From the BlindBox craze to the Labubu hottrend, it can be said that PopMart is one of the most influential toy brands today. This Chinese manufacturer has threatened the position of a series of big names such as Lego or Line Friends, covering the world with impressive business strategies. Let’s learn about the success of PopMart through the STP model and some of the brand’s special strategies below.
PopMart – Chinese brand changes the global toy race
As a toy brand, PopMart is not only famous for children but also one of the very attractive names for young people, especially those who love art toys. This brand was launched in 2010 by a businessman from China, with toy products designed exclusively and eye-catching in the direction of Art Toys. PopMart’s toy products are not only created for entertainment purposes but also a “world” of art and creativity, where users can express their lifestyle, as well as their personal fashion sense.
PopMart owns many famous products, including BlindBox – a type of toy contained in a sealed box that makes it impossible for the buyer to know what product is inside until it is opened. The brand’s cartoon toy characters also receive a lot of positive feedback thanks to their eye-catching designs. Typically, Labubu is one of the hot trends that has stirred up the toy and fashion market throughout 2024.
With consecutive successful products, the brand quickly expanded its business operations across many different regions of the world such as Asia, Europe and North America. PopMart has expanded to more than 114 retail stores in 33 cities, along with 800 vending machines in 57 cities in China . The brand owns a wholesale network covering China, Korea, Japan, Singapore and the US. Or most recently, this famous name has officially entered the Vietnamese market with the first two stores in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.
It can be said that the emergence and rapid growth of PopMart has significantly changed the context of the toy market worldwide. In 2019 alone, this brand rose to become the leader of the Chinese toy market in terms of sales and accounted for 8.5% of the market share, even surpassing famous names such as Lego or Line Friends.
In fact, the toy market at first glance is a lucrative piece of cake but has a very high level of competition due to the participation of many big brands. In particular, there are countless toy manufacturers in the market that sell at low prices, causing brands in the industry to be under no small amount of pressure. So how did a latecomer brand like PopMart rise to the top of the current toy market? Let’s analyze the strategy of this brand through the STP model below?
PopMart’s STP model – Unique positioning creates its own playground
Segment
It can be seen that PopMart’s market segmentation strategy is based on the following two factors:
- Segmentation by demographic characteristics: Age and generation are the two most important factors for PopMart’s market segmentation. Consumers of different ages and generations will have their own habits, trends, lifestyles and needs for toy products. In general, the market segment that PopMart targets by age is the customer group from young children to adults.
- Segmentation by psychological factors and interests: For the toy market, commonly used psychological factors are often the interests, hobbies and personality traits of consumers. It can be seen that PopMart clearly understands the psychological factors of consumers through the products of this brand. Typically, Blind Box products – Blind Box – target the curious and interested psychology of consumers. Meanwhile, products with unique designs such as Labubu delve into the cultural fashion factor, satisfying the psychology of expressing style and personal color of young people.
- Segmentation by purchasing power: Purchasing power is made up of many factors such as geographic location, income level, other factors related to demographics, etc. But in general, for an art toy product like PopMart, it will not be a popular product, easy to sell like regular toys because the target audience is quite specific, the purpose of buying is not just for entertainment. Therefore, the price will focus on the mid-high to high-end segment. In particular, focusing on large markets, where consumers have high income, enough to pay for art toy products.
Target
From the above segment, it can be seen that PopMart’s main target audience is young consumers between the ages of 18 and 35. In particular, the consumer group belonging to Generation Z, born after 1995, is currently the target group that PopMart is aiming for the most.
In terms of geographical area, PopMart will generally focus on customers in urban areas with average to high incomes. Currently, 90% of this brand’s consumers have an income of 27 million VND or more (8000RMB), mainly in large cities with dense populations and developed economies. In particular, in terms of gender, women are PopMart’s main customer group with more than 75% of which are largely young female office workers.
In addition to tangible factors, PopMart also focuses on intangible characteristics from the consumer side such as psychology and preferences. In which, the brand targets the consumer group interested in art, fashion, ACG (animation, comics, games), …
In general, it can be seen that PopMart’s target consumer group is young people with strong and unique personalities and consumption styles. In addition to the usual spending needs, they want to express themselves and their personal style through accessories and accompanying objects. In addition, this group of people is also greatly influenced by information on social networks, celebrities or big brands, etc. They are also prone to crowd mentality and are easily attracted by new hot trends on the market.
From this target customer portrait, the brand focused on 3 factors:
- Pursuing personality : Responding to the need for self-expression and style of young people, PopMart has created very unique and creative toy designs, imbued with artistic colors and with strong visual appeal.
- Style shaping : With a popular customer base of women, who are passionate about art, PopMart certainly cannot ignore the fashion industry to be able to reach this consumer group more deeply. Therefore, many toy products of the brand, typically Labubu, have entered the fashion market as a unique accessory, expressing the user’s style.
- Caring about experience : Understanding the need for consumer experience when buying products, PopMart not only focuses on improving product quality but also focuses on stories, display methods, purchasing methods, etc. BlindBox is a typical strategy in bringing a more enjoyable shopping experience to consumers.
