Is Pop Mart’s Boom a Stroke of Luck or an Inevitable Success? (AI Translation)
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文｜财新周刊 冯奕铭
By Feng Yiming, Caixin Weekly
泡泡玛特（09992.HK）旗下潮玩IP拉布布（LABUBU）以不可思议的速度在全球爆火。
Pop Martin (09992.HK)'s trendy toy IP, LABUBU, has exploded in popularity worldwide at a remarkable pace.
6月12日，LABUBU新品上线，品类涵盖盲盒手办、耳机套、香氛、抱枕等，然而发售开始仅几秒钟后，全部相关商品就已售罄。6月13日，在北京朝阳大悦城，有消费者和“黄牛”在泡泡玛特的自动贩卖机前蹲守，等待补货。在抖音上，不少大品牌卖货都在靠“抽LABUBU”引流。各地消费者为购买LABUBU毛绒玩偶彻夜排队，甚至在门店发生肢体冲突。
On June 12, new LABUBU products launched, spanning categories such as blind box figures, earbud cases, fragrances, and plush pillows. However, all related items sold out within seconds of the release. On June 13, at Beijing’s Chaoyang Joy City, both consumers and scalpers could be seen staking out in front of Pop Mart vending machines, waiting for restocks. On Douyin, many major brands have been leveraging “LABUBU raffles” to drive traffic to their sales. Consumers in various cities have queued overnight to purchase LABUBU plush toys, with some even getting into physical altercations in stores.
LABUBU是由插画家龙家昇（Kasing Lung）在2015年设计的IP（知识产权）形象，泡泡玛特与龙家昇合作后对初版形象进行了改良。现在，这个有着毛茸茸身体、长着长耳尖牙、一脸坏笑的IP形象从东南亚火到欧美，也被视为中国IP“出海”的又一标杆。
LABUBU is an intellectual property (IP) character created by illustrator Long Jiasheng (Kasing Lung) in 2015. After collaborating with Long, Pop Mart made modifications to the original design. Today, this furry figure with long ears, sharp fangs, and a mischievous grin has risen from popularity in Southeast Asia to global appeal in Europe and the United States. LABUBU is now regarded as a new benchmark for Chinese IPs making their mark internationally.
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- Pop Mart's IP LABUBU has achieved global viral success, driving up demand, with some products selling out within seconds and international sales growth over 350% in Q1 2025.
- Pop Mart's market value exceeded HKD 300 billion by June 2025, surpassing Sanrio and Bandai Namco combined, making it the world's third-largest IP company after Disney and Nintendo.
- Challenges faced include supply shortages, scalpers, IP piracy, and regulatory scrutiny over blind box sales, while Pop Mart accelerates global expansion and invests in IP innovation.
Pop Mart’s IP brand LABUBU, originally designed by illustrator Kasing Lung in 2015, has rapidly exploded in global popularity, causing products to sell out within seconds of release. LABUBU's new merchandise, including blind box figurines, plush toys, earbuds cases, and fragrances, drew massive consumer lines and led to scalping and even physical altercations at stores. The IP's international breakout, from Southeast Asia to Europe and America, sets a new benchmark for Chinese IP exports. Domestic offline sales rose 85–90% year-over-year in Q1 2025, while online sales grew by 140–145%. Internationally, sales increased an astonishing 345–900% across APAC, the Americas, and Europe. North American monthly store sales exceeded RMB 6 million, and all major regions reported billion-yuan-level GMV. Pop Mart’s stock soared nearly 150% over four months, with a June 2024 market cap exceeding HK$300 billion, surpassing the combined valuations of Sanrio and Bandai Namco, making it the third-largest IP company worldwide after Disney and Nintendo. CEO Wang Ning, with a 48.73% stake, became the richest individual in Henan [para. 1][para. 2][para. 3].
