Is POP MART's large store strategy an essential path for consumer brand upgrading?

"Is the Beijing POP MART flagship store coming?" "What a big POP MART! A three-story store opposite SKP!" "CBD makes money, CBD spends money, everyone wants to take it home!"…… After confirming with Huamao Property, Spicy learned that the newly opened shop here is a Mu Si mattress store. POP MART only conducted advertising cooperation for the barricade. On April 29, POP MART officially announced and confirmed the pop-up nature of this photo wall. Although it was a mix-up, the widespread speculation triggered by the billboard is enough to show that more and more people, whether passersby or fans, are looking forward to more POP MART "flagship stores." In September 2022, POP MART created a 600-square-meter three-story global flagship store on East Nanjing Road in Shanghai; in December 2023, POP MART opened a 700-square-meter flagship store in Ximending, Taipei; in the past two years, it has also opened several landmark flagship stores in core overseas cities such as Paris, London, New York, and Bangkok. Incomplete statistics of POP MART's iconic flagship stores These stores have larger areas: most are over 500 square meters domestically and over 200 square meters overseas; Located in more core areas: either in top-level commercial districts or streets that focus on trends, luxury, and culture, or in the core cultural and tourism landmarks of the city; Featuring more fashionable designs: flagship stores in various locations often match differentiated and localized design concepts to enhance POP MART's trendy brand image; Also providing richer experiences: in addition to products, these large stores often retain interactive experience areas for signings, launches, exhibitions, and meet-and-greets... On one hand, for the domestic market, this is a necessary stage for the upward development of the POP MART brand. After the release of the first quarter financial report this year, POP MART's market value surged to 217.4 billion yuan, ranking 70th among listed companies in China. By the end of 2024, it will have 401 stores in mainland China, but growth is quite restrained, with only 38 new stores planned for 2024. Compared to large-scale store expansions, optimizing locations as much as possible, creating differentiated stores, and deepening IP influence can better enhance sales efficiency and revenue scale. "The concept of the first store is no longer limited to the first store in a certain area; it also includes city concept stores, image stores, flagship stores, and other more distinctive and landmark stores. In the early stages of entering a city, some of POP MART's stores would be located on the B1 level of shopping malls. As the brand develops upward, we will look for first-floor store locations for entry." When discussing the subsequent domestic development strategy, POP MART stated the following. On the other hand, this is an inevitable choice under POP MART's high-profile overseas expansion strategy. Upgrading flagship stores and IP stores in the already relatively solid Southeast Asia and East Asia markets to deepen IP influence; creating large stores in landmark core business districts in Europe and the United States to strengthen brand image, breaking through one by one, POP MART's flagship store strategy aims at a larger overseas market, which currently seems to be quite effective. "This year, the goal is to open 100 stores overseas. Unlike previous years, the stores will be larger, located in better positions, and the same-store performance will be better than in previous years." POP MART stated in the first quarter conference call. Domestic Store Expansion Strategy: Open large stores of over 500 square meters, enter airports, and improve floor efficiency The POP MART global flagship store in Shanghai is located at the bustling intersection of Nanjing East Road. The four-story storefront is designed to resemble a seated SKULL PANDA, with decorative effects on the facade and a gradient pearlescent white wall that gives this 600 square meter store a strong sense of futuristic fantasy, quickly becoming a landmark for many passing tourists. "Fantasy," "visual impact," and "cool" are the core keywords in many social media REPO posts. The dreamlike color force space on the first floor and the large silver woven sci-fi planet on the second floor create completely different spatial decoration styles, with bright and exaggerated colors colliding to form a large display area, a whole wall of trendy toy exhibition, a bubble space relying on mechanical sphere display racks, and a spiral staircase passage disguised as a space station display cabinet... The overwhelming sense of design, the new product launch events in the store, and the flagship store limited edition products have attracted a large number of trendy people and POP MART fans. However, there are also voices of regret. "The space is not big enough," "the exhibition area is too fragmented," and "some areas