The Story of the Great PopMart Craze

December 10, 2025

By: Fay Hong

Courtesy of PopMart

If you’ve been anywhere on the internet in the past year, you’ve probably heard of PopMart. And if you somehow haven’t, you’ve almost certainly seen their most popular line, Labubu. Whether you stumbled into Blindbox-Unboxing-Tok, heard the vocal-stim-core Labubu theme song somewhere, or spotted someone walking around with a PopMart charm dangling from their bag (Hi!), the odds that this brand has crossed your path are high. After all, this is a company whose most popular collections sell out within seconds, whose website pulls in 13.3 million visits a month, and whose launch days attract around-the-block lines of fans, with some even camping overnight. 

So, how did they do it?

But first, history!

Infographic by Maya Shah

Why We Care: The Emotional Logic of Collecting

From trading cards to stamps to vinyl records, one thing’s for sure: people love to collect things. The thrill of hunting for and completing a set appeals to customers for all kinds of reasons. That’s exactly how PopMart, a toy company, successfully expanded its audience beyond children to Gen Z and Millennials. Collecting, after all, has no age limit. PopMart releases its toys in themed lines–like Labubu, Crybaby, or Twinkle Twinkle–each with six to nine different figurines in a set, naturally pushing collectors to chase completing a full series. It’s the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of completion that keep consumers coming back, expanding PopMart’s fanbase.

But PopMart isn’t just selling toys; they’re selling emotional identities. Each toy, each line, carries a story. When you buy a Crybaby figurine, you’re buying a symbol of the human experience–that we all need to cry sometimes–, something you can identify with on a personal level. According to PopMart, the Crybaby collection aims to remind people that “Laughter isn’t the only path to feeling better. Everybody cries sometimes, and it’s not only from sadness.” Holding a Crybaby feels like holding something that understands you–your emotional nature, your frustrations, and the desire to simply let everything out. After all, “Every Crybaby has their own unique story, their own unique reason for shedding tears.” Finding the one that resonates with you lets you put a piece of your identity on display. They’re unique, and so are you. 

Unboxing the Brain: The Psychology Behind the Labubu Craze

Courtesy of PopMart

Have you ever opened a blind box before? I certainly have–I actually have one sitting on my desk as I write this. Even if you haven’t opened one yourself, you’ve almost certainly seen someone on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube unboxing a mystery box or blind bag and felt that pull of curiosity. So it should come as no surprise that the consumer psychology behind blind boxes is a hefty one, and a tactic PopMart has mastered to keep the revenue rolling in. Many PopMart collectibles are sold in this format: a sealed package containing one figurine from a collection, its identity unknown until the moment you open it. You don’t know which character you’ve bought until you tear into the box, and that uncertainty taps into several psychological triggers: the excitement of discovery, the element of surprise, and the dopamine rush that comes from the experience; it’s addictive. Once you open your first mystery box, you feel compelled to buy another, and another, chasing the one design you want, the elusive secret rare, or a fully completed set. 

But that’s not the only mechanism PopMart has mastered. Brands like PopMart build hype and anticipation for upcoming drops weeks in advance through countdowns, teasers, release calendars, and sneak peeks. Once the hype reaches a peak, feelings like FOMO and the scarcity principle kick in: people feel the need to buy the product the moment it is released, fearing they may never get another chance. Social proof amplifies this effect: when people see massive lines, sold-out posts, or influencers showing off the newest figurine, it signals that the product must be worth having. And because these drops are so limited, owning the latest release becomes a subtle form of status signaling, a way for collectors to show they were fast, early, and “in the know.” And with constant new collaborations, IP releases, and product drops, PopMart creates a continuous cycle of demand, helping drive revenue to approximately $1.91 billion USD in Q2 of 2025.

