Pop Mart

Pop Mart is a Chinese toy company based in Beijing. The company is known for selling collectible toys and figurines in a "blind box" format.[1][2] The company produces toys based on its in-house IPs, such as Labubu,[3] as well as licensed themes, such as Disney, Teletubbies, The Powerpuff Girls, Care Bears and Harry Potter.[4][5][6][7]

The Financial Times described the company as having "elevated toy-buying to an act of trendy connoisseurship among China's young affluent consumers",[8] 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 made online.[9] The company additionally operates a social media and toy-trading app as part of its marketing strategy.[10] 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.[11]

History

The company was founded in China in 2010 by Wang Ning.[12] Its first store opened near Beijing’s Zhongguancun in 2010.[13] In 2014, the company discontinued other product lines and focused on toys.[13]

The brand's initial marketing strategy engaged with youth culture trends in China,[14] selling toys at prices ranging from 29 and 89 yuan.[5] Over time it grew to 288 outlets and 1,800 vending machines in China. Its success in the 'blind box' format preceded a $676 million listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020, valuing the company at around $7 billion. Revenue growth subsequently slowed and shares declined below the offer price.[15]

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.[16] It first expanded to the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.K. in 2022.[17][18][19] In 2023 it expanded to Malaysia and France.[20][21] In 2024, it opened its first Philippine store.[22] Some equity analysts have expressed scepticism at the company's ability to expand into the West,[23] 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.[24]

The success of the company has spawned multiple rival blind box toy companies in China.[25]

Products and stores

Legal and public issues

In 2022, Chinese regulators issued guidance on blind‑box businesses that advise a per‑box price cap of CN¥200[37], and since 2023, bar sales to children under eight and require guardian consent for sales to children over eight.[38][39] In Singapore, a S$100 prize value limit on mystery boxes has been imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.[40][41]

Controversies

On 18 August 2025, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission released a public notice to American consumers that they had received numerous reports of individuals and businesses selling fake Labubu plush dolls. These knock-off dolls, known online as "Lafufus", are made with inferior materials to their legitimate counterparts and have become notorious for breaking apart and presenting possible choking hazards to infants and small children.[42]

Numerous articles, posts, and videos about how to tell real Labubus apart from their inferior imitators have been released by news publishers, journalists, TikTok and YouTube users, and by Pop Mart themselves. Notable differences in these "Lafufus" can be identified through poorer quality materials and paint jobs, stitching, and misspelling on the keychain tags. Additionally, counterfeit Labubus might have a different number of teeth than the correct number of nine teeth found uniformly across all real Labubus produced and sold by Pop Mart. Labubus produced and sold by Pop Mart also have a QR code attached to the doll's tag that allow product verification.[43] Pop Mart has made several attempts to warn their customers around the globe away from accidentally purchasing counterfeit Labubus from suspicious channels. They encourage consumers to investigate their purchases for different packaging and incorrect branding details and to purchase their Labubus and other Pop Mart products through official channels exclusively to insure their purchase is legitimate. [44]