are too crowded," some users complained on Xiaohongshu. It is reported that, in addition to emphasizing design, this is also related to the location of the store. Due to its position at a corner, the vertical support columns in the store divide the interior space. To some extent, the POP MART Shanghai flagship store had to sacrifice a more spacious area for visual effects and foot traffic advantages. Of course, away from the crowded and hard-to-find Nanjing East Road in Shanghai, POP MART's city stores in other regions have a higher space utilization rate. For example, the first urban flagship store in Northwest China located at the old city center of Xi'an and the Changsha city concept store that opened at the end of last year in Changsha's Guojin both emphasize a balance between products and exhibitions. The plush display wall and wood grain design of the Changsha store, along with the space station style of the Xi'an store, complete the urban concept expression under different themes These large POP MART stores located in the core business districts of cities mostly have an area of around 500 square meters. In addition to stylized designs and limited edition releases, they often reserve interactive experience areas for offline activities such as designer signing events and exhibitions. These limited edition products and activities complement the strategy of opening stores in landmark business districts, both of which help to create urban landmarks and further deepen the influence of POP MART's IP among a broad user base. A typical example is the city paradise store that POP MART opened in collaboration with Beijing Daxing International Airport in January this year. In this store, customers can purchase many limited edition products available in the POP MART city paradise, such as Labubu backpacks and Beijing city limited editions. The surrounding area of the store is also set up with interactive zones for rest and play, featuring various POP MART IP sculptures. This inevitably brings to mind the Disney store at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. POP LAND at Daxing Airport From the airport vending machine model to the IP sculpture exhibition + city paradise store, POP MART's evolution of stores in airport areas not only amplifies the paradise IP but also strengthens the brand's gifting function and strong trend consumption influence for visiting tourists. It is worth noting that in addition to opening new stores, POP MART is also further focusing on improving revenue scale in existing stores. Last year, POP MART's China business president, Chu Yin, stated in a media interview that POP MART has initiated optimization of store locations in 2024, saying, "If store sales are not performing well, we will look for better locations." A typical measure is to attract more trend-conscious and fashion-oriented users by moving to higher floors. It is reported that previously, stores such as POP MART's Qujiang Joy City, Dalian Roosevelt, and Beijing Raffles have all moved from the original B1 level to the first floor, achieving significant performance improvements as a result. POP MART's new store at Beijing Raffles Such floor relocations essentially redefine the distribution of shopping mall traffic through emotional consumption. Previously, the first floor of shopping centers, considered a golden area, had high rental prices. To ensure visual appeal and sales performance, most were leased to high-ticket, low-frequency fashion brands, such as luxury goods, beauty products, and gold. However, contemporary trend brands represented by POP MART are injecting vitality into the first floor of malls through their appeal to younger customer groups. "In the past two years, there has been a very typical B1B2 consumption craze, where many young people head straight to the underground levels of malls for interest and dining consumption, while the first floor has become a cold zone. Driven by foot traffic, malls naturally welcome trend toy brands that match the trend positioning and user preferences to move up, complementing the original fashion brands. Conversely, more prominent locations and traditional fashion crowds will also bring more new user increments to POP MART "Shopping center operator Wendy told DuoJiao. Overseas Store Expansion Strategy: Deepening IP Operations in the Asia-Pacific Region, Securing Prime Locations in Europe and America, with Higher Sales per Square Meter than Domestic In the overseas market, over the past year, POP MART has opened more "large-scale stores" in East Asia and Southeast Asia, engaging in deep cooperation with regional cultures, and has begun to emulate domestic strategies by launching in-depth operations of its own IP. In July last year, the new POP MART store opened in the trendy Myeongdong area of South Korea not only occupied three floors, covering an area of about 400 square meters, but was also designed with a K-POP theme, featuring a MEGA stage and a K-POP music video shooting area, while enhancing the