- Focus on creating new hot trends: Satisfying the need to express oneself on social networks of young people is also one of PopMart’s important strategies. This brand always focuses on unique, somewhat bizarre, and different designs, combining with big brands and celebrities to create new hot trends in the market.
In the Vietnamese market, PopMart chose Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City instead of the two big cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City like many other brands. In particular, the location of the PopMart store in Da Nang is a very unique store located right in the center of Ba Na Hills, creating an artistic space in accordance with the spirit of the brand. On the other hand, this is also where the brand can reach a large number of domestic and foreign tourists when coming to Vietnam.
Position
Positioning of exclusive intellectual property products
The most important point in PopMart’s positioning strategy, which is also the motto for this brand’s products, is IP Core – Intellectual Property. This is a term used to refer to products created by the intellect, exclusively and protected by law. Or to put it more simply, IP here is a unique design with intellectual property rights that only PopMart is allowed to use.
The reason PopMart chose this special positioning is because IP meets the different psychology of young people. In fact, young people will not care about the intellectual property implications or legal protection of IP, but they are attracted because this characteristic will meet their social needs, satisfying their desire to express their style and personality.
That is why PopMart does not focus too much on marketing exclusivity or intellectual property. Instead, the brand focuses on creating highly personalized products (temporarily called IP) with unique designs that cannot be found in any other brand on the market.
To ensure the uniqueness and diversity of PopMart products, it has divided its product groups into two directions: one is products designed by in-house designers and the other is products that are produced in collaboration with famous designers for exclusive production.
Secondly, POP MART will train its own designers and create its own IP. In order to help designers focus on the design part, POP MART also makes full use of production resources to control the quality and design of products, packaging, marketing, etc.
- Firstly, Pop Mart owns and trains its own internal design team to create exclusive design products that are not related to any other third party. At the same time, it creates initiative in the product design process and related publications.
- Second, the brand signs contracts with a number of famous designers to use their unique designs. Here, PopMart acts as an intermediary production unit to help designers test their products on the market. At the same time, it helps the brand maintain new colors that do not overlap with the internal design team.
Shaping art and fashion styles through media channels
In terms of brand positioning and communication, PopMart affirms its position as an art toy by bringing its products into the cultural, artistic and fashion aspects of consumers. The brand has collaborated with many celebrities, global artists, as well as major fashion and style brands, etc. to expand the “scope of operation” of the product into fashion accessories, displays, etc., not just toys. A typical example is the most recent collaboration between Labubu and fashion brand Pronounce, which has contributed to the global craze of this product.
POP MART also makes great efforts to optimize the shopping experience from online channels to offline stores. The brand owns many diverse sales channels such as: robot stores and Tmall delivery stores, WeChat mini program “POP box machine” and application “Pa Qv”,….
BlindBox – The magic box that brings POPMART’s unique user experience
When mentioning the success of PopMart, we must definitely mention: BlindBox or “Blind Box” is one of the most important strategic products of this brand, satisfying all the elements of the STP model mentioned above.
A is a type of toy that will be contained in a closed box, the buyer will not be able to know the specific form or style of the product inside this box until they buy and open it. PopMart is one of the first toy brands to pioneer this model in the business of toy products. Usually, PopMart’s toy products will be sold in collections. Inside there are many toy designs with similar styles and characters, but they have different designs in color, character expressions, postures, clothes, etc., creating diverse colors in a collection. When buying a BlindBox, these characters will be randomly placed in closed boxes, not revealing the specific product inside.
This special business model brings PopMart huge benefits:
- Hitting the psychology of the target customer group : Based on the STP model, it can be seen that PopMart’s target customer group is young people who love new and unique experiences. BlindBox has satisfied this need very well, by creating a sense of mystery, thereby arousing curiosity and interest in consumers. In addition, BlindBox also brings a different “toy” race to the users themselves, making them feel honored and have the opportunity to express themselves when hunting for hot toys in the collections.
- Satisfying young people’s shopping behavior : Young consumers always like to conquer and satisfy their personal needs. When buying a BlindBox, if they buy the right product they like, they will feel satisfied and excited, but on the contrary, if it is not their favorite product, they will tend to continue hunting for other blind boxes until they satisfy that need. This makes them try to buy as many blind boxes as possible until they find the product they want, or have a full collection. Therefore, BlindBox has helped PopMart increase the average revenue value per customer significantly.
- Affirming the brand’s positioning – Art & Creativity: The mystery of BlindBox is also a factor that helps to strengthen PopMart’s unique artistic and creative brand positioning. At the same time, rare products in BlindBoxes also significantly increase the average value of the product in the eyes of consumers compared to its original selling price.
Conclusion:
Overall, PopMart’s success is built on a solid foundation of positioning and brand storytelling. This includes a smart IP strategy that creates a distinct position for the product in the toy market. Combined with clever strategies to engage with youth culture, it significantly enhances the value of the product.
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