Quiet Companions

Pop figurines have become trendy among youngsters, thanks to their smart design and innovative marketing strategy

- Li Xiaoyu

Molly, Labubu, Dimoo ... While these characters might not be as famous as Marvel superheroes, they make up a whole universe for pop figurine lovers, like Zhang Jiajia, a 26-year-old office worker who lives in Beijing. Every day, she goes window-shopping during her lunch break with colleagues at Pop Mart, a large distributor of pop figurines, on the first floor of their office building. “In the evenings, I love taking care of my figurine collection. It’s my favorite part of the day. To me, they’re works of art,” she said, as excited as a child. A whole wall of her house is dedicated to her figurine collection, including a series called One Day of Molly, where you can immerse yourself in an adventure with this pouting little girl.

Despite their miniature size, pop figurines blend design, painting, sculpture and other elements from the art world. Today, many Chinese fans collect them and even participate in their design. As a result, Pop Mart has a turnover of more than 200 million yuan ($30.3 million) from the sale of 4 million copies of Molly (about $9 each) in one year. According to a research report by Tianfeng Securities, China’s market for pop figurines has grown from 6.3 billion yuan ($955 million) in 2015 to 20.7 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 34.6 percent. But this new social phenomenon also represents another trend: a change in consumer behavior and an increasingly complete supply chain.

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