--- title: "\"Lipstick Effect\" 2.0: When Lipstick Turns Into Trendy Toys, Gold, and Blind Boxes—How to Crack the Consumption Code During an Economic Downturn?" type: "Topics" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/32611969.md" description: "Continuing from the previous text, we talked about the "lipstick economy" of the new era. Each era has its own version of lipstick. Especially in today's world of abundant material wealth, it's not easy to identify the lipstick that's currently in popularity. The "lipstick economy," also known as the "lipstick effect," refers to the economic phenomenon where sales of low-cost luxury items like lipstick increase during economic downturns, also called the "preference for low-priced products." The recent trend of "new consumption" essentially still falls within the category of "low-cost luxury," such as trendy toys, IP operations, "guzi" economy, and traditional gold craftsmanship..." datetime: "2025-08-05T08:36:51.000Z" locales: - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/32611969.md) - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/32611969.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/32611969.md) author: "[飘扬股海的老E](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/17745511.md)" --- > Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/32611969.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/32611969.md) # "Lipstick Effect" 2.0: When Lipstick Turns Into Trendy Toys, Gold, and Blind Boxes—How to Crack the Consumption Code During an Economic Downturn? Continuing from the previous discussion, we talked about the "lipstick economy" of the new era. Each era has its own version of lipstick. Especially in today's world of material abundance, it's not easy to identify the lipstick that captures widespread popularity. The "lipstick economy," also known as the "lipstick effect," refers to the economic phenomenon where sales of low-cost luxury items like lipstick surge during economic downturns. It's also called the "preference for low-priced products trend." The recent buzz around "new consumption" essentially still falls within the realm of "low-cost luxury." Examples include trendy toys, IP operations, "guzi" economy, and traditional gold craftsmanship. Broadly speaking, new consumption can even include smart-driving cars and Mixue Ice City. This highlights the complexity of the new era. Fortunately, we don’t have to be the first to try something new. With precedents like Pop Mart and Lao Feng Xiang Gold, we can cautiously explore the market, which has already responded to these new players and products. We can summarize and generalize some relatively universal rules or observation criteria. First (1) Are the products of this consumer company highly popular? More specifically, are they so popular that people queue up or even pay premiums to scalpers? Supply is always the most critical factor. The most extreme example is NVIDIA’s graphics cards, which can even serve as collateral or asset proof for bank loans. (2) Does the product offer additional value? Such as emotional value, collectible value, or artistic value. (3) Does the product have a strong moat or high barriers to entry? Take Pop Mart as an example: its offline retail stores are a well-known moat. Another key point is that its toys are designed by artists, linking them to art, which creates a unique moat. The depth of this moat depends on market enthusiasm. (4) The product’s positioning: Is it high-end? High-quality? High cost-performance? A key reason for Lao Feng Xiang Gold’s popularity is that it ticks all three boxes. Gold inherently embodies high-end and high-quality, so the standout feature is its cost-performance. Traditional luxury brands have gross margins of 60% to 80%, while Lao Feng Xiang Gold compresses this to around 40%. Additionally, gold has strong value-preservation properties. In comparison, Lao Feng Xiang Gold’s products are undeniably attractive. (5) The product’s target consumer group. Sometimes, the gap between industries is as vast as mountains, and generational divides among consumer groups can be equally deep. For instance, young people may struggle to understand spending thousands on a bottle of baijiu, while middle-aged folks might not grasp spending thousands on a doll. Although mature investors rely on data, people are inevitably prone to preconceptions and subjective biases. Conducting on-site observations at retail stores can provide deeper insights into consumer behavior and reduce errors. Follow Lao E for deep insights into the underlying logic of Hong Kong and U.S. stock trends～ $POP MART(09992.HK) $LAOPU GOLD(06181.HK) $MIXUE GROUP(02097.HK) ### Related Stocks - [SPDR® Gold Shares (GLD.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GLD.US.md) - [FL2CSOPGOLD (07299.HK)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07299.HK.md) - [POP MART (09992.HK)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09992.HK.md) - [Pop Mart International Group Limited (HPPD.SG)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HPPD.SG.md) - [LAOPU GOLD (06181.HK)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/06181.HK.md) - [MIXUE GROUP (02097.HK)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/02097.HK.md)