Wang Ning, Chairman of Bubble Mart, once publicly stated，In another five years，Pop Mart will become the “most Disney-like company” in China，Has many very valuable super IPs”。This comparison is a bit too abrupt。Before it was Disney，The biggest challenge for Bubble Mart is，Must first ensure that within the next 5 years，Become a sustainable business。

Find out what Bubble Mart is for，I used it for a long time。

Even though I have read many related articles，I even went to the mall to visit their stores and vending machines (they call themselves vending robots)，As to why young people collect plastic dolls as a hobby，I still can’t have a real sense of substitution。

But whether you really understand the logic or not，As a commercial category，The business model of developing and selling “trendy toys” has been established due to the rapid rise of this company。

June 1st this year，Pop Mart submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange。April last year，This company was delisted from the New Third Board，Obviously that time，They are already strongly aware，The half-dead New Third Board can no longer store their expectations for future development。

The comeback of Bubble Mart，Submitted a very beautiful transcript。2019，Company operating income 16.8.3 billion yuan，Net profit 4.5.1 billion yuan。Among them，The revenue growth in 2018 and 2019 was 225 respectively.4% and 227.2%，Net profit growth rate is 611 respectively.9% and 353%，It can be described as "getting rich overnight"。

A retail company selling plastic dolls，How to leverage the market size of hundreds of millions？Is this model sustainable？

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This is actually the growth history of a small retail store.

Bubble Mart was born in 2010，Founder Wang Ning traveled to Hong Kong，In a fashionable small supermarket，See consumers carrying shopping baskets，Put cosmetics inside、Creative toys and stationery，This novel collection store format inspired Wang Ning。

Before this，While attending college in Zhengzhou，He 188bet sports betting app download once opened a "Grid Shop" with his classmates。This retail consignment store model from Japan was introduced to China more than 10 years ago，In some two、Third-tier cities were once very popular，But it quickly disappeared。

The pattern of the grid shop is，The shop owner rented a small prosperous shop in the commercial street，Use shelves to divide into hundreds of grids，Re-sublet。Everyone can rent a small grid to sell small items wholesale from the market、trinket，You can also sell second-hand goods。Actually，This kind of shop can be understood as a street stall entering the house，Can also be understood as shared salesperson。

But after a short period of popularity，This business model seems to have died out overnight。Obviously，China does not have the soil to support this business model，The salesperson hired by the shop owner cannot create a sense of communication with customers like a street stall owner，Complex products of unknown origin are difficult to manage，It is also impossible to establish a reputation as a grid shop。Of course，The popularity of Taobao has also played a role in removing the firepower。

 But Wang Ning, who has opened a grid shop, firmly believes in the value of offline retail stores。In the initial store of Bubble Mart，Except toys，And home furnishings、Digital、Snacks and other 8 categories。The company has also established a buyer team，Discover trendy toys and department stores around the world。Before 2015，Bubble Mart basically expands at a rate of 3 to 5 stores per year，The area of ​​each store is more than 200 square meters，SKU (stock keeping unit) about 10,000。

The turning point occurred in 2015。Pop Mart discovered through internal data analysis，The company’s profit growth has hit the ceiling，But the toy category has maintained rapid growth，Almost 50% of sales。What’s more interesting，Consumers buying toys，Will leave a message on the official Weibo，Users often interact with each other。In that year，Pop Mart has drastically eliminated other categories，Only trendy toys remain，Since then it has become a trendy toy company。

In fact, the term "adult toys" may be more suitable to describe the nature of this type of product，But because other products took the lead，I had no choice but to start a category of “trendy toys”。Trendy toys originated in Hong Kong at the end 188bet online sports betting of the last century，Also known as Art Toy or Designer Toy by some。The difference between it and the figure is，Most of the figure models rely on animation、Books, movies, etc. already have IP，For example, Spider-Man、One Piece，Consumers’ purchasing motivation is usually based on their love for the character prototype。Trendy toys do not have the foundation of these famous IPs，It originates from the designer’s inspiration and creation。Trendy toys don’t have set story backgrounds like figures，Therefore，The design itself becomes the main reason for purchase。

In recent years，With the rise of the two-dimensional culture represented by Bilibili，The “two-dimensional” core users including trendy toys are growing rapidly。Bubble Mart has caught up with this trend。

January 2016，Bubble Mart solicits fans on Weibo for dolls they like to collect。Hundreds of comments，50% of people mentioned Molly。

Molly is an image of a little girl created by a Hong Kong designer，Lake green eyes，Golden curly hair，pouting，Looks a little unhappy。This type of image seems to resonate well with consumers。Molly was just one of the items purchased by Bubble Mart，After discovering her potential，The team quickly signed Molly’s designer，Start IP development。Pop Mart takes care of everything from mold creation、Production、Promotion to the rest of sales。

Same year，Bubble Mart launches Molly Zodiac series，The day the Tmall flagship store goes online，200 sets of pre-sale products sold out within 4 seconds。And the secret of this，It is attributed to the most important sales model after Bubble Mart - 188bet app download Blind box。

The magic of 188bet app download Blind boxes

The 188bet app download Blind box is not the first of Bubble Mart。actually，It has always been one of the core gameplays of trendy games。Japanese gashapon toys，Chinese people ate raccoon noodles when they were young，They are all blind box gameplay，They are all blind box gameplay。