Institutional opinion on Pop Mart is divided: foreign investors view its global expansion as unprecedented for a Chinese consumer brand, while local investors remain conservative. Morgan Stanley projects Pop Mart as the world’s fastest-growing large consumer brand, expecting sales to grow from $3.6 billion in 2025 to $6 billion in 2027, driven by a social media-connected generation that amplifies cross-regional hype [para. 4][para. 5][para. 6].
Pop Mart's IP model focuses on self-developed brands sold through exclusive channels, fostering a competitive edge and high consumer loyalty. Since 2014, after collaborating with Japan’s Soony Angle, Pop Mart realized the importance of owning unique IP rights. Its hit original IPs—MOLLY, SKULL PANDA, and LABUBU—have shown iterative success. LABUBU, initially unremarkable, surged in 2024 due to celebrity exposure, particularly endorsements by Lisa of BLACKPINK, and the introduction of a new “vinyl-face plush” product line. The company’s organizational restructuring enabled faster IP development, contributing to LABUBU’s revenue jumping over 700% to over RMB 3 billion in 2024, making up 23.3% of total sales [para. 7][para. 8][para. 9][para. 10].
Despite its current success, Pop Mart has faced significant challenges: slow early growth, skepticism from venture capital, and post-IPO volatility. After listing in Hong Kong in late 2020 and suffering a stock slump during the pandemic, operational improvements and diversification across multiple IPs restored growth by 2023 [para. 11][para. 12][para. 13].
Pop Mart applies a “seven-tenths” supply strategy, producing roughly 70% of anticipated market demand to increase supply chain flexibility and avoid overproduction. However, the unprecedented demand for LABUBU has strained production capacity. The company faces further challenges from piracy, with significant counterfeit seizures in ports across China. Pop Mart is responding with stepped-up anti-counterfeiting measures and increased supply, including online presales to dampen secondary market speculation—moves that have halved LABUBU’s aftermarket prices [para. 14][para. 15][para. 16].
China’s trendy toy market has entered a new investment cycle, with other companies like 52TOYS and TOP TOY seeking to copy Pop Mart’s success. The key competitive advantage lies in self-developed IP integrated with proprietary distribution. Newcomers like JOTOYS are focusing on rapid IP development and creative storytelling, while emphasizing the non-rational, aesthetic-driven nature of successful IP creation [para. 17][para. 18][para. 19].
In conclusion, Pop Mart’s journey from niche retailer to global IP powerhouse underscores the importance of self-owned IP, flexible product strategies, strategic international expansion, and deft risk management. Its success demonstrates both the opportunities and volatility inherent in the global consumer IP market [para. 20][para. 21][para. 22].
- POP MART
泡泡玛特 - POP MART is a Chinese toy company and IP operator. While its early growth was in domestic retail, it has recently seen rapid international expansion. The company focuses on "image IPs" like LABUBU, which gained global popularity despite initial obscurity. POP MART has become the world's third-largest IP company, after Disney and Nintendo, with strong sales growth in Asia, America, and Europe.
- Sanrio
三丽鸥 - Sanrio (TYO: 8136), a long-established IP company, owns popular characters like Hello Kitty. Recently, Pop Mart's market capitalization surpassed the combined value of Sanrio and Bandai Namco, making Pop Mart the third-largest IP company globally, after Disney and Nintendo.
- Bandai Namco
万代南梦宫 - Bandai Namco (TYO: 7832) is a veteran IP company. As of June 19, 2024, its market value, when combined with Sanrio, was approximately 260 billion HKD. This figure was surpassed by Pop Mart's market value, which exceeded 300 billion HKD, making Pop Mart the third-largest IP company globally, after Disney and Nintendo.
- Binyuan Capital
彬元资本 - Binyuan Capital is an investment firm. Xu Junyi, a secondary market analyst at Binyuan Capital, noted that major foreign investment institutions hold shares in Pop Mart. He described Pop Mart's global success as unprecedented among Chinese consumer brands, setting a high standard for others.
