The stock market performance of POP MART and its real-world popularity seem to exist in two parallel universes. Recently, the online launch of the FIFA World Cup collaboration series for POP MART's THE MONSTERS brand sold out in seconds, while offline stores experienced a buying frenzy. Conversely, following its annual report release, the share price of POP MART (09992) faced a corrective downturn. Despite achieving its best-ever revenue, and even receiving praise from investor Duan Yongping—who suggested founder Wang Ning could become a great friend—the company continues to face repeated skepticism from capital markets. As the market once again "re-evaluates" POP MART and debates which valuation framework to apply, it may be worthwhile to take another look at the Chinese market. It serves as a severely underestimated case study where the market's doubts might find answers.
While its stock faced headwinds, its stores buzzed with activity. Shanghai's East Nanjing Road is one of the best windows to observe the genuine heat and vitality of consumer brands in China. POP MART operates two flagship stores there. On April 3rd, consumers arrived early to pick up the LABUBU World Cup collaboration items and purchase mini bags and other peripherals. "Customers started coming first thing in the morning. Almost everyone who visits makes a special trip to see the World Cup collaboration series peripherals. Currently, phone straps and mini bags are selling particularly well," stated a staff member from POP MART's iapm store. The persistent April rain in Shanghai contrasted with the long queues outside stores and the turbulent stock market.
Just a week prior, POP MART's annual report was released, creating a dramatic scene of intertwined "confidence and panic" in the market. Revenue reached 371.2 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 184.7%, while net profit surged 284.5% to 130.8 billion RMB. Yet, this explosive report card was met with a stock price correction. Management not only expressed confidence during the earnings call but also backed it with action. Since the report's release, POP MART has conducted share buybacks for six consecutive trading days. Year-to-date in 2026, cumulative buybacks have reached 17 billion HKD.
Market anxiety stems from an expectations gap: despite massive profits, they weren't "above expectations"; concerns persist over future over-reliance on a single IP; and management provided a 2026 growth guidance of "no less than 20%." A deeper reason is a shift in valuation logic. The queues in physical stores and unboxing videos flooding social media might not directly explain why strong performance led to a stock plunge. However, these phenomena point in one direction: POP MART is increasingly becoming a part of people's daily lives. When a consumer product transitions from a "trend" to a "lifestyle," its true life is just beginning.
A core change is that for POP MART, offline stores are no longer just sales channels but consumption destinations. Consumers visit not merely for transactions; the entire shopping process is part of the experience. Observations in stores reveal that domestic customers often visit specifically for new releases of certain IP series, like the recent World Cup collaboration. Meanwhile, attracted by the rumored most comprehensive product range, international tourists act as "shopping agents," selecting "city specialty" items. Many Korean tourists were seen video-calling multiple friends and family to help choose products. Furthermore, creating store visit videos has become a primary purpose for many overseas visitors.
The Global Flagship Store in Shimao Plaza has moved away from conventional shelf displays, instead creating themed spaces for each IP. Among the crowd carrying shopping bags, different languages can be heard. Regardless of ethnicity, customer actions upon entering are remarkably consistent: taking photos, checking in, shaking blind boxes, and unboxing. At POP MART, the act of consumption itself becomes shareable content, and the shopping bag turns into social currency. From IP launch to offline unboxing and social sharing, this complete experiential loop allows POP MART to build strong emotional connections with consumers, ultimately translating into loyalty.
By the end of 2025, cumulative registered members in Mainland China surpassed 70 million. New registered members reached 26.5 million, and the member repurchase rate hit 55.7%, an increase of 6.3 percentage points from 2024. For a company fifteen years old, maintaining growth in repurchase rate is notably surprising. This shift means POP MART's growth is no longer solely dependent on store expansion. In 2025, the China market achieved high growth of 134.6% with a net increase of only 14 stores, generating revenue of 208.5 billion RMB.
The China market has maintained double-digit growth since 2023. Achieving triple-digit growth in 2025 on a high base signals a breakthrough of previous ceilings. The key driver of this high growth is a healthier IP matrix, not reliance on a single hit IP. In China, sales contributions from LABUBU plush toys, figurines, and peripherals combined account for only about one-third. This demonstrates diversified growth drivers and proves the resilience and sustainability of POP MART's business model. As management stated, POP MART is more than just LABUBU; even without LABUBU last year, the company would have experienced very rapid growth.
Besides the multi-billion RMB world-class IP LABUBU, six other major IPs—SKULLPANDA, CRYBABY, MOLLY, DIMOO, and THE MONSTERS—each surpassed 2 billion RMB in revenue. IPs like CRYBABY and SKULLPANDA saw growth exceeding 100%. THE MONSTERS, an IP signed for less than two years, grew at a rate of 1601.8%, far outpacing LABUBU. While the financial report does not detail individual IP sales domestically, the overall IP performance validates POP MART's increasingly mature IP operational capabilities. The jump from 25.7% growth in 2023 to 134.6% now further proves that POP MART, through more robust operations, has entered a virtuous cycle.
Reviewing POP MART's domestic operations, a business model centered on systematic management rather than pure expansion is taking shape, focusing on two areas: channel refinement and enhanced IP matrix development. For offline channels in 2025, POP MART implemented store renovations focusing on location and size. Domestically, it prioritized opening flagship stores in landmark locations within core cities, such as Harbin's Central Street, Shanghai's East Nanjing Road, and Wuhan SKP in key business districts. Secondly, it progressively closed smaller stores in mall basements. Renovated stores generally increased in size by 30% to 40%, with some expanding by 50%. Management revealed that sales per square meter in these renovated stores are almost double the national average. This growth stems not from increasing store count but from extracting more value from existing assets—revenue doubled with virtually no change in store numbers, demonstrating operational efficiency.
