The life-and-death crisis gave birth to Wang Ning later seeking help online and learned about the Molly IP through the help of netizens. Finally, he found artist Wang Xinming, gave money to shares to negotiate cooperation, and gave Pop Mart's first popular self-owned IP.

3. Respect time and respect business

Wang Ning is extremely restrained in the expansion speed, and pays great attention to the health of each store, location selection, sales performance, service quality, operational efficiency... every link must be carefully crafted.

As he admitted in an interview with the media, "We can drive fast, and e-commerce live broadcasts are so popular, but you will find that basically no one sells our products."

In other words, Wang Ning would rather sacrifice short-term sales than let Pop Mart traffic and simply pursue sales, but instead focused on building lasting brand power and IP sustainability.

This self-restraint and foresight are the core of "minimal" leadership: not be deceived by tempting high growth, nor driven by short-term interests, but insist on doing basic work and accumulating strength.

Wang Ning's personality is also reflected in management style. He started his business in a small town in Henan. He started selling CDs and opening small shops when he was in college. In the early stage of his business, he started from a few hundred yuan and never made a big leverage.

When there are only 1,000 yuan left on hand, some people will be in danger of wealth and gamble, but Wang Ning told China Newsweek: "I am more realistic. I can deliver express delivery and takeaway first. After saving 10,000 yuan, we will set up a stall to sell sweet potatoes. After making money, we will gradually upgrade to making spicy hot pot."

This calm attitude shapes his "jogging mode": move forward steadily in the wind, not superstitious about the wind, but respect time.

Now that Pop Mart is financially healthy, Wang Ning still holds nearly half of the shares and does not require frequent financing. Therefore, he can be free from external pressure and make every decision with caution.

Managers, employees and even investors all commented on him being calm and restrained, not showing his emotions, and not speaking much, but every judgment is rigorous and pragmatic.

It is this simple, direct but rhythmic leadership that makes Pop Mart "slow down" in the capital frenzy and ultimately wins the gift of time.

Why is it so popular?

So, why can the Pop Mart series IPs, which I think are representative, stir up the consumer market? Some people even fought for blind boxes in the UK not long ago?

It is inseparable from the "emotional economy".

Pop Mart has established a "value ecosystem" with blind boxes as the core early on: it combines products, communities and marketing, forming a closed loop that keeps consumers addicted to it.

This systematic design is even called a replicable "addiction system".

First of all, there is low threshold and high investment: Pop Mart's blind box price is mostly 59-99 yuan, allowing most young people to participate easily.

Low prices make it easier for consumers to place orders impulsively, but the product can bring the satisfaction of "buying the same style as the celebrity" - from Lisa to Beyoncé, many international celebrities have posted their Pop Mart pendants on social media, instantly putting the halo of "trendy certificates" on ordinary toys.

This makes every young person who embraces it feel that he has "keep up to the trend". With the boost of social platform algorithms, unboxing and matching videos and pictures quickly become display materials for users, forming a self-growth cycle of "buy-sharing-showing".

Secondly, probability lottery drives repurchase. The packaging of each blind box is opaque, and the design of the built-in hidden model is almost the secret to "tempting players to fall".

For example, in the macaron series, the hidden model has a premium of up to 877% in the secondary market, and the co-branded model with Vans has increased to 1284% of the original price.

Under such a mechanism, consumers are no longer simply "collectors", but more like "bettors". A series of psychological hints make people unable to extricate themselves.

Every time you open a box, it is a peak of emotions, an explosion of surprises, and it is an inexplicable experience of decompression.

Xiaohongshu and Douyin are filled with Pop Mart's "opening a box video" and box-pulling and posting orders. These users' spontaneous content creation not only brings free publicity to the brand, but also makes participation itself a ritual: opening a box has become a social behavior of emotional release.

In other words, Pop Mart makes the "addiction mechanism" to a "nearly insensitive but efficient" state: the user is not asked to buy, but is quietly "guided to want".

Finally, the resonance between the community and IP: Pop Mart knows that the real power of the trend lies in fan culture.

From online to offline, it strives to run a fan community: in addition to creating a warm discussion area on social media, it also regularly holds offline pop-up stores, theme exhibitions, joint activities, etc. to immerse fans in the world of their favorite characters.

For many fans, collecting blind boxes is no longer just a personal preference, but a group ceremony - discussing and exchanging together, showing off rare models, and grabbing hidden models.

The stronger the cohesion of the fan circle, the higher the presence of Pop Mart. Brands give characters the attributes of "fan language": who opens what hidden models and who brings out the street with which blind box, these behaviors are content in themselves.

The blessing of celebrities has magnified this effect: European and American star Lisa was photographed on her back and Jolin Tsai showed her baby photos, which instantly made these characters jump from the trendy toy circle into the public's vision and become "dreamy and elegant products."

Glue-faced doll. Image source: Pop Mart flagship store

Taking two-pronged approach, Pop Mart successfully portrays itself into an "IP empire". Their own IP, exclusive introduction of IP and cross-border joint creation together form a differentiated IP matrix, allowing every small character to become a traffic magnet in the industrial chain.