188bet app download Blind box toys usually appear in series，Before unboxing，Consumers cannot tell which toy they will get，Therefore，It has an unknown sense of gambling，It can also stimulate consumers’ “collecting addiction”。At the Trendy Toys Fair，I often see people frantically opening blind boxes in the corner of the exhibition，And scream in surprise from time to time。

At the same time，The desire to collect and collect also provides the possibility of subsequent 188bet app download transactions。It is difficult to collect all the styles in the 188bet app download Blind box without repeating，Therefore，Hope to collect the full set，Or buyers who want their favorite styles will conduct second-hand transactions。The blind box toys themselves are relatively cheap，But if you get a rare one，Can be sold for several times more than the original price，This is also an encouragement to consumers。

Although Bubble Mart is not the first 188bet app download Blind box，But in the country，It should be the main promoter of blind box gameplay，Perhaps the first team to standardize blind box gameplay。Most of Bubble Mart’s products are based on blind boxes，Use unified packaging、Price、Dimensions and hidden proportions，To facilitate mass production。

Bubble Mart usually launches 188bet app download Blind boxes according to different series，For example, Spring Festival holiday or the beginning of school season，Twelve constellations, etc.，Quantity of each series is 12。In order to increase the user’s sense of surprise，There is also a hidden model with no published pictures in each blind box，Consumers can only increase the chance of buying by buying the whole box。

The price setting of 188bet app download Blind boxes is also very subtle，Around 50 yuan per piece，Much cheaper than the figures，The "little luck" you can get with a small amount of money，It also shortens the time for consumers to make decisions。Because of the probability of blind box，People tend to buy the same dolls，Need to exchange with each other，This derives the circulation and social attributes of trendy toys，At the same time, it also helped Bubble Mart accumulate a core fan base。

Preliminary period of selling 188bet app download Blind boxes at Bubble Mart，The store’s shopping guide will invite consumers who purchase blind boxes to join the WeChat fan group。Each store manager manages 1 to 3 WeChat groups with about 500 people。When new products are launched，The store manager will post pictures in the group for promotion，At the same time，Also provide users with a platform，Can exchange hobbies，Dolls purchased in exchange。In such an interaction，More and more core fans。

Wang Ning thinks，The sense of expectation and satisfaction brought by the 188bet app download Blind box，More than the product itself。This is also the direction of future retail – “from delivering goods to delivering emotions，From exporting products to exporting entertainment。”

Rely on the 188bet app download Blind box marketing model，Bubble 188bet app download Mart’s performance is soaring，However，Such a pattern，Whether it can support the company's development for a long time？The situation may not be so optimistic。

Future Challenges

The first challenge comes from IP。I mentioned the difference between trendy toys and figures，The figure is based on film and television animation works，IP can be infinitely derived，And can have multiple popular images at the same time。Funko Pop, a famous American fashion toy company，Just own Star Wars、Avenge Alliance、More than 5,000 popular film and television authorized IPs such as Harry Potter。

In comparison，Trendy fun relies more on the design itself，The original design cycle is longer，The speed of introducing new things from the old is relatively slow，Designers can easily run out of inspiration。and，In the fashion industry，IP’s head effect is very obvious，Bubble Mart operates more than 80 IPs，The top 7 IPs contributed nearly 83% of the revenue。The most popular Molly series，Contributed 4 in 2019.RMB 5.6 billion revenue，Accounting for 27% of total revenue。

This is where the risk lies.

Trendy toys belong to popular culture，Since it is "tide"，It’s volatile，When new hot spots appear，Old trends will fade away，If the popularity of big IP declines，Due to head effect，New IP cannot replicate this sporadic cultural phenomenon，Crisis will occur。1990s，The Shuihuka of Little Raccoon Crispy Noodles was very popular，However, after the issuance is completed，I will no longer be able to launch the same popular products。

The second challenge，comes from 188bet app download Blind box。Its two most important characteristics-sense of gambling and collecting addiction，There are hidden dangers，If not well maintained，The logic on which the entire marketing relies will collapse。

The sense of gambling in 188bet app download Blind boxes makes consumers addicted，But it also brings policy risks。Many mobile games have gashapon card drawing mechanisms，Under regulatory requirements，Need to disclose the probability of item appearance，Ensuring a certain level of transparency。The biggest bet for the Bubble Mart blind box is the hidden style，But Bubble Mart has not disclosed the specific value，According to player statistics，The probability of hidden money appearing is 1/144，In other words，You must buy at least 12 complete sets of blind boxes before you can draw them，The price of 12 whole boxes is 8496 yuan。

188bet online sports betting This is a dilemma: if the drop probability is clear，The significance of the 188bet app download Blind box will be greatly reduced；If the probability is not transparent，It is easy to cause public opinion and consumer dissatisfaction，May attract regulatory attention。

Wang Ning, Chairman of Bubble Mart, once publicly stated，In another five years，Pop Mart will become the “most Disney-like company” in China，Has many very valuable super IPs”。

This benchmark is too abrupt，Making people laugh。After all, Bubble Mart is still just a chain retail store selling small plastic toys，And Disney is the world’s number one entertainment empire。But who knows Li Shufu who assembled copycat motorcycles back then，Will it create the largest local car brand in the future。

However，Before it was Disney，The biggest challenge for Bubble Mart is，Must first ensure that within the next 5 years，Become a sustainable business。

*Source of this article: WeChat public account "Lishi Business Review" (ID:libusiness)，Author: Liu Ge，Original title:《Before it was Disney，Pop Mart must first become a business that can survive for 5 years》.