PopMart, a Chinese Designer Toy Store, Opens a Branch in South Korea

PopMart is a designer toy retailer founded in 2010 as an e-commerce company. After the outbreak of the designer toy market in China, it began its offline retail business, with more than 400 stores and nearly 300 self-service terminals on Chinese mainland.

Most designer toys sold in PopMart are designed by Japanese or Korean designers. But until they are sold through PopMart, these designer toys are often unknown. The company’s founder said in a previous interview that the company is committed to becoming an intellectual property management company rather than a retail company. They hope to find designers who have the potential to make popular toys and grow with them and share the benefits.

Of all the designer toy collections sold by PopMart, the best known is the image called Molly. The image was designed by Hong Kong designer Kenny Wong. Sales of the revamped series reached 5 million in 2018, bringing huge profits to the company and designers.

In Asia, designer toys are often in the nature of “blind box”, so it has a certain nature of “gambling”. Consumers can only choose the series they want to buy before paying, and they don’t know which type of toy they will get after unboxing. This means that if you want to collect a whole set of toys, you need to buy them many times.

Although this method of sales is controversial, “blind boxes” are becoming more and more popular among young consumers in China. As a result, PopMart has grown rapidly, and the company listed in Hong Kong in the first half of this year.