Blind boxes have emerged as a global consumption phenomenon characterized by uncertainty, artistic differentiation, and experiential purchasing. While prior studies mainly focus on China and Western markets, limited research explores their strategic potential for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging ASEAN economies. This study investigates blind box adoption as an experience based marketing strategy using the Stimulus-Organism- Response (S-O-R) framework. Perceived artistic differentiation and perceived price fairness are conceptualized as external stimuli influencing consumers’ internal states, namely curiosity and perceived experience value, which subsequently affect purchase intention toward blind box and SME based products. Data were collected from 108 respondents aged 18 to 35 across five ASEAN markets and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that artistic differentiation stimulates curiosity, which enhances perceived experience value. Both perceived experience value and price fairness significantly influence purchase intention, which in turn drives intention to purchase SME based blind box products. The findings highlight blind boxes as a scalable experiential marketing strategy for SMEs, while also emphasizing potential behavioral and ethical considerations and the need for responsible marketing practices.

Keywords

Blind box, Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R), PLS-SEM, ASEAN SMEs, Business strategy