BEIJING, July 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As the trendy toy Labubu gains global popularity, its creator Pop Mart has drawn increasingly widespread attention. Recently, at Pop Mart’s headquarters in Beijing, a People’s Daily reporter sat down for an exclusive interview with Wang Ning (Wang), founder of the company. In this face-to-face conversation, the post-85 entrepreneur answered multiple questions that matter to many readers.
‘China’s culture in the new era is a world-class culture’
People’s Daily: Labubu has been selling well recently, and Pop Mart has sparked both positive and mixed discussions. Have you felt anxious recently?
Wang: Anxiety is inevitable. But if I look at it another way, as we keep breaking through industry boundaries, it’s normal for some to feel curious, appreciative, or skeptical about new things.
People’s Daily: What role has Pop Mart played in China’s trendy toy industry?
Wang: We’ve, to some extent, pioneered the trendy toy category. Trendy toy was once called art toy or designer toys. Initially, few in China understood this category, and many doubted that adults would buy toys. In 2017, we organized the Beijing Toy Show, which has since grown into Asia’s largest event of its kind. Through large-scale exhibitions, we’ve promoted trendy toy culture, defined industry standards, and driven up employment.
People’s Daily: Some claim Pop Mart is too young and has grown too fast. What’s your view?
Wang: We’re both “young” and “not young.” “Young” refers to the trendy toy industry itself, while Pop Mart is 15 years old, which isn’t that young anymore. Last year, Labubu’s sales exceeded 3 billion yuan ($418 million). After breaking through multiple niche barriers, it’s now a globally known intellectual property (IP). Our rapid growth stems from being an open and inclusive IP platform that has attracted many outstanding artists and designers. We manage these IPs systematically. The charm of the cultural industry lies in its demand for strong soft power, which can’t be rationally calculated, which means you can’t just recreate a Labubu with money.
People’s Daily: How has Pop Mart improved its value by shifting from selling products to “selling culture”?
Wang: There’s a saying, “From the world to the world”. China’s culture in the new era is a world-class culture. We create products which people love and use to spread the culture behind them globally. As a new-generation Chinese brand, we aim to make higher value-added products and become a world-class brand. Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, most Chinese manufacturers focused on efficiency and cost. For example, reducing a cup’s price from 100 yuan to 10 yuan through production efficiency underscores a fact that China manufacturing is excellent. However, the same glass cup, printed with a Labubu design, can be resold for 100 yuan. By collaborating with top artists and leveraging China’s mature manufacturing capabilities, we create new value. That, I believe, is innovation.
People’s Daily: What lessons can emerging cultural enterprises learn from your experience?
Wang: Even in a small product category, a big business can emerge. Our philosophy is: respect time and respect business. Investing enough time in the details, and excellence will open up the doors.
People’s Daily: Some limited-edition or co-branded Labubu toys sell for over 1,000 yuan and even over 10,000 yuan, which confuses many. What do you think of this? How long do you think Labubu’s popularity will last?
Wang: Market demand is diverse. Some prefer regular editions, while others like limited ones. Labubu is transitioning from a niche to a mass consumer product. Starting in September, we may sell up to 10 million units monthly globally, as demand keeps growing.
It’s fortunate that Labubu has become a phenomenon-level IP, and its image is now globally recognized. IP companies tend to have long lifespans, and the story and value of Labubu are just beginning to be explored. I’m confident it will bring more pleasant surprises in the future.
People’s Daily: Some people don’t understand the blind box sales model. What’s your take?
Wang: Cultural companies often have their own “language”, for example, Lego’s building blocks are its “language.” For Pop Mart, our “language” started with blind boxes. Of course, a company’s success ultimately depends on the quality of products and design.
‘Slow is fast, less is more；Focus on one thing and do it slowly’
People’s Daily: In 2024, Pop Mart’s overseas revenue reached 5.07 billion yuan, an increase of 375.2 percent year-on-year. You once proposed “rebuilding a Pop Mart overseas.” Have you achieved that?
Wang: In 2025, our overseas sales are likely to exceed domestic sales, and the growth rate is much faster than we expected. When the company went initial public offering (IPO), total sales were less than 2 billion yuan. In 2024, we achieved a revenue of 13 billion yuan. In this way, we have built many Pop Marts. This year, the sales of Pop Mart in North America are likely to exceed those in Southeast Asia, as the overseas market is constantly expanding.
