Consumer Survey on Random Merchandise Underway; Over 20,000 Responses Already Collected

Hamaru Strategy Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kazuyuki Shimizu), a company with strengths in the character business and new business planning, is currently conducting a consumer survey regarding random merchandise.

Consumer interest is extremely high; over 20,000 responses were collected within 24 hours of the survey being posted on X, and the number continues to grow.

Purpose of this Survey This survey is being conducted to collect opinions and requests regarding random merchandise from a wide range of consumers. The primary objective is to aggregate, record, and visualize consumer opinions that often get lost in the flow of social media.

This is not a statistical survey based on random sampling.

However, the voices of fans who spontaneously found and answered this survey represent frank and passionate opinions that are difficult to collect through corporate survey forms or purchaser questionnaires, and we believe they hold high value.

Survey Overview ◆Survey Name Consumer Opinion Survey on Random Merchandise 2026

◆Period Saturday, March 28, 2026, 18:00 to Friday, April 3, 2026, 23:59 *Even within this period, the survey will close once the system limit of 100,000 responses is reached.

◆Number of Questions 44 questions in total (including 4 free-text responses)

◆Target Consumer (Fan) Genres Anime / Manga / Mascot Characters / Console & Online Games / Social Games / VTubers / Streamers & Singers (non-VTuber) / Voice Actors / Music & CD-based content / Male Idols (Japan) / Female Idols (Japan) / Male Idols (Overseas) / Female Idols (Overseas) / 2.5D Stage Plays (including actors) / Non-2.5D Stage Plays (including actors) / Singers & Artists / Transportation (Railways, Airlines, etc.)

◆Excluded Products - In-game gacha for social games - Prize items such as crane game prizes - TCG (e.g., Pokémon Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh!) - Event application tickets or lottery tickets included as bonuses with products

◆Survey Themes 1. Confirmation of willingness to cooperate (1 question) 2. Basic information of respondents (5 questions) 3. Experience purchasing random merchandise (6 questions) 4. Likes and dislikes regarding random merchandise (5 questions) 5. Acceptable range for random merchandise (8 questions) 6. Experience with troubles regarding random merchandise (10 questions) 7. Improvement measures for random merchandise (6 questions) 8. Other opinions (3 questions)

◆Survey URL https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-bi7FD19YTWOaEinHZhyOuX7it4VIcJeBa_RsIyXtjKfIJQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Why is Hamaru Strategy conducting this survey? Our company possesses deep knowledge of the character business and has long been acutely aware that many consumers feel dissatisfied with random merchandise. Consequently, our own brand, ChaRAFT BEER, has strictly adhered to the policy of "not releasing random merchandise that fans cannot enjoy."

However, in conversations with rights holders and manufacturers in the character business, we discovered a gap in perception. Many rights holders and manufacturers were unaware of the negative opinions regarding random merchandise; in fact, many believed that because random merchandise sells to more fans than standard merchandise, it is well-liked. In other words, there are a certain number of companies currently selling random merchandise out of good intentions.

We anticipate that this gap in perception between companies and consumers stems from several issues. For example, the issue of staff being too busy to check the opinions of fans flowing through social media. Or, the issue where fans feel it is difficult to send negative feedback to corporate opinion forms due to concerns that it might cause trouble for their "oshi" (favorite character/idol).

Therefore, we thought that if we, as a third party, could aggregate consumer opinions and convey them to rights holders and manufacturers, it could lead to a healthier industry.

While this does not provide direct profit to our company, we decided to undertake this initiative with the hope that by conducting a third-party survey on an unprecedented scale, the number of high-quality goods will increase, thereby expanding the opportunities for our planning expertise to be utilized.

Goals of this Survey We believed that simply aggregating opinions on whether people "like or dislike" random merchandise would not lead to concrete measures or solutions for companies. Therefore, we have actively included questions that lead to the presentation of specific solutions.

For example, the question, "If items currently sold as random merchandise could be purchased as a guaranteed item instead, what is the maximum you would be willing to pay?" is asked across five different price ranges.

Results to Date When we released the survey on the official Hamaru Strategy X account on Saturday, March 28, at 18:00, we collected 10,000 responses in one night and over 20,000 responses within 24 hours. Despite the account having fewer than 10 followers before the survey began, the X post announcing the survey was reposted over 8,000 times in 24 hours, indicating a high level of attention.

Among the collected responses are many opinions that rights holders and manufacturers cannot afford to overlook. We believe the following two questions, in particular, highlight the strong gap in perception between companies and consumers: - Has your impression of the content itself changed in a negative direction due to the influence of random merchandise? - Why do you think the seller sells random merchandise?

Furthermore, more than half of the respondents answered the free-text question, "Finally, if you have any opinions regarding random products, please let us know," with the total number of characters entered exceeding 1 million. Similarly, more than one-third of respondents filled in the question, "Please tell us if there are any companies or content you would like to convey your opinions to regarding random merchandise."

Unlike general consumer surveys, we recognize that we are able to conduct a high-density survey because a flow has been created where people who are active fans of some content find and answer this survey on X.

Reaction on X On X, many voices calling for cooperation in the survey among fellow fans can be seen, and the speed of diffusion is accelerating. We can also see various emotions and earnest thoughts, such as the hope for the industry to change and the hardships experienced with random merchandise to date.

Distinctive Questions In this survey, we are also delving into items that have not been surveyed much before. <Examples> - What is the average cost per instance for exchanging/transferring items via mail/courier? - Do exchange rates exist for the random merchandise of your favorite content? - Have you ever felt that you received the same design so many times that it might be a manufacturing error?

Through questions like the above, we believe we can clarify not only the problems with random merchandise itself but also the derived problems and risks.

[For Companies] Information on Receiving the Survey Results Report We will disclose a detailed report of the survey results free of charge to companies that apply via the form below. *Names, etc., will be partially redacted to ensure that individual respondents, company names, content names, or product names (excluding information related to the company applying for disclosure) are not identified.

In addition to the aggregated data from this survey, we plan to provide individual analysis reports and improvement measures unique to our company as a planning firm.

This survey has collected the raw voices of consumers, named by company and content, which are difficult to reach via individual corporate inquiry forms or purchaser surveys. This is a rare opportunity, so we encourage you to apply.

◆Target Companies Companies involved in or planning to be involved in random merchandise. *Provided regardless of whether you have a business relationship with our company. *For media inquiries, please use the contact information at the bottom of this press release.

◆What is Provided - A meeting of approximately 1 hour (in-person or via Web) - A report on the aggregated data of this survey - Individual analysis reports by company/content - Proposals for concrete improvement measures by company/content *We will not engage in aggressive sales solicitation activities.

◆Application Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYIGHjM-GhDd8_KIQtQcxaVCPqGj5fcwxlvG_NYFboohtUaw/viewform?usp=preview

Reporting Results to the General Public We will also report the aggregated results to the general public. We plan to provide an interim report via a press release around mid-April, followed by the disclosure of detailed results. As we have received responses from a very large number of people, it will take a significant amount of time to aggregate the data, so please bear with us for a little longer.