The LABUBU World Cup collaboration sold out in seconds! Did Duan Yongping also understand POP MART (09992)?

The POP MART in the stock market and the POP MART in reality seem to live in two parallel worlds. Recently, the online launch of the POP MART THE MONSTERS and FIFA World Cup collaboration series sold out within seconds, and the offline stores also experienced a buying frenzy. On the other hand, the stock price of POP MART (09992) cooled off after the release of the annual report, despite achieving its best revenue in history. Founder Wang Ning, praised by Duan Yongping as a potential good friend in the future, is still being questioned by the capital market repeatedly. At a time when the market is once again "reassessing" POP MART and thinking about which system to use to evaluate its value, it may be worth looking back at the Chinese market. This is a severely underestimated sample - perhaps the market's doubts can find answers here. Stock Market Cools Off, Stores Heat Up Shanghai Nanjing East Road is one of the best windows to observe the real heat and vitality of consumer brands in the Chinese market. POP MART has two flagship stores here. On April 3rd, consumers arrived early to pick up the LABUBU World Cup collaboration items and buy mini bags and other peripherals. "Early in the morning, people came over. Almost all customers who come to the store will take a special look at this World Cup collaboration series peripherals. Currently, cellphone straps and mini bags are selling better." a staff member at the POP MART store in the IAPM Center said. April in Shanghai was constantly rainy, and the long queues at the stores were accompanied by the turbulent stock market. Just a week ago, the annual report of POP MART was released, and the market showed a dramatic scene of "confidence and panic." Revenue was 37.12 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 184.7%, and net profit was 13.08 billion RMB, a sharp increase of 284.5%. Despite this explosive performance, the stock price experienced a brief downturn. In addition to showing confidence at the conference call, the management team also demonstrated this through actions. Since the release of the financial report, POP MART has been repurchasing shares for six consecutive trading days. From 2026 to the present, POP MART has accumulated a total repurchase amount of 1.7 billion Hong Kong dollars. The market's panic comes from the expectation gap: although profits were high, they did not exceed expectations, concerns about over-reliance on a single IP in the future, and the forecast of growth not exceeding 20% in 2026. A deeper reason is the switch in valuation logic. The crowds lining up in the offline stores, unboxing videos shared on social media may not answer why the performance is good but the stock price plummets? But behind these phenomena all point in one direction: POP MART is becoming a part of more and more people's lives. When a consumer product changes from "trend" to "life," its life is just beginning. One core change is: for POP MART, offline stores are not just sales channels, but consumer destinations. Consumers entering the store are not just for transactions, the entire shopping process is also part of the experience. After observing in the stores, Chinese customers come specifically to see a certain IP series launched, such as this World Cup collaboration series. And because there are rumors online about the most comprehensive products, overseas visitors become "personal shoppers" to purchase "city specialties" in stores. Many Korean visitors video chat with family and friends to help them choose products. In addition, shooting store exploration videos has become a major purpose for overseas visitors to visit the stores. The World Trade Center flagship store is no longer a regular shelf layout but a themed space based on IPs. Among the crowd carrying shopping bags, you can hear different languages, and regardless of the customer's skin color, their actions in the store are highly consistent: taking photos, checking-in, shaking boxes, unboxing. At POP MART, consumer behavior itself has become shareable content, and shopping bags have become social currency. From the IP launch to offline unboxing and social sharing, this complete experiential loop establishes a strong emotional connection between POP MART and consumers, ultimately leading to loyalty. By the end of 2025, the cumulative registered members of POP MART in mainland China has exceeded 70 million. The number of new registered members reached 26.5 million, with a member repurchase rate of 55.7%, an increase of 6.3% over 2024. For a company that has been established for fifteen years, the growing repurchase rate is surprising. It is these changes that have made the growth of POP MART no longer rely solely on the number of stores opened. In 2025, despite a net increase of only 14 stores in the Chinese market, revenue reached 20.85 billion RMB, a high growth rate of 134.6%. Chinese Market: An Underestimated Model Since 2023, the POP MART Chinese market has maintained double-digit growth. Under a high base, the triple-digit growth in 2025 has broken through the ceiling to some extent. The key to driving high growth is a healthier IP matrix, rather than relying on a single explosive IP. In the Chinese market, the sales contribution of the combined sales of LABUBU plush toys, action figures, and peripherals only accounts for about a third. This shows the diversification of growth drivers, proving the resilience and sustainability of POP MART's business model. As the management team mentioned, POP MART is not just about LABUBU, even without LABUBU last year, the company achieved super-fast growth. In addition to the world-class IP LABUBU, including SKULLPANDA, CRYBABY, MOLLY, DIMOO, and STAR are six IPs with revenues exceeding 2 billion RMB. CRYBABY, SKULLPANDA, and other IPs have doubled their growth. The growth rate of the IP STAR, signed less than two years ago, reached 1601.8%, far exceeding LABUBU. The financial report does not detail the sales situations of various major IPs in China, but overall IP performance confirms POP MART's increasingly mature IP operation capabilities. The results from 2023's 25.7% to the current 134.6% more demonstrate that POP MART's increasingly stable operations have entered a virtuous cycle. Looking back at the operational actions of POP MART in China, a model based on systematic operations rather than expansion is taking shape. The transformation is concentrated in two aspects: the refinement of channels and further IP matrix development. Regarding offline channels, POP MART transformed its stores in terms of location and area in 2025. In China, the emphasis is on opening flagship stores in landmark locations in core cities, such as Harbin Central Street, Shanghai Nanjing East Road, and Wuhan SKP. Secondly, it phased out small stores on the negative first floor of shopping malls, increasing the area of stores by 30% to 40%, and in some cases by 50%. Management revealed that the sales of these renovated stores are almost double the national average. This growth does not rely on an increase in the number of stores, but rather digs into growth from the existing stores - the number of stores has hardly changed, but revenue has doubled, which is a reflection of operational efficiency. In