Chinese DTC brand Pop Mart goes global, localization is the key

When counting the most popular trendy ways of playing in 2020, Pop Mart's blind box marketing must be on the list. With the size and scale of the domestic toy manufacturing industry, the huge global trendy toy market (expected to grow to US$44.8 billion by 2024), and the growth rate of blind box online consumption exceeding 400% , Pop Mart is vigorously expanding the domestic market while also actively going overseas to find new traffic and revenue.

(POP MART official website)

Pop Mart enters overseas markets

It is reported that when Pop Mart went public last year, it had established a distribution network in 21 countries and regions around the world .

Among them, Pop Mart opened its first offline direct-operated stores in Seoul, South Korea and Singapore in October and mid-December 2020 respectively, and set up automatic blind box vending machines in markets such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada.

However, the overseas expansion of trendy toys is not just about selling toys in a different place. Like all other categories of products going overseas, Pop Mart’s overseas expansion also encountered problems in formulating expansion strategies and localizing products .

"Conquer" Asia and Southeast Asia, "advance" into North America and Europe

In a recent interview, Justin Moon, vice president of Pop Mart, pointed out that the first step in formulating an overseas business strategy is to determine the target market .

80% of Pop Mart’s overseas sales come from the Asian and Southeast Asian markets . Therefore, after learning from the successful experience of this market and conducting an in-depth analysis of consumers’ income levels and consumption behaviors, the business team decided to set the North American and European markets as the company’s next stop for overseas expansion .

In fact, the North American and European markets have a large proportion of Asian consumer groups, especially Chinese consumers, and therefore have deeper cultural roots with Asia.

Coupled with Pop Mart’s active social media marketing activities in new markets, the company’s number of Western consumers has grown significantly. Justin predicts that by 2021, overseas markets outside of Asia and Southeast Asia will account for more than 40% of Pop Mart’s overseas sales .

Localization is the key to the overseas expansion of trendy toys

Since Pop Mart’s trendy toys integrate cultural and artistic elements, and different overseas markets have their own unique culture, values ​​and artistic aesthetics, Pop Mart needs to develop a set of expansion strategies that are tailored to local conditions.

Justin believes that brand localization includes three levels: management methods, human resource allocation and product localization. The coordination of these three levels has successfully helped Pop Mart open new offline stores in South Korea and Canada during the epidemic.

According to the survey, consumers in North America and Europe prefer to buy a kind of "certainty" , so in order to avoid not being able to draw the style they want, most consumers will choose to "buy the whole box directly". Consumers in Southeast Asia and the Chinese market prefer the "uncertainty" when drawing blind boxes , and regard taking a chance as an indispensable part of the consumption experience.

And from the perspective of trendy toy styles , consumers in different markets have their own preferences. For example, Korean consumers prefer Pucky, Disney and Sanrio series; Japanese consumers prefer Yuki and Instinctoy; while Southeast Asian and Chinese consumers prefer Dimoo, Skullpanda and Disney series.

In order to better meet the consumption preferences of consumers in different regions, Pop Mart also adopted a supporting social media marketing plan when entering overseas markets, and launched an exclusive product version in the Canadian market to strengthen the cultural and emotional connection with local consumers.

(Beaver baby blind box toys designed by POP MART for Canada)

Regarding the future direction of going overseas, Justin pointed out that increasing product sales is not the only determining factor for a brand’s overseas expansion. Finding new growth opportunities in overseas markets, promoting the development of local industries related to art and trendy toys, promoting local employment and contributing to the development of the community are all important development missions of Pop Mart.

He said that Pop Mart's dream is to become a leading global pop culture and entertainment company, and in order to achieve this long-term vision, the company will strive to achieve more meaningful development globally and bring happiness to consumers around the world.

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