Missing out on Pop Mart, you might be wondering: Didn't this thing become 'outdated' years ago? But then it slaps you in the face, as its stock price hits a new high, and Blokko takes off as well. This reminds me: when you think trendy toys are a thing of the past, they might quietly be changing 'postures' to reignite the market.
After all, we still underestimate the power of 'emotional consumption'.
🧸 Trendy toys are not toys; they are emotional outlets
Ask a 30-year-old guy why he buys a bunch of blind boxes, cards, or building blocks, or why an office worker spends hundreds on a limited plush toy. He probably won't mention 'return on investment'; he'll say, 'It looks nice', 'I couldn't afford it when I was a kid', 'MOLLY is so cute'...
Yes, this is the underlying logic of trendy toys: emotional value > functional value.
When brands like Pop Mart, Blokko, and TOP TOY become popular, they are not selling plastic; they are selling personas, the stories behind the IP, and an emotional outlet for adults.
Moreover, this sentiment is not something that will pass quickly. According to data, China's trendy toy market has already exceeded a trillion yuan and is expected to reach 200 billion by 2029, continuously raising the ceiling. And the potential for per capita consumption has just begun.
🌍 Starting from Dongguan, trendy toys are 'queuing globally'
Now, trendy toys are no longer just a domestic phenomenon. Pop Mart's global expansion over the past few years has yielded explosive results:
– MOLLY has gone to space
– LABUBU has donned local traditional attire in Thailand
– Collaboration with the Louvre Museum and world-famous paintings
– Overseas revenue accounts for nearly 40%
Pop Mart has truly achieved the grand claim: 'Recreate a Pop Mart overseas'. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a joke; the logic behind it is simple - globalizing IP combined with localization.
You have to say, this wave of Chinese trendy toy brands going overseas is no longer about cost-performance; it’s about aesthetic output and the embodiment of cultural soft power.
🧠 Where are the investment opportunities? Don't just focus on 'blind boxes', understand the industrial chain
From an investment perspective, this wave of trendy toys is no longer just about 'buying Pop Mart'. There are several angles worth considering behind it:
1. IP Operation: IP is the 'moat' of trendy toys. Whoever can incubate the next LABUBU or CRYBABY will set the trend.
2. Supporting Industrial Chain: For example, among the thousands of factories in Dongguan, Guangdong, those who master production efficiency control costs.
3. Channel Capability: Players like TOP TOY and Card Game act quickly in offline retail channels and short video marketing, turning traffic into sales.
4. Overseas Capability: Whoever can acquire the first wave of 'seed users' in overseas markets has the opportunity to create the second Pop Mart.
Trendy toys are essentially not a one-time transaction; they require continuous content supply, product iteration, and fan engagement... they increasingly resemble operating a 'IP universe'.
🚧 Continuous hits do not equal 'guaranteed profit'
Of course, this doesn't mean the trendy toy sector is without risks. Several real issues need to be addressed:
– Serious homogenization: If you visit a blind box store, aside from different designs, the gameplay is almost the same, which can easily lead to fatigue.
– Change in consumer demographics: Generation Z is willing to spend now, but what about a few years from now? Who can capture the aesthetics and emotions of the next generation?
– IP lifespan issue: MOLLY can be popular for 19 years, which is not easy, but not every IP can last that long.
So after this surge for Pop Mart, whether it can sustain will depend on whether its content production and user stickiness reflect 'sustainable emotional value'.
🧩 We are buying trendy toys, and trendy toys are also buying us
I increasingly feel that trendy toys are not a 'toy business', but a business of capturing emotions.
You think you're choosing blind boxes, but actually, the blind boxes are choosing you.
And for market players like us, Pop Mart's new high is not the end, but the beginning of a 'long story line' for the trendy toy sector. We should focus not just on who the next hit product will be, but:
– Who is telling the more compelling stories?
– Who can use trendy toys to tell a grand narrative of 'global cultural IP'?
– Who can turn a fleeting trend into a cultural symbol of a generation?
This is the long-term investment clue worth pursuing.