Things you know and didn’t know about Pop Mart

The development of Pop Mart and Labubu and my related experiences

I. The Founding and Early Development of Pop Mart

Wang Ning, the founder of Pop Mart, worked as a planner in an education company after graduating from university and later moved to Sina. Realizing that he was not suitable for the nine-to-five work routine, he used his savings of 250,000 yuan and drew inspiration from the popular trend product supermarket LogOn in Hong Kong to establish Pop Mart in Beijing in 2010. Initially, it was a trendy general store covering multiple categories such as cosmetics, toys, and small jewelry.

In November 2010, the first store of Pop Mart officially opened at the Europe America Mall in Zhongguancun, Beijing. In 2014, the company obtained the agency rights of the Japanese trendy toy Sonny Angel in China, thus getting in touch with the blind box model and perceiving its huge market potential. In 2016, Wang Ning conducted a survey on users’ preferences through Weibo and found that the MOLLY doll was the most popular. Subsequently, he reached a strategic cooperation with designer Kenny and developed the Molly Zodiac constellation series of trendy dolls. In July of the same year, the first trendy toy product, the Molly constellation series blind box, was launched, and Pop Mart officially embarked on the development path in the trendy toy field.

II. Core Reasons for the Overseas Success of Pop Mart

The rapid popularity of Pop Mart overseas can be attributed to four key factors:

Strongly attractive IPs: Creating distinctive IPs like MOLLY and LABUBU, precisely meeting the emotional needs of Generation Z, and establishing a deep resonance with consumers.

2. Blind box model-driven: The scarcity of hidden items stirs up consumers’ desire to collect. Consumers who draw hidden items will voluntarily share them on social platforms, creating a “self-generated” type of word-of-mouth promotion.

3. Social Interaction and Celebrity Effect: The endorsement of products by celebrities significantly boosts their exposure, and the products themselves become a form of “social currency” among consumers, facilitating secondary dissemination.

4. Mature IP and Channel System: Globally scout for designers, continuously cultivate multiple IPs; meanwhile, set up a large number of offline stores and robot stores to ensure that products can effectively reach consumers.

Among these reasons, I believe the influence of the star effect is the greatest. According to public information, Lisa, a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, was the first star to use Miffy products and bring them to the attention of the overseas market. In April 2024, Lisa, who has over 100 million followers on Instagram, posted photos of herself with the LABUBU Macaron blind box for three consecutive days. This action quickly caused a stir in the collectible toy circle and marked the beginning of LABUBU’s popularity in Southeast Asia and around the world.

III. My Story with Labubu and the Fluctuations in Labubu’s Price

Coincidentally, the period when Pop Mart became extremely popular was my birthday. My brother found a proxy to buy a box of LABUBU for me. I was particularly lucky to get the hidden version in the first one I opened. However, since I didn’t really like LABUBU, I planned to sell it online. But when I checked the information, I found that the price of LABUBU had already risen to 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. I thought it was still popular, so I decided to wait for the price to rise further before selling it. But unexpectedly, within less than a month, the price of LABUBU started to drop.

The price reduction of LABUBU is not accidental. There are mainly the following reasons:

Supply and demand imbalance: Pop Mart significantly expanded the production capacity of Labubu, with the capacity of plush products alone increasing to more than ten times that of the same period last year. By September 2025, a total of 1 million new Labubu items were launched, leading to an oversupply in the market and a subsequent decline in prices.

Product and exchange mechanism: The mini version of Labubu was launched with 30 styles at once. The probability of players getting their favorite styles decreased, and the demand for exchanging with each other after receiving the goods increased significantly. This reduced the circulation of the product in the secondary market and led to a price drop.

• Sales model adjustment: All mini Labubu are sold online only, with stores only responsible for pick-up. This effectively restricts offline scalpers from hoarding goods and brings prices back to a rational level.

Market and consumption changes: The overall popularity of the collectible toy market has declined. Consumers’ spending concepts have become more rational. Coupled with the impact of the economic environment, the market demand for Labubu has decreased, and its prices have also dropped accordingly.

The scalpers’ panic selling to cut losses: Previously, scalpers had hoarded a large amount of Labubu products for speculation, driving up the product prices. However, when market supply increased and further price hikes seemed unlikely, the scalpers began to sell off their inventories to minimize their losses, which further accelerated the price decline.

IV. Different Popularity and Price Perception of Labubu at Home and Abroad

Nowadays, the popularity of Labubu varies significantly both at home and abroad. In China, its popularity has been continuously declining; however, it remains extremely popular overseas. For instance, in June 2025, when Pop Mart opened a new store in Paris, France, there was a long queue of hundreds of people outside the store at the opening. This summer, when I visited South Korea, I also experienced firsthand the high popularity of Labubu.

It is undeniable that Labubu dolls are exquisitely designed and cute, but the price of 99 yuan per unit still makes many people think it is a bit high.