Beyond efficiency, the more critical aspect is that renovated stores are no longer traditional retail channels. They have become brand experience sites with greater narrative and interactivity, acting as "self-promoting media" that continuously attract foot traffic and spur organic sharing. Once a flagship store becomes a city-level consumption landmark, even non-collectible enthusiasts or POP MART fans may develop an interest to "just visit." This might not directly drive sales conversions, but exposure to, understanding, and experiencing the IPs in-store无形中 expands IP influence and cultivates potential consumers. In other words, it "extends the life" of IPs, prolonging their vitality and enabling long-term management.
Additionally, in some core stores, POP MART made numerous detailed adjustments: increasing the number of cash registers by 50%, significantly reducing customer queue times; and improving customer response time for order pick-up services from an average of 60 seconds to 15 seconds. Cumulatively, these details markedly enhance the consumer experience.
Experience-focused adjustments also occurred online. In 2025, POP MART explored operational transformations integrating online and offline activities, live streaming, gamification, and social interaction. Initiatives included "cloud store visits" to offer online consumers an offline shopping experience, and a late-night radio livestream based on Hirono's theme of loneliness, which focused solely on conversation without selling任何商品. According to financial data, channels like the Blind Box Draw app, Tmall, and Douyin all achieved growth exceeding 100%.
Another facet of systematic operations is the more efficient synergy between products and channels. Management revealed that the rhythm of product operations is fully synchronized with the marketing节奏 of terminal channels. The direct result is exceptionally long product lifecycles. The LABUBU Macaron series, launched in October 2023, remains a hot seller domestically. Another evergreen product is the SKULLPANDA Temperature series, released as early as November 2022.
POP MART has experienced adjustment cycles and detours in the Chinese market, accumulating valuable experience. Now, this "multi-IP, multi-category, omni-channel" operational system has crystallized into a replicable methodology. At the very least, the China market serves as a referenceable sample. And this is one of the most crucial assets for global expansion.
The year 2025 marked the fastest growth since listing. LABUBU's global explosion exceeded management's expectations and significantly raised external hopes for POP MART. However, its virality contained an element of chance. Instead of being carried away by sudden fame, POP MART chose to spend a year digesting pressures related to organization, supply chain, and global management. Wang Ning likened 2025 to ultra-high-speed racing in F1, while 2026 is "a year to enter the pit stop, refuel, and change tires." The core goal is not pursuing极致 growth speed but proactively consolidating after rapid development, strengthening the foundation for longer-term, more stable, and healthier growth.
Consolidation began with organizational adjustments. At the performance发布会, a senior executive appeared under the new title of Chief Growth Officer. Previously, he served as Co-COO alongside another executive, jointly managing the group's global business operations, specifically responsible for the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions. As a Korean executive who joined POP MART in 2018, he was instrumental in building its overseas business "from 0 to 1." This change signals a clear intent: POP MART will next strengthen resource coordination to systematically replicate the mature operational experience honed in China to overseas markets.
Specifically for overseas plans, POP MART will use four major regions as hubs to辐射 surrounding areas—Europe辐射Africa, Asia-Pacific辐射Southeast and Central Asia, and the Americas辐射Central America. Expansion will proceed from capital cities to second and third-tier cities, focusing on tourist destinations and airport stores. The Chief Operating Officer revealed that in 2026, US stores will exceed 100, with two flagship stores on New York's Times Square and Fifth Avenue scheduled to open in the fourth quarter. The COO's goal is clear: restore a healthier structure where offline sales slightly exceed online, addressing the current issue of insufficient offline capacity leading to an overly high online sales proportion.
The strategy for the China market continues to be "intensive cultivation." Store count will not expand significantly; the focus is on upgrades and renovations, with the number of renovations far exceeding 2025 levels. New ventures, including dessert shops and offline theme parks, represent another variable worth watching. Beyond their contribution to earnings, these initiatives signify POP MART's exploration of stronger IP extensibility and its commitment to long-term IP operation. Management explicitly stated that IP-centric diversification is the core strategy for the next five years.
Proactive adjustment is a continuation of a consistent management philosophy. The founder has repeatedly emphasized internally "respecting time, respecting business operations." This aligns perfectly with the core logic of value investing: not chasing short-term极致 growth speed, but pursuing long-term healthy compounding.
A dramatic twist involves Duan Yongping, a staunch advocate of value investing, who once直言 he "didn't understand POP MART." However, amidst widespread market pessimism, he suddenly shifted his stance, retracting his previous statement about not investing in POP MART. He stated: "The 'speed' in economics is actually 'acceleration' in physics. Investment buys future total value, which is 'speed' multiplied by 'time' in physics, resulting in 'total distance.' Of course, having some 'acceleration' allows covering more distance per unit time." While the market focuses on "how fast a company is running now," Duan believes true value lies in "how far it can run"—the total value it can accumulate in the future. What determines the total distance is not just momentary speed, but whether the company is continuously becoming stronger.
Following his supportive remarks, Duan Yongping frequently responded to netizens' questions about POP MART on the Snowball platform,直言 that he and Wang Ning might become good friends in the future because he greatly admires him. POP MART's management proactively adjusted its 2026 growth guidance to "no less than 20%," which the market views as "deceleration." But in Duan Yongping's view, this is precisely about accumulating "acceleration": by voluntarily slowing down to consolidate, addressing issues in organization, supply chain, and global management, and building momentum for stable growth over a longer cycle.
Regardless of external evaluations or the stock market's roller-coaster rides, POP MART始终很清楚 where its core value truly lies.
