A fierce battle between bulls and bears has brought growing pains to Pop Mart, forcing founder Wang Ning to ponder: What does Pop Mart aspire to become, and what steps must it take to get there?
For six months, Pop Mart has been pulled in opposite directions by market enthusiasm and short-seller attacks. After releasing its interim report in August 2025, the company experienced a roller-coaster performance. By January 2026, its stock price had fallen more than 40% from its peak, while premiums for its core IP LABUBU in the secondary market dropped from thousands of yuan to near the original price. For a time, voices declaring "the bubble has burst" dominated the narrative.
At the start of 2026, Pop Mart launched a counterattack with three new products. The "Knock Knock Wooden Fish" sold out rapidly—this PUCKY vinyl plush keychain produces a crisp wooden fish sound when tapped on the head. On secondary platforms, individual items originally priced at 69 yuan resold for over 200 yuan. Just before Valentine's Day, Pop Mart released the "Starry Romance" plush blind box series featuring the Starry character, with first-week sales exceeding 500,000 units. The "Full Throttle" plush series, launched before the Spring Festival, achieved daily transaction volumes surpassing 8 million yuan.
Capital market sentiment shifted accordingly. From January 9 to February 10, Pop Mart's stock price rebounded over 50% from its low, restoring its market capitalization to 300 billion Hong Kong dollars. Short-seller Morgan Stanley reversed its stance, upgrading its rating from "underweight" to "overweight."
This clash between bulls and bears imposed growing pains on the previously soaring Pop Mart and compelled Wang Ning to reflect on the company's identity and strategic direction. In late 2025, he stated, "After achieving global popularity, we have maintained restraint and冷静, avoiding accelerated product launches or devaluing our IP through various channels."
Data shows that by the end of 2025, Pop Mart increased LABUBU's monthly production capacity from 10 million units in the first half of the year to 50 million units. This expansion occurred while the company faced short-selling pressure from overseas institutions like Bernstein, making it a challenging transformation. The increased supply directly led to a collapse in secondary market prices and waning热度, which foreign institutions interpreted as "undermining its own success."
"Stabilizing prices through volume expansion is the core strategy," noted Zhang Yi, founder of iiMedia Research, who believes Pop Mart aims to reduce speculative attributes and return to the essence of潮玩 consumption.
Wang Ning confronted not only scalpers'疯狂套利 but also production bottlenecks in the plush supply chain. Industry sources revealed that the manufacturing processes for Starry's plush toys and LABUBU's vinyl figures differ significantly. The electronic components in "Knock Knock Wooden Fish" also posed complex quality control challenges, testing both capacity and yield rates.
More critically, Pop Mart needed to transfer LABUBU's popularity to other IPs and demonstrate to international markets that the company represents more than just LABUBU. "LABUBU's global recognition is just the beginning—like capturing a city, the real work of挖掘 IP value has only started," Wang Ning remarked.
On February 6, 2026, Wang Ning performed a Wing Chun routine at Pop Mart's annual meeting and announced targets: LABUBU annual sales exceeding 100 million units and full-category IP product sales surpassing 400 million units. "We have always been a company that says 'no' more often than 'yes,' avoiding certain stores, product categories, and opportunities. We must maintain this discipline to focus on what truly matters," he emphasized.
Wang Ning personally deflated the LABUBU bubble. The IP's explosive popularity positioned Pop Mart to become a global player. In April 2025, the LABUBU "High Alert" series launched worldwide, driving the company's market cap past 200 billion HKD on March 27, 300 billion HKD on May 22, and 400 billion HKD on August 20.
At an August 20 earnings call, Wang Ning remarked, "Achieving 30 billion yuan this year seems effortless." Pop Mart's stock surged 12.54% that day, closing at 316 HKD per share, and reached a record high of 435.9 billion HKD the next day. Yet, Wang Ning felt more tense than ever: "We're like a novice driver suddenly thrown into an F1 race—one small mistake could be disastrous."
"Pop Mart would be healthier if no single IP exceeded 15% of revenue, with head IPs not dominating and mid-tier IPs forming the foundation," Zhang Yi advised. However, in August 2025, LABUBU's THE MONSTERS series accounted for 34.7% of sales.
