"Pop Mart's growth logic is precisely the industry's law of survival."
In the first half of 2025, Pop Mart's revenue reached 13.88 billion yuan, LABUBU's single-IP revenue was 4.81 billion yuan, and the Americas market grew 11.4x. Behind this set of data lies the first principle of the designer-toy industry: designer toys are not about selling toys, but about selling "emotional companionship" — every business move is an answer to "how to keep IP delivering emotion."
The core competitiveness of designer toys can be broken down into a value triangle of "IP emotional power × user demand intensity × scenario-carrying capacity": IP delivers emotion, users need emotion, scenarios carry emotion; the three together determine a brand's vitality. The difference between Pop Mart and other industry players stems precisely from different understandings of this triangle.
01 — Back to Essence: The Underlying Logic of the Designer-Toy "Value Triangle"
1. IP Emotional Power: From "Single Hit Product" to "Multi-Emotion Echelon"
The value of a designer-toy IP lies in "precisely mapping onto a certain type of emotion": Molly maps onto "individual expression," LABUBU onto "healing companionship," Dimoo onto "fantastic imagination." Pop Mart's key move is to use a "echeloned IP matrix" to spread the risk of emotional value:
In the first half of 2025, LABUBU accounted for 34.7% of revenue (4.81 billion yuan), continuing to lead; Molly's revenue was 1.36 billion yuan (9.8%), Skullpanda and CRYBABY each contributed 1.22 billion yuan (8.8%), and Dimoo achieved 1.11 billion yuan (8%) — forming a pattern of "flagship carrying the banner + mid-tier filling the positions."
• In comparison, 52TOYS relies on "mecha IP" for 70% of revenue, facing the risk of "aesthetic fatigue"; Miniso's designer toys mostly depend on Disney licensing and lack an exclusive emotional connection — users recognize Disney, not Miniso itself.
• Essential difference: Pop Mart "infers IP design from emotional demand" (for example, when it spots rising "healing demand," it strengthens LABUBU's soft-cute details), while other players mostly "have the IP first, then look for demand."
2. User Demand Intensity: From "Buy-Sell Relationship" to "Companionship Relationship"
Generation Z's demand for designer toys is "long-term emotional companionship" rather than "one-time purchase." Pop Mart's user operations center on turning the IP into a "daily emotional symbol":
Online it runs a designer-toy community (8 million monthly active users), with 60% of users proactively sharing IP scenarios; offline, themed stores set up "IP check-in walls," and it even extends to Heytea co-branded cups and Meituan delivery boxes — letting users "encounter the IP" while drinking milk tea or receiving parcels. In 2024, member repurchase rate was 65%, far above the industry average of 40%.
Small and mid-sized brands still rely on "9.9-yuan blind boxes for traffic," losing users after they open the box; Funko (an overseas giant) lacks community operations, users find it hard to feel a "sense of emotional belonging," and its repurchase rate is below 20%.
Essential difference: Pop Mart is a "companionship relationship" (IP integrated into daily life), while other players are a "buy-sell relationship" (ends once sold).
3. Scenario-Carrying Capacity: From "Domestic Involution" to "Cross-Cultural Delivery"
Emotional demand knows no borders, but cross-cultural delivery requires "finding common ground." Pop Mart's overseas expansion is about "delivering shared emotion through localized design":
Southeast Asia: LABUBU launched the "Tropical Flowers series" by combining local patterns, selling 500,000 units in the first month; Europe and America: seizing "eco-friendly sentiment," it pushed biodegradable figures and co-branded with Supreme to reinforce "individual expression," with the Americas growing 11x and overseas revenue share rising to 32%.
52TOYS force-pushes "mecha IP," with low recognition in Europe and America, its overseas revenue share is only 8%; Funko entered China lacking fit with "guochao sentiment," and its market share is below 5%.
Essential difference: Pop Mart "first finds the emotional common ground (healing, individuality), then localizes," while other players "force-push the IP, ignoring emotional fit."
02 — The Way to Break Through: Pop Mart's "Emotional-Value Implementation Capability"
80% of small and mid-sized brands in the designer-toy industry run at a loss; the core is a lack of "emotional-value implementation capability." Pop Mart's growth logic is precisely the industry's law of survival.
1. IP Operations: Using an "Incubation Middle Platform" to Prevent Emotional Gaps
After early reliance on Molly (over 40% of revenue), Pop Mart built an "IP incubation middle platform": signing 500+ designers, selecting promising IPs by user vote (such as LABUBU), and setting up "lifecycle teams" to track changes in emotional demand. In 2024, the new IP "Little Sweet Bean" broke 1 billion yuan in revenue, resolving the risk of "single-IP aging."
2. Product Innovation: Using "Full Category" to Broaden Emotional Scenarios
In the first half of 2025, plush products achieved 6.14 billion yuan in revenue, 44.2% of total revenue (surpassing figures for the first time), because they are "more suitable for bedtime companionship"; figures achieved 5.18 billion yuan, 37.3% — the product boundary is not the figure, but the "emotional carrier": as long as it can deliver emotion, stationery and luggage stickers can all be designer toys.
3. Compliance Operations: Using "Transparency" to Guard Emotional Trust
Facing the "gambling-like" controversy over blind boxes, Pop Mart labels "hidden-edition odds at 1/144," sets minor-purchase restrictions, and pushes a "clear-box series" (styles shown directly); clear-box revenue makes up 20%. The foundation of emotional value is trust; only compliance lets the delivery of emotion sustain.
03 — Future Insights: A General Methodology for Emotional Consumption
Not just designer toys — all emotional consumption (cultural creatives, co-branded milk tea, pet supplies) must answer three questions:
Can the emotional carrier deliver "irreplaceable emotion"? For example, the Heytea–Moutai co-brand delivers "social showing-off," the Forbidden City journal delivers "cultural identity";
Can the scenario penetrate "users' high-frequency moments"? For example, a pet brand makes "companionship dolls," letting emotion blend into bedtime interaction;
Can emotion cross "cultural / demographic boundaries"? For example, Genki Forest launched a "low-sugar milk tea" overseas, using "health sentiment" to break regional limits.
Generation Z buys Pop Mart for the "emotional companionship on the desk" and the "individual symbol in the friend circle." When a company can make emotion persistent, penetrating, and crossing boundaries, it need not fear market change — after all, emotional demand is a permanent necessity.
