China Trading Desk Founder, Subramania Bhatt gives his take on Pop Mart and the Labubu Generation and the lessons on the future of travel retail.
Subramania Bhatt
Pop Mart’s Emotional Coup: More Than Just Toys
The rise of Pop Mart, and in particular its breakout character Labubu, signals a decisive pivot in consumer behaviour. What was once considered niche designer toy culture has evolved into a mass-market emotional movement. In China, and increasingly across global markets, consumers are no longer buying purely for function. They’re buying for meaning, identity, and emotional resonance.
As I noted recently on CGTN’s Chat Lounge: “Labubu is not just a toy, but a form of emotional release in times of social pressure and economic uncertainty.” This perfectly captures the emotional economy now shaping Chinese consumerism. Pop Mart’s blind boxes, priced affordably but often fetching high resale value, satisfy not just material desire but psychological gratification, community belonging, and social performance.
For the travel retail industry, this is a wake-up call.
The Gen Z Shift in Outbound Travel
Pop Mart’s consumer profile aligns uncannily with the latest data on Chinese outbound travellers. The 2025 Q1 CTD Outbound Travel Survey reveals a dominant demographic:
• 56% are aged 18–29
• 57% are female
• 67% prefer four-star and above hotels
• 77% book their trips less than a month in advance
• 79% research duty-free shopping before they even board their flight
These are not passive, discount-seeking buyers. They are emotionally engaged, visually driven, experience-first travellers. They trust Xiaohongshu and Douyin for inspiration, value exclusivity and cultural storytelling, and seek products that reflect who they are.
Pop Mart has mastered this consumer. Travel retail must catch up.
Five Takeaways for Retailers Who Want to Stay Relevant
1. Design for Emotional Resonance, Not Just Function
Pop Mart thrives because every product is a story. It’s not a Labubu figure—it’s a memory, a mood, a collectible tied to identity. Travel retail brands should move beyond “duty-free discount” positioning. Emphasise cultural context, visual design, and emotional payoff. Whether it’s whisky, skincare, or confections, products need narratives that resonate.
2. Tap Into Collectability and Limited Editions
Pop Mart’s success hinges on the thrill of the rare. The blind box model has created habitual consumers who return not out of necessity, but for the chance of scoring something special. Travel retail should embrace this by offering airport-exclusive items, seasonal drops, and regionally-inspired collections that feed into the collector mindset.
3. Go Beyond Luxury: Embrace ‘Affordable Indulgence’
While traditional travel retail has long focused on high-ticket items, Pop Mart proves the power of small-ticket emotional purchases. These are the lipstick-effect equivalents—affordable luxuries that don’t require justification. Consider offering branded collaborations, impulse-friendly formats, and “grab-and-go” novelties that delight.
4. Mirror Digital Habits and Channels
Pop Mart’s audience lives online. They plan on Xiaohongshu, watch on Douyin, pay with Alipay. Travel retailers must adapt their digital ecosystems to match. Incorporate digital discovery into the in-airport journey, integrate influencer storytelling pre-travel, and align duty-free with content, not just catalogue.
5. Understand the Cultural Pivot: From Utility to Identity
Pop Mart isn’t about toys. It’s about cultural power and personal expression. This mirrors China’s broader evolution from OEM to OBM (Original Brand Manufacturing). The smartest travel retailers will align with this trend by curating brands that offer cultural relevance, aesthetic appeal, and emotional engagement—not just savings.
A New Playbook for Travel Retail
Pop Mart has exposed the gaps in traditional travel retail thinking. It has shown that Gen Z Chinese travellers want more than tax-free deals. They want meaning. They want moments. They want something to take home, and take pride in. They want to feel seen. They want products that tell stories about who they are becoming.
As over 155 million Chinese travellers venture abroad in 2025, travel retail must not only cater to them—it must connect with them. That means rethinking product curation, retail experience, promotional strategy, and digital touchpoints. The opportunity is immense, but only for those willing to abandon the old playbook.
Final Word: Labubu Is Not a Toy—It’s a Strategy Lesson
Pop Mart has rewritten the rules of engagement for a new generation of Chinese consumers. It has shown that emotional storytelling, scarcity-driven collectability, and digital-native brand behaviour aren’t “nice to have”—they’re non-negotiable.
Travel retail, still largely anchored in pre-pandemic assumptions, faces a choice: adapt to this new reality or become invisible to the most powerful outbound market in the world.
Labubu is a cultural product – but more importantly, it’s a strategic signal. If Pop Mart can turn a 9cm figurine into a global phenomenon, imagine what travel retail could do with its stage—if it stopped selling products and started selling meaning.
This is not about shifting inventory. It’s about shifting mindset.
China Trading Desk recently launched China Travel Dashboard 3.0—a real-time analytics platform that delves into the multifaceted behaviour of Chinese travellers. This tool combines real-time flight and booking data with qualitative insights gleaned from CTD’s proprietary surveys and consumer behaviour powered by UnionPay and GlobalBlue data, giving clients a 360-degree view of target demographics.