isn't 12 USD quite normal for a single?

edit: i actually saw cheaper singles too, is not cheap at all

Quote from TheBotter

Why is this 4th gen? Gfriend had jewel cases in the past? BlackPink the Album had 2 jewel case version also that retailed for about 9.99.

It's not unique to 4th gen so why is it okay for certain groups to use it but when others do it's inflating sales?

Best answer

It's been a thing since a while so why people are whinning about it just now?

Quote from icyruios

So now is it time for us to do a microeconomic analysis on the price elasticity of demand on how the extent to which a price change will affect the quantity demanded of Kpop albums?

excellent wanna join professors @keaji and I in this endeavor??

our last paper on

Really Really Top Big Hit Song based on Korean data and metrics was a decent success

that and digipacks definitely did contribute to boosting sales

Quote from icyruios

So now is it time for us to do a microeconomic analysis on the price elasticity of demand on how the extent to which a price change will affect the quantity demanded of Kpop albums?

heck this sounds like a topic for weekly assignment on the economy class

Looking at aespa's numbers if they aren't overblown you were right. Digipack and jewel case are doing their job in inflating sales for many groups.

Hope YG does it for bp for individual members.

Quote from gerrard174

im revitalising this thread. I was dragged left and right for saying that jewel case/digipacks boost sales.

A thread in Anon section seems to agree with me.

See aespa, 5 digipacks - going from 600k to 1 million (not to say all contributed to digipacks but to certain extent)

Ive - also 6 members version jewel case

Lesserafim and nmixx - light version which is super cheap

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Correlation is not causation tbh. People were saying for example EXO only had increased sales because of multiple versions and this was “proved” comeback over comeback and then they stopped having multiple versions and the sales never went down.

The real truth was sales was increasing comeback over comeback regardless of how many versions were printed.

Such arguments are silly unless there is a situation where they stop with the digipak and sales goes down.