Everywhere You Look: How Omnichannel Built a Global Empire

Courtesy of the author 

When I visited China this past June, one of my favorite experiences was going to the PopMart flagship store with my mom. When I came back home to the US, I spent hours of my summer scrolling through the PopMart website. Then, I moved to NYC for college just a few months before PopMart finally opened a physical store in my hometown of Orlando–a fact that frustrated me to no end.

So why am I telling you all of this? Another key factor behind PopMart’s global success is its skillful omnichannel marketing strategy and its wide range of purchasing channels.

PopMart has four primary sales channels: physical stores, RoboShops, its website, and its app. Globally, the company operates more than 550 physical stores and over 2,300 RoboShops (blind-box vending machines) across 30 countries, bringing in $625 million USD from Mainland China and $430 million USD internationally in 2024. 

Why does this matter? By offering so many different ways to access and buy their products, PopMart eliminates most barriers to purchase and reduces common forms of purchase friction. 

And since this is a marketing blog, of course, I have to touch on the sheer genius of PopMart’s omnichannel strategy. By using both physical and digital marketing methods, PopMart manages to show up everywhere–on your screen and in your local mall–creating an immersive brand experience that meets customers wherever they are. Take their physical stores, for example. They’re intentionally designed to feel more like miniature galleries, creating an atmosphere that matches the brand’s aesthetic and encourages spending. Their RoboShops add another layer of convenience, offering an easy, always-available way to purchase products while delivering that dopamine-inducing blind-box unboxing moment on the spot.

Their digital presence pulls just as much weight. The PopMart app serves as both a collector’s hub and a storefront, using tools like collection tracking, push notifications, daily check-ins, membership tiers, VIP access, rewards, and reservations to keep users buying and engaged. Beyond their own platforms, PopMart extends across TikTok, Instagram, and Xiaohongshu with tailored content that reinforces a bright, cohesive brand identity. Together, these channels form a marketing ecosystem that reaches customers effortlessly–online and in-store alike.

UGC Marketing, The Algorithm Didn’t Make PopMart — People Did

Courtesy of dole777 via Unsplash

And finally, the factor that, in my opinion, played the biggest role in PopMart’s global explosion: user-generated content. In short, this is a marketing mechanism in which customers, fans, and even celebrities create content that promotes the brand. The origin story of the Labubu craze is rooted in UGC. After the original Labubu creator partnered with PopMart to launch The Monsters in 2019, and after global superstars like Lisa from Blackpink, Dua Lipa, and Rihanna were seen with the figurines, and as a result of this celebrity UGC, Labubu “broke the sales record in the art toy category.” From there, the momentum took off. Suddenly, everyone was buying these adorable blind boxes and posting them online. TikTok and YouTube poured out with unboxing videos–even ASMR channels devoted clips to Labubu–while collectors showed off their displays, shelves, and massive hauls. Trading meetups, swap groups, and group chats sprang up everywhere, turning PopMart into a full-blown social scene with a fiercely loyal fanbase.

All of this happened with almost no effort from PopMart itself. User-generated videos, authentic, unpolished, and rooted in real collector culture, went viral far more easily than paid ads. Paired with the emotional pull of blind-box reveals, viewers naturally wanted to experience the thrill themselves. PopMart makes that seamless: the branding is unmistakable, and the company frequently engages with viral creators and reposts UGC with on-trend hashtags. The result is a self-sustaining loop of content, interaction, popularity, and demand.

I swear I’m not writing this article just to defend my PopMart obsession 

Regardless of your opinion on Labubus, it’s hard to deny that it has become a trend of today’s collector culture. The story of how a small Chinese lifestyle shop became a global designer-toy powerhouse is already remarkable–add in its brilliantly curated marketing and masterful use of consumer psychology, and it becomes downright astonishing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to staring at the collection of Skullpandas and Labubus currently on display in my dorm room–and maybe film another unboxing video. 

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Fay Hong is a Freshman at NYU Stern studying Finance. She enjoys investigating consumer psychology, economic theory, and the Hot Topic website.