In short, from the probability addiction mechanism of the blind box itself, to the dissemination cycle of content algorithms, to the fermentation of fan culture and the incubation operation of IP, Pop Mart has created a closed-loop value ecosystem.

It is not only selling IP itself, but also selling a "identity loop", making consumers feel that "I am not buying a toy, but joining a community system that can be identified and displayed."

In the short term, this system proves itself: the hot series contributed 3 billion yuan in turnover, a year-on-year increase of 726.6%; in 2024, Pop Mart's revenue was 13.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 106.9%, and overseas business soared by 375.2%.

It can be said that this closed loop of "emotion community IP" is the most terrifying unique force of Pop Mart's 100 billion empire.

How long can Wang Ning's "terror" last?

Although investors who missed Pop Mart have been slapping their heads in the past two years, the market has never stopped doubting Wang Ning.

Countless people are asking, how long will the Pop Mart mode be popular? Is the trendy toy economy a flash in the pan?

It can be said that the biggest concern of the outside world about Pop Mart is whether high growth can continue.

After the 2024 financial report, Wang Ning admitted: "There are very few companies that have a market value of 100 billion yuan from the market, but they can rise again after falling... Any company has to go through a cycle and winter."

He himself also knew that many media had questioned whether the company was a bubble before, "90% of the media said that the bubble burst", believing that Pop Mart was just a "gust of wind".

In this regard, Wang Ning's answer was "prove yourself with performance": no matter how the outside world talks about it, the company chooses to focus on growth.

In 2024, Pop Mart's revenue and profit both exceeded expectations, and its profit margin also hit a new high, with its stock price once exceeding HK$147; the latest results announced in March showed that the adjusted net profit in 2024 was 3.4 billion yuan, an increase of 185.9% year-on-year.

These hard data became a powerful evidence for his refutation of the "bubble theory".

Pop Mart's stock price soared. Image source: China Merchants Securities

However, Pop Mart is also actively responding to questions and accelerating diversified layout.

On the one hand, it continues to launch new categories of products, such as separating the revenue of plush toys, figures (blind boxes) and entertainment parks for the first time in 2024. The revenue share of plush toys increased from 8.3% to 9.8%, and plans more non-blind box IP products.

Wang Ning has always emphasized the need to look outward and work upward. In addition to Southeast Asia, it is also accelerating the expansion of markets such as North America and Europe, and opening stores into London Oxford Street, Bangkok Shopping Center, Oceania Theme Park and other places.

According to the financial report, Pop Mart's overseas revenue accounted for nearly 39% in 2024, of which the Southeast Asian market grew by 619.1% year-on-year, even becoming the second growth curve.

Wang Ning even said that the growth rate of overseas markets is expected to exceed 100% in 2025. Through overseas multi-point breakthroughs and product line expansion, Pop Mart is trying to get rid of its dependence on a single blind box track.

On the other hand, media and regulators have also named issues such as "over-marketing" and "false publicity".

The Consumer Association once reminded that blind boxes are addictive and chaotic. In the past few years, some Pop Mart products have been subject to administrative penalties for packaging probability and publicity issues.

Although these disputes sparked discussion at the time, judging from the company's remarks, the management seemed to focus more on business adjustments and risk control, such as truthfully disclosing probability and sales volume, and strictly controlling inventory rather than just defense.

In the face of market doubts, Wang Ning is still committed to continuously developing valuable IPs and respecting business rules: "Our success is not the success of blind boxes, but the success of the balance between business and art."

As for whether the existing model will fail, it still needs to be observed.

After all, although Pop Mart's gross profit margin is still as high as 66.8%, and its latest market value is more than HK$300 billion, companies that can bring excess returns in the past rely on long-term and stable growth. At present, Pop Mart is exploring how to innovate and grow in the next step with a more cautious pace.

Conclusion: The power of "unique"

"A great company can be born in every small category" - Pop Mart's story verifies this sentence.

From an ordinary college student in Henan to becoming a leader in the trendy toy industry, Wang Ning has practiced his business creed: respect time and balance art and business.

In just a few years, the era when a plush doll can be used to "take a chance" in the pocket has been pushed to the forefront by the torrent of "consumption upgrade".

Now behind the blind box, there is a constantly innovative enterprise architecture and ecological closed loop; behind the Pop Mart's screen is Wang Ning's consistent respect for "uniqueness" and "patience".

With the continuous fermentation of emotional consumption and IP economy, the trendy toy industry may experience ups and downs.

But it is undeniable that Pop Mart has pioneered a unique business path, providing a benchmark for the new consumer era.

This is not only a story about trendy IP, but also a story about common sense, patience and desire for a better life.

Behind all these complicated numbers and controversies, Wang Ning’s entrepreneurial path tells us: “unique” itself is valuable. Only by respecting time and business, can innovation and tradition be paralleled, can we create a truly sustainable miracle.