Overheated IP demand led to a rapid cooldown. After the earnings call, warning signs emerged as third- and fourth-generation LABUBU products plummeted from thousands of yuan to near original prices, with some styles even selling below cost. Scalpers' arbitrage networks matured, and social media buzzed with complaints about "genuine fans unable to buy while speculators hoard stock."
Capital markets reacted harshly. Bernstein issued two short reports on October 16 and November 11, 2025, followed by Morgan Stanley cutting its target price and downgrading the stock to "underweight," citing "overreliance on a single IP and questionable sustainability." Pop Mart's shares fell over 40% from their peak, dipping below 250 billion HKD by January 18, 2026.
While under pressure, Pop Mart faced intensified competition. Miniso launched budget潮玩 lines, and rivals like 52TOYS and TOP TOY announced funding rounds. A supply chain vendor noted, "We previously focused on LABUBU, but since 2025, we've taken orders from other潮玩 companies."
Amid short-selling attacks, Wang Ning broke from industry norms of limited releases and phased rollouts, instead actively cooling LABUBU fever and adjusting sales strategies. On June 18, 2025, Pop Mart announced large-scale LABUBU restocks and simultaneous online pre-orders. The "pre-sale mechanism + stable supply," combined with identity verification and purchase limits, became a "scalper crackdown." From December 2025 to February 2026, LABUBU blind box prices crashed. Secondary platform data showed the average price of the "Sit-In Party" series (original price 594 yuan) falling from 1,478 yuan to 632 yuan, with individual pieces selling as low as 82 yuan (original 99 yuan). Whole-box transactions on DeWu declined 43% from peaks.
According to influencer "Cat Master's Fire Plan," a scalper known as "Balu" observed that Pop Mart's adjusted release strategy created "controlled scarcity"—"time-limited unlimited quantity makes items hard to get, generating buzz without being unavailable. Availability varies by day, maintaining randomness."
But volume expansion sacrificed short-term热度. At the mid-2025 earnings call, Wang Ning unveiled a Mini LABUBU keychain, hoping to reignite excitement, but the miniaturized version failed to replicate the original's success. A supply chain insider commented, "Consumers want scarcity, not scaled-down mass products."
Deeper challenges emerged in the supply chain. In August 2025, Pop Mart's supply chain head Yuan Junjie stated that monthly plush toy capacity had grown tenfold year-over-year to 30 million units, with ongoing expansion. However, yield rates drew criticism. Social media saw rising complaints about "crooked faces and eyes" on LABUBU products, while counterfeits with lower prices and high accuracy flooded the market.
Pop Mart responded by integrating backward—since 2024, it began building its own factories to bring core IP production in-house. An insider revealed that Wang Ning has "product OCD," personally inspecting factory yield rates. The company also expanded its IP portfolio strategically.
Wang Ning's cooling of LABUBU was intentional, aiming to leverage its breakout popularity to boost mid-tier IPs and elevate the entire brand's market position. "Every IP has a lifecycle; the key task for潮玩 companies isn't crowning success at the peak but finding the next wave before the tide recedes," an industry executive noted, adding that Pop Mart actively seeks LABUBU's successor.
Over the past six months, Pop Mart systematically expanded and iterated its product matrix. Scalper "Balu" observed that the company now emphasizes other IPs over LABUBU: "Despite increased supply, promotional efforts focus less on LABUBU and more on other IPs."
LABUBU's growth hasn't crowded out other IPs. For example, classic IP Molly saw sales rise from 40 million yuan in 2017 to approximately 2 billion yuan in 2024. Pop Mart's brand红利 also benefited all IPs. CRYBABY, launched in 2020 without initial success, gained attention post-LABUBU and was repackaged, driving rapid sales growth. Pop Mart's 2025 interim report showed CRYBABY sales exceeding 1 billion yuan, with five IPs generating over 1 billion yuan and 13 IPs surpassing 100 million yuan in revenue.
Pop Mart pins high hopes on Starry as LABUBU's successor. This IP, originating from the picture book "Dream Island," signed with Pop Mart in 2024 and received third- and fourth-generation updates in April and August 2025. The fourth-generation "Dream Weather Bureau" plush blind box sold out in seconds upon release, with secondary market whole-box prices surging to 1,350 yuan—a nearly 3x premium, and hidden editions exceeding 6x. The January 2026 Valentine's "Starry Romance" series also sold out instantly.
