POP MART, paying for universal emotional value

Last month, POP MART released its interim profit data, with revenue increasing by no less than 55% year-on-year and profit increasing by no less than 90% year-on-year. Benefiting significantly from its overseas performance, the company's stock price has also performed well this year. At the end of last year, POP MART's revenue from business in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas first exceeded RMB 1 billion, reaching RMB 1.066 billion, a year-on-year increase of 134.9%. POP MART has successfully globalized, establishing its trendy play and business model worldwide. Many people have been wondering and researching why POP MART can achieve such success by selling toys and figurines. What exactly is POP MART? What value do its products create? What problems do they solve? And how do they do it?

1. Emotional Sales In this era, the relationship between toys and children is no longer as close as before, and adults are not as traditional as they used to be. Adult toys are becoming more popular. POP MART believes it has discovered and tapped into a huge demand that was previously overlooked, turning it into a huge market and even changing people's lifestyles. It is "selling toys to adults." The core consumer group of POP MART is young people aged 18-35. Vice President Wen De once stated in an interview that the overseas user profile is very similar to the domestic user profile, with 75% being female and 25% male, aged 15 to 35. Consumers worldwide in the same age group have similar needs, which is noteworthy. Trendy toys have low playability and are closer to static artworks or figurines. What can consumers get from them? Trendy toys were originally defined as designer toys, a medium for expressing ideas, with inherent collectible properties and value. Behind them are art design, cultural awareness, and value identification. Consumers' emotions run through the process of this category's appearance, thus arousing consumer interest. This interest comes from consumers' emotional projection and identification. In this era, being able to make oneself happy is an essential skill, and people with purchasing power will naturally pay for art creations they approve of. A toy that cannot be played with represents a part of oneself. The need for emotions is constant among humans, with emotions like happiness, joy, and desire being common to all. POP MART seems to be selling toys, but it actually revolves around "people," selling emotional value. This is the fundamental reason why POP MART can establish itself in different markets globally. The final product presented is trendy toys, but the overall concept serves emotions, including IP series, blind boxes, secondary markets, social expansion, collaborations, hidden editions, limited editions, and more. Consumers purchase trendy toys for their aesthetic attributes and collectible value, or to express their personality and attitude through them, sharing socially with others to seek emotional value Adults have rediscovered the joy of buying toys, satisfying their needs and sense of existence, making them a part of life. Although the emotional needs of the masses are the same, different countries have different cultures and values, and there are also differences in the understanding of happiness and joy. Therefore, POP MART sells different trendy toys in different countries, catering to local cultures and preferences. Most people's values are difficult to separate from the influence of regional culture. For example, introducing the beckoning cat figurine in Japan, and the maple leaf figurine sold only in Canada, are limited editions tailored to local cultures. In Thailand, POP MART collaborates with Thai artist Molly, whose creation CRYBABY is very popular in Thailand, becoming a highlight in the Thai market. In the US market, collaborating with an American artist, their work PeachRiot has also achieved high rankings locally. In addition, choosing to collaborate with international well-known brands such as Disney and Marvel, has better acceptance overseas, while integrating elements of Eastern and Western cultures in product design, overcoming cultural differences, and enhancing global appeal. Little happiness, little beauty, perhaps consumers do not know how it is generated, but they feel their emotional needs from the products and atmosphere, and are willing to pay for it. II. Anti-traditional IP Incubation IP is the core of POP MART, when toys are paired with trends, the entire business changes. Artists express content and art through trendy toy works, different IPs have different styles and expressive appeals, thus having higher value. However, POP MART's IP seems to be different from the traditional understanding of IP, for example, most IPs under Disney have vivid storylines. These stories inject soul into the IP, making each IP more vivid, with unique personalities, while in comparison, POP MART's IP seems very thin. We all know that the value of art lies in the story behind it, the better the story, the higher the value. In everyone's perception, a thin IP will make IP production and replication easier, lacking a moat, which brings great uncertainty to continuous monetization. A high-quality story can shape a rich worldview for IP. Without a worldview and content as support, why would people like this IP and empathize with it? This may be the key to POP MART's business model. Wang Ning believes that young people today do not have complete time to understand a new IP with a grand worldview, it is best to seize consumers' fragmented time. But can fragmented time make the IP rich, what is the success logic of a thin IP? It might be easier to understand with an example. The most typical example is LinaBell. LinaBell is an IP character in Disney parks without a complex background story. When she appeared out of nowhere, most people were confused But through its unique marketing strategy and fans' secondary creation, it quickly became the top star in the secondary element world. Fans also shape the stories of Lingna Beier according to their preferences and imaginations. They can edit videos they shoot, add subtitles to make short videos for dissemination, or widely use them in various social platforms as emojis, etc. When you are still wondering who this character is, somehow, it seems that the whole world has already accepted it on social platforms. Once this happens, it will be very easy for you to accept it too. Yes, you will find that the focus of an IP is not whether