addition to efficiency, what is more important is that the transformed stores are no longer traditional retail channels but brand experiential venues with more storytelling and interactive elements, as well as a "self-driving medium" that continues to attract foot traffic and stimulate organic propagation. Once a flagship store becomes a city-level consumer landmark, people who are not just trendy players or POP MART fans will also develop the idea of "just visiting." This may not directly lead to sales conversion, but through store contact, understanding, and experiencing the IP, the influence of the IP is subtly expanded to cultivate potential consumers. In other words, this is giving the IP an "extension of life," extending its vitality, and achieving long-term management. Additionally, in some core stores, POP MART has made significant adjustments to details: an increase of 50% in cash registers, significantly reducing customer queue times; customer response time for self-pick-up services has been shortened from an average of 60 seconds to 15 seconds. These small details can significantly improve the consumer experience. The focus on experiential adjustments also occurs in online channels. In 2025, POP MART explored Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd.'s linkage, live games, and socialization of operational transformations. For example, attempting online shopping as a walk-in experience for online consumers in offline stores. They produced a late-night radio show based on Hirono Ono's lonely emotions, with no sales during the broadcast, just chatting. According to financial data, box machines, Tmall, and Douyin channels all achieved triple-digit growth. Another aspect of systematic operations is the more efficient coordination between products and channels. Chu Yin revealed that the rhythm of product operations at POP MART is completely synchronized with the marketing rhythm of terminal channels. This directly affects the longevity of products. The LABUBU macaron series, listed in October 2023, is still a hot item in China. Another perennial favorite is the SKULLPANDA Temperature series, which was launched in November 2022. POP MART has been through adjustment periods in the Chinese market, overcome detours, and accumulated experience. Today, this operation system of "multi-IP, multi-category, all-channel" has developed a replicable methodology, at least in the Chinese market is already a reference sample. And this is one of the core assets for global expansion. Voluntarily Entering the Maintenance Station 2025 was the fastest-growing year since going public. The global popularity of LABUBU exceeded the management team's expectations, but also significantly raised external expectations for POP MART. However, its rise to stardom had a certain degree of contingency. POP MART was not pushed forward by a sudden surge in popularity, but chose to spend a year digesting the pressure on organization, supply chain, and global management. Wang Ning likened 2025 to a high-speed race on an F1 track, while 2026 is a year of "entering the maintenance station, refueling and changing tires," with the core goal not to pursue extreme growth, but to actively reorganize after high-speed development, solidify the foundations, and achieve longer-term, more stable, and healthier growth. The reorganization begins with the adjustment of the organizational structure. At the performance release conference, Wendeyi attended in a new role as Chief Growth Officer. Previously, he and Sidi served as joint COOs, jointly responsible for the management and operation of the group's global business, specifically focusing on the Asia-Pacific and European regions. As a South Korean executive who joined POP MART in 2018, he is the one who turned the overseas business of POP MART "from 0 to 1." This change sends a clear signal: POP MART will strengthen resource coordination in the future, systematically replicating the mature operational experience in China to the international markets. In terms of specific planning, POP MART's overseas operations will radiate surrounding areas based on four major regions - Europe will radiate Africa, Asia-Pacific will radiate East and Southeast Asia, and Americas will radiate Central America. Pursuing penetration from capital cities to second and third-tier cities, focusing on layout in tourist cities and airport stores. Chief Operating Officer Sidi revealed that in 2026, the number of stores in the United States would exceed 100, with two flagship stores planned to open on Times Square and Fifth Avenue in the fourth quarter. Sidi's goal is clear: to return the offline proportion to a slightly higher level than online in a healthy structure, addressing the current issue of inadequate offline capacity, leading to an excessively high online ratio. (The store in San Francisco, USA) The strategy for the Chinese market is to continue "meticulous cultivation." The number of stores will not expand significantly, but the focus is on upgrading and renovating, which will far exceed the number in 2025. New businesses such as desserts, offline theme parks, are another variable worth noting. In addition to the contribution to performance, these actions represent POP MART's exploration of stronger IP extensions and the persistence of long-term IP operations. Management clearly stated that an IP-centric group will be the core strategic focus for the next five years. Proactive adjustments are the continuation of a consistent operating philosophy. He repeatedly mentioned internally, "Respect time, respect management." This precisely encompasses the core logic of value investment: not chasing short-term extreme growth, but pursuing long-term healthy compound growth. The dramatic turnaround is that Duan Yongping, a staunch supporter of value investment, once bluntly stated "I don't understand POP MART," but in a market full of bearish sentiments, suddenly changed his stance, retracting his previous statement of not investing in POP MART. He said, "Economic 'speed' is actually the 'acceleration' in physics. Investment buys the total amount of the future, it is the 'speed' x 'time' in physics to get the 'total length', of course, having a bit of 'acceleration' will run further in a unit of time." When the market focuses on how fast a company is running "now," Duan Yongping believes that the true value lies in "how far it runs," that is, the total accumulation that can be achieved in the future. And what determines the total length is not just the speed at a moment, but whether the company is continuously becoming stronger. After his "supportive" statement, Duan Yongping frequently answered questions about POP MART from netizens on Snowball and even stated that he might become good friends with Wang Ning, as he strongly admires him. POP MART's management has revised the growth guidance for 2026 to "not less than 20%." In the market's view, this is "slowing down," but for Duan Yongping, this is precisely building up "acceleration": by proactively slowing down for adjustments, solving organizational, supply chain, global management issues, and accumulating momentum for longer-term, stable growth. Regardless of how the external world evaluates it, or how the stock market rides the roller coaster, POP MART always knows exactly where its core value lies.