The Financial Times has described the company as having "elevated toy-buying to an act of trendy connoisseurship among China’s young affluent consumers",[3] and as having been 'credited with creating the market for so-called designer toys'.[2]
Around half of its sales are made at physical outlets, with the rest finished online.[4] The company additionally operates a social media and toy-trading app as part of its marketing strategy.[5] Its toys are known for selling to collectors on the second-hand market; venture capital firms have been known to invest in its second-hand products.[6]
History
The company was founded in China in 2010 by Wang Ning.[7] The brand's initial marketing strategy engaged with youth culture trends in China.[8] Over time it grew to 288 outlets and 1800 vending machines in that country. Its success in the 'blind box' format drove a $676m USD listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020 giving it a market capitalisation of $7b at the time. However its revenue growth slowed and its shares slid below offer price.[9]
The company later expanded its growth strategy beyond mainland Chinese markets, with the Financial Times reporting on plans in 2022 to open between 40 and 50 overseas outlets.[10] It first expanded to the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, and Taiwan, and the U.K. in 2022.[11][12][13] In 2023 it expanded to Malaysia, and France.[14][15] In 2024, it opened its Philippine store.[16]Some equity analysts have expressed scepticism at the company's ability to expand into the West,[17] while executives of the company have described developing that growth market as the company's 'most important development focus'; and argued that the company's product offering is differentiated from existing western markets.[18]
The success of the company has spawned multiple imitating blind box toy companies in China.[19]
Products and stores
In China, the toys are sold for typically between 59 and 69 RMB each, in a 'blind box' format credited with 'driving repeated purchases from customers seeking to secure the rarest collectables'.[1][8] Its customers in China are typically affluent teenagers and young adults.[20]
The company works with designers and artists to develop characters. In 2021 it released a collection themed around the U.S. artist Keith Haring, and has collaborated with Moncler.[21] Other designers include Pucky, Ayan, and SKULLPANDA.[22]
One of their product series, such as The Monster Series, like Labubu and Zimomo, they gained popularity in 2024 after Lisa, a member of the South Korean girl group, Blackpink, uploaded a photo of herself holding the doll on her Instagram account.[23]
The company has launched social media apps as a means to promote its products. In December 2021 it launched 'Pop Mart Global' in the United States.[25]
Controversy
Chinese media has described the toy company's products as 'addictive'.[26] In recent times, the company has been increasingly regulated; within China, the company has come under domestic regulatory pressure after regulators banned the sale of mystery boxes to children under eight years; and required guardian consent for older children.[27] In Singapore, a S$100 prize limit on mystery boxes has been proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.[28]
^ abLangley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Launched in 2010, Pop Mart has been credited with creating the market for so-called designer toys and last year made gross profits of Rmb2.8bn ($424mn). The company has 288 outlets and more than 1,800 vending machines known as "roboshops" in China and earned Rmb4.5bn in revenue last year.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Pop Mart has elevated toy-buying to an act of trendy connoisseurship among China's young affluent consumers. Now it wants to emulate fellow domestic brands such as social media platform TikTok and online fashion retailer Shein by capturing the attention of western consumers.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Pop Mart spawned a frenzied market for its toys by successfully navigating China's powerful but fickle youth culture trends, even launching a social media and toy-trading app where toy hunters can show off their latest hauls and swap tips on the newest trends.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Some of the most desirable smaller Pop Mart toys often sell to avid collectors for Rmb1,000 or more on the second-hand market, a space that has seen investment from prominent venture capital groups including Sequoia.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. The trend catapulted Pop Mart to a $676mn listing in Hong Kong in December 2020, giving it a market capitalisation of $7bn. But the group's revenue growth slowed in the six months to December 31, with sales 60.3 per cent higher year on year compared with 116.8 per cent growth in the previous six months. Its shares are now trading below their offer price.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Pop Mart opened its first European store in London in January and has plans to reach a total of between 40 and 50 overseas outlets this year. Including the London store, it already has 18 outlets outside China.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Pop Mart opened its first European store in London in January and has plans to reach a total of between 40 and 50 overseas outlets this year. Including the London store, it already has 18 outlets outside China
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Gaujacq said that while there was a market for Pop Mart's toys outside China, it was hard to tell how far a growth model based on spurring a consumer trend could fuel the company's expansion in the west.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. International growth was Pop Mart's "most important development focus", said Moon, the vice-president, adding that while he acknowledged the "massive challenge" of convincing foreign consumers to buy into a Chinese trend, strong sales at the UK store gave him reason to be confident.
Moon said that while consumer "tastes are completely different" in the west, "you can't find anything like our products in these places. To local people these things are really fresh." He added that while initial uptake of Pop Mart characters was quicker in east and south-east Asian countries, where the group is also opening outlets, ultimately "our products don't have national borders".
^jknotts (2022-02-23). "The Rise of Pop Mart Closely Resembles the Rise of Crypto – Coincidence?". www.thebeijinger.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11. Just about every major company operating in China – from Xiaomi to McDonald's – has attempted a blind box marketing ploy in one form or another. But certain brands build their entire business model around blind boxes, and chief among these is the toy brand Pop Mart.
^Langley, William (2022-05-04). "Pop Mart: toymaker behind China's collectibles craze looks to the west". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-07-11. The company works with designers and artists to develop its characters, ranging from wide-eyed alligators to canine astronauts. It released a collection last year themed around the work of US artist Keith Haring and recently launched a collaboration with designer skiwear label Moncler.
^Pandaily (2022-06-20). "Pop Mart Opens First Pop-up Store in the U.S."Pandaily. Retrieved 2023-07-11. In December of the same year, Pop Mart's app "Pop Mart Global" was officially launched in the U.S. with its main functions including an online shopping mall and community. Users can purchase products directly through the application and share their experience while interacting with the community.
