After Blackpink's Lisa posted a photo holding a Labubu Macaron on Instagram, the products became very popular. Sales of Labubu skyrocketed and quickly sold out in Thailand. With its overwhelming popularity, Pop Mart decided to launch Pop Mart Concept Store @ Megabangna, featuring Labubu as the main theme for the first time outside China. This store is also the largest in Southeast Asia with its new premium street design, blending luxury, simplicity and coolness all in one place.
Siriporn Plangchantuk, country general manager of Pop Mart Thailand, explained to reporters at the opening of Labubu Concept Store that the store was launched due to its popularity in the country.
"Thai people like Labubu a lot. When a new collection is launched, the products sell out within a day. No matter how much stock we have, it has never been enough even though Thailand has the largest stock of Labubu in Asia. Even when new Pop Mart stores opened in Vietnam and Malaysia, Thai customers were there to purchase Labubu. Due to its overwhelming popularity, Thailand has become the first country to launch a Labubu Concept Store outside China."
Grant Wang, chairman, CEO and founder of Pop Mart, who flew to Bangkok for the opening of the Labubu Concept Store, also confirmed that Labubu is popular in Thailand. Moreover, he was impressed to see many fans of Labubu in Thailand.
"Thai customers have shown a tremendous enthusiasm for Pop Mart products, particularly Labubu. Moreover, the sales at branches in Thailand are excellent. This made us feel confident to open a Labubu Concept Store here," said Wang.
"What impressed me greatly is seeing the multitude of Labubu fans as can be seen from everyone carrying Labubu keychains on their bags. It is heartwarming to see Labubu's popularity and the warm reception in Thailand from various groups and of all ages, including celebrities, working professionals and students. This brings me much happiness."
Labubu Concept Store. Pop Mart Thailand
Situated at the 1st floor of Megabangna, the highlight of the Labubu Concept Store is its stylish new design, blending the warmth of wood with exposed concrete, adorned with materials in black, gold and metal tones to create an industrial ambience. There are limited collections of Zimomo Lava, Labubu Kingmon and Dimoo–Dodgems Snooks Dodgems at the store.
Besides Labubu Concept Store, there is a Mega Lifestyle zone located in front of Tops Supermarket decorated with characters from The Monsters collection. This zone is a great area for Pop Mart fans to take photos with their favourite characters for social platforms.
When Wang was asked what was the key factor that contributed to success, he responded that Pop Mart's secret is engaging with the younger generation using its unique style.
"Additionally, Pop Mart has a team of incredibly talented artists who contribute significantly to product development," said Wang.
In the future, Wang hopes Pop Mart will be like Disney.
Skullpanda. Pop Mart Thailand
"We aspire to be like Disney which produces works that offer warmth, inspiration and friendship to everyone. Pop Mart also aims to support artists in their development and enhance the quality of art toys."
Pop Mart has also launched the Hirono Bangkok Art Exhibition and Event, the world's first and largest Hirono exhibition, this month at CentralWorld. Created by renowned Chinese artist Lang, Hirono is one of Pop Mart's top five characters. The event featured a mini exhibition showcasing art pieces and a sample of a 3m figure brought from China.
After the launch of two events hosted by Pop Mart, Wang replied to some of Life's interview questions via email.
Pop Mart's Blind Boxes are considered a key factor of the company's success. When you started the company, what was the inspiration behind the concept of blind box toys?
Blind Boxes are simply a form of entertainment integrated into commerce. People often feel happy when they receive gifts and shopping can be seen as buying gifts for themselves. The level of happiness experienced when receiving a gift is related to how surprising the gift is. Adding a bit of the unknown is like having someone give you a gift, and it will make you more satisfied. Therefore, we decided to launch Blind Boxes. They initially had many names such as drawing boxes, shaking boxes and hidden boxes.
Hirono reshape collection. Pop Mart Thailand
What are qualifications that you look for in an artist?
First, artists must have the ability to create high quality content which is a crucial factor that sustains the popularity of our products. For example, Kenny Wong, the creator of Molly, and Long Jiasheng, the creator of Labubu, have been deeply rooted in this industry for many years, and accumulated their own ideas and experience. Second, each of our series has a clear design concept and theme. For instance, the popular Skullpanda The Warmth Series was designed with the intention of helping people accept themselves, open up and feel the warmth of things around them.
Since some art toys are only fleeting trends, what is your strategy for keeping customers interested?
From an intellectual property perspective, the world is constantly changing and so is the market. In the past, people preferred works that could express emotion. However, there is a time when people seek companionship or something that they can relate to. For example, Hirono, which has been very popular in the past two years, made me realise that I am not the only lonely person in this world. Paintings which express spiritual values of each era are different. That's why we call what we do 'art toys'.
Over the past year, the growth of the 'doll' product category has increased rapidly. This year, we will increase our investment in this category and strengthen our team's capabilities in terms of supply chain and other dimensions to make our products faster to solve the problem of being out of stock. Additionally, we have recently launched a new product category, 'building blocks', and we hope to find our own path. We will launch new products every month.
Labubu collection. Pop Mart Thailand
Since sustainability is a growing concern, what is Pop Mart's approach to the environment impact of its product and packaging?
As one of the leading Chinese toy brands, Pop Mart has integrated the concept of sustainability into its operations and social responsibility practices. Pop Mart's supply chain department from packaging design and logistics to the selection of adhesives is based on the concept of environmental protection.
Since 2019, Pop Mart changed its oil paint to watercolour to become more environmentally friendly. After extensive testing, our special water-based paint, which meets the national VOC emission standards, was produced in 2022.
We improved the design which resulted in a 29% reduction in packaging volume compared to the previous design. We also replaced the foam liner with a biodegradable paper tray liner and use Forest Stewardship Council certified colour cards which can reduce negative environmental effects.
The Monsters collection. Pop Mart Thailand