- Morgan Stanley
摩根士丹利 - Morgan Stanley reported that Pop Mart is set to be the "fastest-growing large consumer brand globally" within the next two years. They anticipate Pop Mart's sales to reach $6 billion by 2027, up from $3.6 billion in 2025. This growth is attributed to Pop Mart's core consumers, who are highly connected through social media, driving significant trend-following across regions.
- Huatai Securities
华泰证券 - Huatai Securities is mentioned as a financial institution. Fan Junhao, Chief Analyst of Optional Consumption and Head of the Financial Control Research Department at Huatai Securities, states that content IPs often face cultural differences across countries, limiting their international reach and making globally influential content IPs rare.
- Golden Eagle International Retail Group
金鹰国际商贸集团 - Golden Eagle International Retail Group invested in Pop Mart in 2014, becoming its second-largest shareholder, owning roughly 20% of the company. They also established Nanjing King Eagle Pop Mart, a joint venture focused on operating stores in the East China region.
- Nanjing Golden Eagle Pop Mart
南京金鹰泡泡玛特 - Nanjing Golden Eagle Pop Mart was a joint venture established between Pop Mart and Golden Eagle International Retail Group. Golden Eagle International Retail Group became Pop Mart's second-largest shareholder, holding approximately 20% of the shares. This partnership aimed to manage Pop Mart's stores primarily in the East China region.
- Fengqiao Capital
蜂巧资本 - Fengqiao Capital, a venture capital firm, publicly announced that due to the impending maturity of its RMB Phase I fund, it fully divested its shares in Pop Mart. Within a week, Fengqiao Capital sold all its Pop Mart shares through three block trades, cashing out approximately 2.267 billion Hong Kong dollars.
- MINISO
名创优品 - MINISO's brand TOP TOY, a toy retail brand, is considered a strong competitor to POP MART due to its robust retail genes. However, TOP TOY faces challenges in successfully incubating its own intellectual property (IP).
- JOTOYS
JOTOYS - JOTOYS is a Chinese toy company co-founded by Wang Zefeng. It boasts a self-contained ecosystem for toy production and sales, focusing on original IPs. JOTOYS aims to expand through fundraising despite already being profitable, actively seeking suitable investors. Its IP acquisition department plans to sign 100 IPs annually, and the company has launched popular IPs like YUMO, which generated over 100 million CNY in GMV in 2024.
- 52TOYS
52TOYS - 52TOYS is a Chinese toy company that has recently submitted an application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This move suggests a re-ignition of capital interest in the toy industry, particularly for companies with strong independent intellectual property development capabilities, like 52TOYS.
- 2010：
- Pop Mart was founded and positioned itself as a trendy variety store.
- 2012：
- Pop Mart received its first round of financing, with angel investor Mai Gang contributing 2 million yuan for a 16% equity stake.
- 2014：
- Pop Mart introduced three new investors, receiving a combined 30.6 million yuan in investment.
- 2014：
- Pop Mart began focusing on the designer toy sector and started selling Soony Angel products.
- 2015：
- LABUBU was created by illustrator Long Jiasheng (Kasing Lung).
- 2015：
- Pop Mart completed a financing round totaling 36 million yuan.
- By May 2016：
- Pop Mart's cash balance dropped to about 3.37 million yuan due to consecutive losses and negative net operating cash flow.
- 2016：
- On Weibo, Pop Mart polled users and discovered significant interest in MOLLY, leading to contact with the designer and, within six months, launch of MOLLY products.
- November 2016：
- Pop Mart raised 32.5 million yuan in financing, increasing its year-end cash balance.
- January 25, 2017：
- Pop Mart was listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (the 'New Third Board').
- 2017：
- Pop Mart's revenue soared by more than 100%, and both operating and net profit turned positive.
- December 2017：
- Pop Mart issued approximately 1.457 million shares at 27.46 yuan per share, raising 40 million yuan.