design of photo-taking spaces within the store to boost sharing enthusiasm among Korean fans, clearly representing a deep integration with Korean pop culture. Image source: Xiaohongshu This year, the flagship stores newly opened by POP MART in Bangkok, Thailand, and Malaysia further increased their area, each around 250 square meters. Meanwhile, in the Bangkok area, POP MART has entered the deep operation phase of its IP. At the beginning of last year, the third store opened by POP MART at Central Ladprao in Bangkok featured a CRYBABY themed pop-up on the first floor of the mall; in July last year, POP MART launched its first LABUBU themed store at MEGA BANGNA, the largest shopping center in Southeast Asia, with the first day's revenue exceeding 10 million. Clearly, in the Asia-Pacific region where the brand influence has already been established, POP MART's next phase of focus is to deepen IP influence through fresher flagship and themed stores, further attracting the attention of tourists. According to a conference call in the first quarter, in the second half of this year, POP MART will open airport stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan, and Bangkok, Thailand, will welcome its first Xiaoye themed store. On the other hand, in the rapidly growing and core expansion focus of the overseas business in Europe and America, POP MART has also changed its previous "conservative" approach of first opening small and medium-sized stores before following up with large stores, now emphasizing a more aggressive strategy. Unlike the Asian market, POP MART's own IP has weaker appeal in the European and American markets, and its original design style differs significantly from local preferences. Additionally, the diverse U.S. market and fragmented European market both present strong cultural barriers. In response, POP MART's strategy is to collaborate with local IPs, combining more localized landmark stores with pop-up activities preferred by local users, using stronger operational strategies to attract the socially driven consumer demand in Europe and America Taking the European region as an example, in June last year, POP MART's third store in the UK opened on Oxford Street in London, gathering over 300 global trendsetting stores within a 3-kilometer radius, successfully enhancing its fashion attributes. At the same time, to attract local crowds, POP MART launched the UK limited EURO CUP football LABUBU cute particles, empowering its own IP with a rich local football atmosphere, drawing dual attention from fans and IP enthusiasts. In July last year, coinciding with the excitement of the Paris Olympics, POP MART's fourth store in France opened in the underground commercial area near the entrance of the Louvre Museum. During the opening period, the store was decorated with Olympic themes and various activities were held, launching a large number of Olympic co-branded products and derivatives, including MEGA SPACE MOLLY 400% Coca-Cola Paris, MEGA Women's Basketball, and mini frisbees, maximizing the regional heat and foot traffic brought by the world event and landmark scenery. Also in that month, POP MART completed the simultaneous opening of its first store in Milan, Italy, and its first store in Amsterdam, Netherlands, entering two major core cities in Europe in one day, marking an intensive output of regional brand influence. At the same time, in the culturally inclined North American market, POP MART has also created popular IPs through collaborations with local designers. Its collaboration with Los Angeles illustrator Libby Frame on Peach Riot, relying on a distinctive West Coast punk design style, attracted a large number of local American users and quickly became one of the most popular series among American consumers. In March this year, when the Dallas store opened, POP MART invited Libby Frame to attend and kick off a signing event to draw attention to the store. Interestingly, in many large stores across North America and Europe, POP MART places Disney derivative products and co-branded products in prominent positions, using beloved local IPs to more flexibly attract users and shape brand recognition. Exhibition at the Louvre store in France According to the first-quarter conference call disclosed by POP MART, currently, POP MART has over 10 stores in Southeast Asia with monthly sales exceeding 5 million, 6 landmark stores with monthly sales per square meter exceeding 100,000, and the annual sales of flagship stores have even surpassed 90 million. In the Europe and America region, the average monthly sales per square meter of stores range from 10,000 to 20,000, with the annual revenue of top stores in the U.S. expected to reach 60 million to 70 million, and a small 40-square-meter store in the UK achieving an annual revenue of 20 million. It is reported that in the second half of this year, POP MART will further complete its large store expansion plan overseas, which includes two flagship stores in New York's Times Square and