"Although Starry hasn't broken through in欧美 markets, platforms like Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Taobao, and unboxing livestreams primarily stock Starry blind boxes. In South Korea, Starry items are scarce," scalper "Balu" noted.
Simultaneously, Pop Mart extended its product line to lower price points, introducing the 19-yuan "MINIME" series alongside Mini LABUBU. A supply chain insider revealed that CRYBABY and Starry launch schedules are "deliberately controlled," with Pop Mart avoiding IP overexploitation for short-term gains. In contrast, some competitors rapidly launch dozens of new IPs半年度, devaluing their brands.
Pop Mart prefers discovering artists and fostering long-term collaborations through "base acquisition fees + tiered sales shares" to co-build IPs. The company often spends months or years refining IPs post-signing before market release. Since 2017, Pop Mart's China International潮玩 Expo has discovered hundreds of designers, including Molly's Wang Xinming, SKULLPANDA's Xiong Miao, and DIMOO's Ayan Deng.
Wang Ning's obsession with detail underpins Pop Mart's industrial IP creation logic: true壁垒 lies in极致质感 and细节. He once noted that ZIMOMO has exactly nine teeth—one more or less would make it either fierce or less cute. He also micromanages store greeter phrases, changing them from robotic "Welcome to Pop Mart" to time-specific greetings, and spent 1.5 years sourcing easy-remove price tags for gift bags to meet consumer needs. He even fine-tunes blind box "shake feel"—the tactile feedback that lets consumers guess contents. In recent interviews, Wang Ning still critiques store lighting color temperature and bag material, viewing细节优势 as Pop Mart's key moat.
Overseas, Pop Mart struggles to shed the "LABUBU" label. Internally, the company prioritized international markets in 2025, where higher pricing could boost financial performance—but overseas results fell short of expectations. LABUBU's initial spark came from abroad: a July 2024 Bangkok pop-up store set a 10-million-yuan single-day record, and CRYBABY achieved 5-million-yuan sales at a Bangkok signing event.
On October 21, 2025, Pop Mart reported Q3 revenue growth of 1,270% in the U.S., 740% in Europe, and 170–175% in Asia-Pacific. Yet, this performance lagged market expectations. Shares fell 8.08% on the earnings day. In December 2025, Bernstein's Asia consumer analyst Hu Meilin noted that weak November North American offline sales trends contributed to the stock's decline, estimating U.S. sales growth had slowed to below 500%.
欧美 markets' underperformance stemmed from the "LABUBU effect" being more pronounced overseas and supply chain challenges. Reports indicated frequent North American stockouts in late 2025, with no expected surges during Halloween or Christmas. "Pop Mart's global factories in China and Vietnam faced logistical delays, and Halloween products' complex craftsmanship delayed North American deliveries," an insider explained.
On platforms like Xiaohongshu,欧美 store foot traffic appears modest, and the perception of Pop Mart as synonymous with LABUBU persists. Achieving domestic-like enthusiasm abroad requires long-term cultural integration. Overseas supply chain reorganization also takes time. In January 2026, Pop Mart announced new合作 factories in Southeast Asia and Mexico, establishing six global production bases to serve regions like Southeast Asia, Mexico, and North America.
"You can't apply China's 1.4-billion-consumer strategy to overseas markets," Zhang Yi cautioned, highlighting regional differences: Asia emphasizes blind box surprises and social check-ins, while欧美 markets require story-driven IPs with emotional resonance—targeting collectors with high value and occasional buyers with premium pricing. LABUBU's "violent aesthetics" prove hard to replicate in the West, and Starry's plush appeal faces adaptation challenges. To address this, Pop Mart partnered with Sony Pictures in November 2025, potentially bringing LABUBU to Hollywood.
"Strategic risks rank as follows: first, IP overconcentration and succession gaps; second, overseas expansion underperformance; third, counterfeits and supply chain quality control," Zhang Yi emphasized. While capital sentiment can shift overnight, building a healthy IP ecosystem takes years. Pop Mart's resilience will ultimately be tested by the lifecycle of its next hit.
Comments