- 2018：
- Products from THE MONSTERS series, which includes LABUBU, began to be sold in stores.
- 2019：
- Pop Mart delisted from China’s NEEQ (New Third Board).
- December 11, 2020：
- Pop Mart was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, its stock price surged over 80% on the first day, and its market valuation surpassed HK$100 billion.
- 2021：
- Pop Mart launched the MEGA COLLECTION product line.
- March 2021：
- After this date, Pop Mart's share price entered a downward trajectory, reaching a low in the second half of 2022.
- Early 2022：
- Blind box business model at Pop Mart faced controversy, including the co-branded blind box meal with KFC, which was criticized for encouraging excessive consumption.
- March 15, 2022：
- Pop Mart was publicly criticized during the annual CCTV '3.15 Gala,' prompting regulatory authorities to impose new rules on blind box operations.
- August 2022：
- China's State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Guidelines for Regulating Blind Box Business Activities (Trial) (Draft for Comments).
- 2022：
- Pop Mart's share price bottomed out at around HK$9 per share in the second half; revenue increased just 2.8% while operating profit and net profit dropped.
- 2023：
- Official blind box regulation guidelines were released, requiring licensing, disclosure, and prohibiting manipulation of outcomes.
- September 2023：
- Pop Mart opened an urban theme park in Beijing’s Chaoyang Park featuring the MONSTERS family.
- 2023：
- SKULL PANDA overtook MOLLY as Pop Mart’s top-selling IP.
- April 2024：
- Pop Mart released its 2023 annual report, indicating revenue rose by 36.5%, net profit more than doubled, and overseas revenue grew by 134.9%.
- 2024：
- MEGA product line revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, a 146.1% YoY increase.
- 2024：
- Revenue from THE MONSTERS series (LABUBU) rose by more than 700% to over 3 billion yuan, accounting for 23.3% of total revenue and becoming Pop Mart’s top IP.
- 2024：
- Pop Mart's overseas business surged by 375% YoY, driven by LABUBU's popularity in Southeast Asia.
- End of 2024：
- Wang Ning held a 48.73% stake in Pop Mart and became the wealthiest individual in Henan Province.
- February 2025：
- Pop Mart’s stock price began soaring, repeatedly hitting new highs.
- First quarter 2025：
- Pop Mart's domestic offline channel sales rose by 85-90% YoY, and online sales increased by 140-145%. Asia Pacific (ex-China) sales grew by 345-350%, Americas by 895-900%, and Europe by 600-605%.
- April 2025 - May 2025：
- Pop Mart’s overseas sales continued strong growth, with GMV in North America, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia each reaching 100 million yuan levels; North American stores surpassed 6 million yuan in monthly sales both months.
- May 2025：
- Resale prices of LABUBU sofubi plush surged sharply.
- May 7, 2025：
- Fengqiao Capital announced it had sold all its Pop Mart shares, netting about HK$2.267 billion.
- June 2025：
- Ningbo Customs announced confiscation of counterfeit Pop Mart products; several thousand illegal LABUBU products were seized by customs.
- Early June 2025：
- Pop Mart suspended LABUBU sales at UK and South Korean retail stores due to offline safety risks.
- June 12, 2025：
- New LABUBU products launched and sold out within seconds.
- June 13, 2025：
- Consumers and scalpers in Beijing queued at Pop Mart vending machines awaiting LABUBU restocks amid surging demand.
- June 17, 2025：
- Average resale price of LABUBU plush box sets exceeded 1,200 yuan; third-generation product reached over 2,000 yuan.
- June 18, 2025：
- Pop Mart restocked latest LABUBU series online via pre-sale, resulting in sharp decline in secondary market prices.
- As of June 19, 2025：
- Pop Mart shares closed at HK$248.6, up nearly 150% in four months, and market capitalization exceeded HK$300 billion.
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