Fifth Avenue. This large-scale concentration on prime locations will also help achieve the goal of "reaching 2.5 billion yuan in revenue in the North American market this year." The Logic of Large Stores: An Inevitable Path for Consumer Brand Upgrades? To some extent, POP MART's large store strategy further materializes IP culture through the upgrade and optimization of store space, bringing back the cyclical trend of interest-based consumption into the realm of traditional retail. In fact, it is not just POP MART; interest-based consumer brands strongly attached to IP, such as MINISO and TOPTOY, are also embarking on the path of upgrading to flagship large stores during their expansion both domestically and internationally. Since last year, MINISO has launched large store explorations around the world. On the eve of the Paris Olympics, its largest flagship store in Europe opened on the Champs-Élysées in Paris; at the end of August last year, MINISO's largest store globally—the Central Park flagship store in Jakarta, Indonesia—opened with a total area of 3,000 square meters, generating revenue of 1.18 million yuan on its first day, setting a new record for single-day sales of MINISO stores worldwide; in October last year, the 2,000-square-meter MINISO LAND global No. 1 store opened in Shanghai, achieving a performance of 12.03 million yuan in its first month of trial operation. MINISO also clearly stated at its performance meeting that the larger the store area, the better the profitability trend. In 2024, its large stores over 300 square meters are expected to see nearly a 5% growth in GMV, while small stores face significant pressure, and this year, the brand will further insist on exploring super stores. Previously, TOPTOY founder and CEO Sun Yuanwen also told Spicy in an interview that TOPTOY's overseas expansion will adopt a model of large stores leading small stores, by opening 100 flagship stores in core business districts around the world to radiate surrounding areas and malls, creating influence and further reducing the difficulty of opening small stores. At the beginning of this year, TOPTOY's first global flagship store also opened on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai, with an annual rent of 13 million and renovation costs reaching 15 million, setting a record of over 5 million in revenue in its first month Of course, this wave of brand upgrading is not limited to the field of interest consumption. Sportswear brands such as Anta, Yaying, ERDOS, Youngor, MAIA ACTIVE, as well as tea brands like Heytea, Chayan Yuese, and Bawang Chaji are also competing for flagship stores in core business districts and cultural tourism scenic spots—even willing to sacrifice short-term sales efficiency for brand influence. A practitioner in the tea beverage industry told DuoJiao that currently, in the core business districts of Beijing and Shanghai, the pressure to recoup costs for large stores is very high, and brand value far exceeds revenue value. However, everyone wants to follow the path of Arc'teryx and lululemon, replicating the new "brand value upgrade" myth from a long-term operational perspective. Previously, whether it was Arc'teryx leveraging high-end business districts with quality store strategies to upgrade its brand image from professional outdoor to sports luxury; or lululemon amplifying the star product effect through scenario-based stores and full-category displays to enhance core fan stickiness, the creation of brand value barriers, ultimately gaining high recognition and loyalty from community users, all relied on the large store strategy. With the stratification of consumption and overseas users' further pursuit of experiential consumption, integrating inefficient small stores and focusing on high-quality large stores, with differentiated services, immersive experiences, and digital operations, seems to have become an inevitable choice for many developing consumer brands to seize the high ground in commercial competition. In the future, how to balance the investment and returns of large stores, how to ensure long-term stable operations after short-term popularity, and how to find a balance between scaled expansion and refined operations may be more important phase issues for these brands. This article is reproduced from DuoJiao Spicy (ID: ylwanjia) with authorization. All copyrights belong to Spicy, and translation or reproduction without permission is prohibited. The "2024 China New Consumer Brand Growth White Paper" is based on research from over 8,000 consumers, insights from more than 100 experts, and in-depth analysis of over 3,000 companies, decoding the essence of the market from eight dimensions and anchoring future trends from six perspectives. This 200,000-word professional report will serve as a "barometer" for the iteration of the consumer industry and a strategic guide for companies to break through existing constraints and reshape growth momentum. 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