Last week, people in Ho Chi Minh City witnessed hundreds of people lining up for kilometers from dawn, even camping overnight, to wait to buy the "rabbit-toothed monster" Labubu at a shopping mall. This is a toy that has been causing a fever on the internet recently, making girls and adults crazy about it, wanting to have it for themselves. Some people even bought dozens of them.

Labubu is an art toy designed by Hong Kong (China) artist Kasing Lung in 2015, inspired by the sharp-toothed monster of Norse mythology.

Another difference from the sharp-toothed monster in Norse mythology is that Labubu has many of its own costumes and accessories, with an East Asian feel and suitable for the aesthetics of many Asian people, including Vietnam.

It's not often that a toy becomes so popular that hundreds of people line up overnight to buy it.

If the Capybara version became a "hot" item covering bookstores, accessory shops and e-commerce platforms a few months ago, Labubu has now gone beyond, creating a crowd effect of people waiting overnight to buy.

The price of the toys is not cheap. The small version of Labubu costs 380,000 VND, while online it costs up to 1 million VND/piece. Previously, Capybara also had a lower price, but still up to several hundred thousand VND for an item, depending on the model, material and size.

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Wang Ning is the founder and CEO of Pop Mart International Group, which owns The Monsters brands including Labubu. Photo: CNBC

The boss is a young billionaire

Labubu is an art toy under the Pop Mart brand The Monsters. Pop Mart is a Chinese toy company that listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in late 2020. The company is known for selling collectible “designer” toys, often sold in “blind box” form.

Pop Mart was founded by Wang Ning. He is a 37-year-old Chinese entrepreneur living in Beijing. He is the founder and CEO of Pop Mart International Group.

Wang Ning founded Pop Mart in 2010 and owns more than 45% of the shares. Pop Mart sells affordable figurines for around $8, which are placed in blind boxes. The boxes stimulate the curiosity of the buyer as they do not know what the toy is inside.

The company collaborates with artists to create a variety of toy lines, including Labubu, a pink furry rabbit with a set of monster teeth, and Dimoos, an alien with cotton candy-shaped hair.

As of August 18, according to Forbes, Wang Ning and his family have a total asset worth 3.3 billion USD, ranking 1,034th on Forbes' list of the richest people on the planet.

In 2023, Pop Mart recorded revenue of about 6.3 billion yuan (equivalent to about 880 million USD), about 2.5 times higher than in 2020 and about 12 times higher than in 2018.

Pop Mart reported a more than 100% year-on-year increase in after-tax profit to 1.19 billion yuan (about $166 million) in 2023, driven by a surge in international sales. Pop Mart's revenue outside mainland China in 2023 was more than 1 billion yuan. Pop Mart currently has a market capitalization of more than $6.7 billion.

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Pop Mart International's revenue over the years. Unit: billion RMB. Chart: Statista

In 2023, Pop Mart also opened stores in France, Malaysia, Thailand and the Netherlands. By the end of 2023, Pop Mart had 80 stores and hundreds of vending machines in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan (China) and other countries.

According to CEO Wang Ning, growth in markets outside China will remain strong and reach triple digits in the coming years.

Wang Ning had the idea to build Pop Mart in 2009 at Zhengzhou University but started his own business after a trip to Hong Kong and being impressed by the Log-On chain, which sells toys as well as cosmetics and stationery.

But the breakthrough idea lies in the affordable and curious toys in blind boxes. This is the biggest difference of Pop Mart compared to other toy stores. Later, Wang also developed vending machines, customers put money in to receive any toy. Of course, Pop Mart's products are very beautiful, the animal images are carefully selected, suitable for the cultural identity and taste of the buyer.

In addition to selling in stores, Pop Mart also promotes sales through e-commerce channels such as the company's own Paqu platform or Alibaba's Tmall... Currently, revenue from this channel accounts for more than 30% of the company's total revenue.

In addition to his unique business ideas, Wang Ning is also known as a very good marketer. Wang studied advertising at Zhengzhou University and then spent a year working at Sina Corp - the company that operates the social network Weibo.

It is no coincidence that Labubu has had a special appeal in Vietnam recently. This is a toy used and promoted by many famous people in showbiz as well as Tiktoker in Vietnam.

Previously, Lisa of the Korean group Blackpink promoted this toy in a "very natural" way through her social media posts. Labubu also became more famous when high-end fashion house Pronounce brought Labubu to the show at Milan Fashion Week. Labubu wore a cardigan designed by Pronounce, sat in the front row of the show, no different from a celebrity in the entertainment industry.

The phenomenon of camping overnight to buy Labubu at this time also makes billionaire Wang Ninh's toy hotter in Vietnam during the toy shopping season, this Mid-Autumn Festival.

Recently, Chinese toy manufacturers have flocked to Vietnam, not only targeting the 100 million-strong market with a large number of young people, but also the Southeast Asian region. Some Chinese toy manufacturers have also established a presence in Vietnam, setting up dozens of factories and outsourcing to export to many other countries, including the US and Europe.

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