IT WAS SUPPOSED to be an ordinary Friday morning. But the long queues outside a Pop Mart store said otherwise. There was an air of anticipation, with shoppers chattering excitedly and craning their necks as they awaited entry. Some were frantically scrolling on their phones and tapping their feet. As the doors opened, the crowd surged forward: less like casual shoppers, more like determined hunters chasing a prize. They were in search of the collectible toys-cum-accessories for which Pop Mart is particularly known, having developed a niche hobby into a notable segment of the consumer economy in its own right. What are the underlying economics of this boom, and what makes it more than a mere “obsession”?
GAMING THE SEGMENT’S UNCERTAINTY
You might have noticed adult men and women alike commonly clipping plush toys to their bags. This trend is significantly driven by Pop Mart—the Mainland Chinese company behind global phenomena such as Labubu, Skullpanda and Crybaby—which by extension has become the most visible face of this “obsession”.[1] It is also a sign that the collectibles craze has moved beyond niche hobby territory to become a notable part of the consumer economy. Labubu are especially coveted, after being spotted clipped to the bags of the football celebrity David Beckham and BLACKPINK’s Lisa, among others. The furry little “ugly cute” monster has since become a must-have fashion accessory and is usually sold in “blind boxes”. Buyers never know exactly what design they are going to get. In fact, uncertainty is a huge part of the experience.
Pop Mart did not invent the blind box model. Its roots can be traced to the machines introduced by entrepreneur Ryuzo Shigeta in 1965, whose gachapon machines in Tokyo offered random prizes hidden in capsules. Players paid for a spin with coins or tokens, following which the machine dispensed a capsule.[2] Bandai’s toy arm popularised the format in 1977 by expanding to sell capsule toys in the likeness of popular anime and manga characters. In fact, today’s blind box logic largely follows the gachapon machine model: low entry prices, random rewards and character appeal. But the scale and sophistication have changed as stores go digital, and social media keeps the frenzy alive.
