New mini Labubu series Photo: screenshot from WeChat account of Pop Mart
As of Friday afternoon, Chinese pop toy maker Pop Mart’s official flagship store on AliExpress showed that the newly released mini Labubu series had already sold out in several overseas markets, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan. A company representative told the Global Times that the release time varied by region, and further updates on overseas sales remained highly anticipated.
Just on Thursday night, Pop Mart launched its mini Labubu series in the Chinese market, where it was met with frenzied demand from domestic consumers.
Within 60 seconds of its launch, Pop Mart’s official mini program, along with Tmall and JD.com, had sold out the series. As of press time, a related hashtag on Sina Weibo about the product’s immediate sellout had drawn more than 41.9 million views.
The new products were released in two sets, each containing 14 regular figures named after letters A-Z, along with one hidden figure. Each blind box was priced at 79 yuan ($11). Sales on Pop Mart’s Tmall flagship store exceeded 300,000 units by the end of the event.
The overseas market for this Chinese pop toy brand has long been highly anticipated. The launch of the new product comes amid its recent announcement of ambitious expansion plans abroad, as its first-half financial results revealed a sharp surge in global sales.
At its first-half investor briefing on August 20, a representative from the company said it expects to operate more than 200 overseas stores by the end of 2025, up from the current 141, driven by strong demand in key international markets.
Earlier this month, Pop Mart reported a sharp surge in its first-half global sales. Revenue in the Asia-Pacific region rose 257.8 percent year-on-year to 2.85 billion yuan, sales in the Americas jumped 1,142.3 percent to 2.26 billion yuan, and revenue from Europe and other regions climbed 729.2 percent to 480 million yuan.
It has also been ramping up its overseas presence through partnerships. Last week, the company joined hands with AliExpress to showcase another of its popular IPs — Skullpanda — at the famous elrow music festival in Spain, where the brand drew enthusiastic attention from young festival-goers. According to PR Newswire, AliExpress will continue to strengthen its exclusive cooperation with Pop Mart, offering Spanish fans more benefits through back-to-school promotions that feature a wide range of the brand’s signature IPs, including Labubu, Dimoo, Crybaby and Skullpanda.
Global Times