there is a complex three-dimensional story behind it, but the consensus of the crowd. If a large enough group accepts an IP, no matter what the IP is, it will stand. For later people, if they can remember this IP, even if they are all ignorant masses, this IP is considered successful. For example, Nai Long, many people don't know where Nai Long comes from, what story it has, what personality it has. But many people use Nai Long's emojis, when they see Nai Long, they think, "Isn't this the emoji?" and this IP is established. More and more IPs like this, Line Xiao Gou, ZANMANG LOOPY, seem to have no "character biography". And the earliest hellokitty, with only one image, has been making money until now. The crowd that initially participated in the hype was probably for money, but when they successfully involved the masses, this IP is a successful hype, capturing the minds of the masses. Companies like Disney build IP networks through movies and content, and then productize the IP. POP MART first promotes trendy products, digs into the IP behind them, and gradually enriches the connotation of the IP. By extending the vitality of the IP through secondary creation and dissemination on the internet, it also establishes a deeper emotional connection between fans and characters. Social media, celebrity and KOL marketing, various exhibitions, store tones, brand collaborations are all flexibly utilized, and most IPs have a basic audience due to signing artists. POP MART magnifies them through operations, equivalent to a star-making plan. POP MART gradually forms an ecosystem for IP incubation. On the IP creator side, behind POP MART's products are supported by a large number of globally outstanding artists, open cooperation; on the consumer side, POP MART creates categories and experiences based on "people", providing better spiritual experiences and resonance to the target audience. And production capacity, channel capacity, consumer reach, etc., are all basic capabilities for monetization The incubation and operation of IP is the core capability of the company. Starting from POP MART's launch of MOLLY, many people doubted whether they could create a second IP as successful as the first. The subsequent success of multiple IPs dispelled similar doubts. In 2019, the company only had two major IPs, Molly and Pucky, with a contribution rate of over 15%. Later on, Skullpanda and Dimoo also grew rapidly. Starting from 2021, Pucky exited the top four IP list, and the pattern of the four major IPs, Skullpanda, Molly, Dimoo, and The monsters, was basically formed. Now, in addition to helping artists complete the commercialization transformation of IP, POP MART can also provide development services for any cultural creative or even consumer companies, such as Harry Potter, KFC, etc., rather than competing in the IP field. This allows all parties involved to benefit. By going overseas in this way, seeking cooperation instead of competition, progress will be much easier. III. Blind Boxes that Amplify Emotions Blind boxes are the breakthrough model of POP MART. Without blind boxes, overall sales may have to be heavily discounted. In the early days of its establishment, POP MART's products were not particularly popular, but they became popular with the introduction of blind box gameplay and the popularity of many IPs. Blind boxes originated from Japan's lucky bag culture, initially used for New Year promotions, and later evolved into a trend of toys. In the 1980s, Japan's gashapon machines further promoted the development of blind box culture. The randomness and uncertainty of blind boxes easily attract consumers' interest, stimulate their desire to shop. This randomness brings a sense of surprise and excitement, easily arousing consumers' interest and curiosity, prompting them to make repeat purchases to collect the complete series. The joy of winning in blind boxes is hard to describe, combined with trendy toys, consumers usually have a curiosity, conformity, comparison, luck, addiction, gambling, and identity psychology, multiple psychological factors working together, driving the consumption craze of blind boxes. But these consumers have one thing in common, which is the pursuit of emotions and instant gratification. The pursuit of fresh, exciting, and fun consumption experiences also fits perfectly with the demographic profile of POP MART's core users. Once they draw the product they want, players can jump up excitedly, scream, or even lose sleep. They will take pride in owning that character, feel superior, and cherish it more. This sales format amplifies consumers' emotions, pushing small joys to a higher level, perfectly fitting POP MART's positioning of selling emotional value. Now, many game companies are also adopting similar sales methods to blind boxes, such as Genshin Impact, where game characters are finely crafted and then sold in a lottery format Nowadays, including the skins of Honor of Kings, more appear in the form of lottery. The further popularity of blind boxes also reflects the unique consumption concept of modern young people. They no longer only focus on the practical value of products, but pay more attention to the emotional experience during the consumption process. Emotional value has risen to a very important position in the group, "money can't buy happiness".

In conclusion, POP MART has seized its own opportunity with the right timing, location, and people. China has a large enough market and a complete manufacturing industry chain, as well as discovering an area that has not been given much attention. Wang Ning once said that it might be difficult to give POP MART such an opportunity in other countries. POP MART's globalization journey officially began in 2018, and its overseas business has now achieved omni-channel entry offline and online in more than 20 countries and regions globally. The current cooperative businesses conducted globally include: channel distribution authorization, brand agency franchise, robot store business cooperation, brand cross-border cooperation, etc.

At the same time, it is also expanding into more trendy forms (action figures, statues, BJD dolls, plush dolls, cards, building blocks, etc.) and scene demands (collectible needs, decorative needs, companionship needs, travel needs, etc.). POP MART has always been walking its own path, and the uniqueness of its IP makes it difficult for others to directly compete with it, which also makes it a rather special presence in the market.

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