People’s Daily: Why did you decide to extend your business overseas?
Wang: We have two important advantages: one is the Chinese market, and the other is Chinese manufacturing. For artists from other countries, the regions they reside in often have either an undersized market or an under-developed manufacturing sector. China’s excellent manufacturing industry and strong market can become a platform for artists around the world to incubate IPs, which are incubated in China and go global later.
People’s Daily: What difficulties will you possibly encounter when going global?
Wang: Many enterprises want to quickly expand the market, while we focus on how to do a good job first. Slow is fast, less is more, and we should focus on one thing and do it slowly. Going global is a systematic process, and we need to adapt to languages, cultures, and laws and regulations.
We have a small number of stores, and they are all directly-operated. It is estimated that there will be 200 overseas stores by the end of this year. We build our own teams, hire local people, and manage them by ourselves. This is a relatively slow and clumsy way. We had more than 1,000 foreign colleagues last year, and this year it may at least double.
We adhere to local operations and hope to turn the company into an open and inclusive platform. The integration of cultures and the running of team members all require time. Placing the right individuals in the right roles and continuously refining such arrangements enable us to excel in both enterprise development and cultural exchanges. Fortunately, people’s pursuit of happiness and beauty transcends all borders.
Marketing is a multi-faceted endeavor, and there are countless details from products to services, and we need to do these details well, one by one. When we first opened stores overseas, many people questioned that it must be Chinese people who went to buy. Now it is the opposite, and there are now many foreigners in our domestic stores. Some people joke that our products have become “Chinese specialties.”
‘We want to be an enterprise like a tree, with the roots deeply planted’
People’s Daily: I heard that you liked street-dancing very much when you were at school. How does the love for pop culture affect the operation of the company?
Wang: Since I was a child, there have been two things I’ve loved: art and business. You might say—half emotional, half rational. These two things are contradictory. Art pursues uniqueness, and the more unique an artist is, the more artistic he/she is; business is about universality, and the more universal it is, the more successful it is. We need to find a balance. From the very beginning of starting a business, we have hoped to build a great enterprise, a respected brand, and a good product to convey beauty.
People’s Daily: Pop Mart’s success has been accompanied by quite a few controversies in the course of its growth. What’s your take on that?
Wang: We’re a typical start-up. We set out to do A, then somehow ended up doing B, and suddenly found success with C. Maybe one day we’ll achieve even greater success with D. We believe in the power of iteration and accumulation. We are pioneers in the trendy toy industry. With no existing paths to follow, we have to cross the river by feeling for stones, proceeding cautiously, taking one step at a time. I think some enterprises are like grass, growing fast but with low value; some are like flowers, beautiful but short-lived. We want to be an enterprise like a tree, with its roots deeply planted. China’s inclusive culture, strong manufacturing capacity, and broad market… all provide the soil for rooting. It is precisely Chinese manufacturing and Chinese culture that have made us what we are.
People’s Daily: Some people compare Pop Mart with Disney. What’s your take on that?
Wang: In 2020, I said that if there would be a Chinese company that most resembled Disney in five years’ time, it would definitely be Pop Mart. Since last year, however, our aspiration has shifted. We no longer aim to be China’s Disney but rather Pop Mart of the world. This change stems partly from our success in internationalization, and partly from my belief that an online platform-based approach to IP incubation is better suited to this era. Our vision is as vast as the stars and the sea, yet compared to century-old enterprises, we still have much room for improvement. We hope to find a new path, because it is impossible to achieve transcendence if we just follow the path of others.
People’s Daily: Against the backdrop of global economic fluctuations, the trendy products industry is also facing a slowdown in growth and intense homogeneous competition. What’s your view on this?
Wang: I believe in the power of design and beauty, which is valuable. I have always believed that the driving force behind the next major development of many industries lies in the pursuit of beauty. In the past, we focused on creating something out of nothing. Now, we are moving from having something to making it beautiful. Take the chairs and sofas for example—driven by the pursuit of beauty, they can be completely reimagined and redeveloped, and this applies to numerous other industries as well.
People’s Daily: It’s the college graduation season now. For graduates stepping into society, what are your advice for them?
Wang: Each era has its own opportunities. We should believe in the value of hard work, curiosity, and beauty. The pursuit of life may be different for each generation. For example, the previous generation attached more importance to efficiency and cost, while our generation pursues innovation and beauty more. Let’s work together to pursue and create beauty.
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SOURCE Global Times
