EXPLAINED | Can Pop Mart Sell Labubu Without the Hype?

Why is Labubu back in the news?

Pop Mart’s US site lists a Big into Energy Labubu blind box at $26.99. On StockX, a box from the same series averaged $6 across 36 sales in the preceding three months. The identified secret figure, called ID, averaged $70 across 95 sales. The same series gives you three ways to spend your money. You can buy the surprise from Pop Mart, get it cheaper on resale, or pay more to know exactly what you’re getting.

Pop Mart’s numbers make that price gap especially interesting. On October 27, the company said its July–September revenue fell 45–50 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue in its America region reportedly fell 70–75 per cent.

How did a monster from a picture book end up on handbags?

Labubu’s creator, illustrator Kasing Lung, drew the pointy-eared creature for a series of picture books in 2015. Pop Mart began working with Lung in 2019. The jump from toy shelf to handbag came later, when the company began selling plush versions with clips. You could spot the face on someone’s bag before you knew the creature’s name. Blackpink’s Lisa helped make it recognisable far beyond toy collectors.

The clip also changed what a collector could do with the toy. A figure on a shelf stays at home. A bag charm goes to work, to dinner and into the photographs people post along the way. Every bag became another place to discover Labubu.

Why would anyone buy a box without knowing what’s inside?

The packaging shows the designs in a series. The box keeps its own contents a secret. If you want the blue one and you get the green one, you can try again, trade with another collector or pay a reseller for the blue one. Some series also contain a harder-to-find design that collectors call a secret.

Opening the box gives a short video its own plot. You can see the possible endings on the packaging, then find out which one the buyer gets. And if that buyer opens a rare one, viewers get to share in the surprise even if they never spend a cent.

Did making more Labubus kill the craze?

That’s one plausible explanation. Ensito told the BBC he now sees entire series sitting in Pop Mart shops. When a buyer can find a box at retail, a reseller has less room to charge extra for getting hold of one. The $6 StockX average is a snapshot from one marketplace. It gives us a glimpse of how much a mystery box fetched there, while the $70 average shows buyers were still paying for a specific rare figure.

The company’s results tell a second story. In the first half of 2026, its Americas store count went from 41 to 86 compared with a year earlier. Offline revenue rose 19.5 per cent, helped by the expansion, while online revenue fell 45.6 per cent. More stores brought in more money across the physical network. How much each shop was selling is a separate question.

How far has Pop Mart actually fallen?

Put the September-quarter filings side by side. In 2025, revenue was up 245–250 per cent on the same quarter of 2024. Then it fell 45–50 per cent in 2026. Start with 100 in 2024 and you get roughly 345–350 in 2025 and 173–193 in 2026. The latest quarter was still well above its level two years earlier, even after a steep fall from the peak. The quarterly update gives company and regional figures. Pop Mart breaks out The Monsters, the wider line that includes Labubu, in its half-year accounts.

Can a different character bring shoppers back?

Pop Mart already has one candidate. In the first half of 2026, The Monsters brought in RMB 4.45 billion, down from RMB 4.81 billion a year earlier. Its share of group revenue fell from 34.7 per cent to 26 per cent. Over the same period, Twinkle Twinkle, another Pop Mart character, brought in RMB 2.65 billion. Pop Mart now has more than one character capable of selling at scale. Whether shoppers will keep coming back for those characters takes longer to find out.

How did the hunt play out in India?

In 2025, Indian shops started stocking Labubu as the trend spread to bags and backpacks. The shopping experience can still look different here. Indian retailer Kicks Machine listed a Big into Energy blind box in a buy-one-get-one offer at ₹4,999 when checked for this story. That’s a local seller’s offer. How many people bought it, and how many returned for another box, are questions a price tag leaves open.

What can Labubu learn from Hello Kitty?

Sanrio put Hello Kitty on a little vinyl coin purse in 1975. Over the decades it found new things for her to appear on, from bags to phone cases. In March 2026, Pop Mart put Labubu and Hello Kitty together in a blind-box series. That same month, Pop Mart and Sony announced they were developing a Labubu film with Paddington director Paul King.

A movie can give people a reason to spend time with Labubu when there’s no box to open. The harder test is at the shop. A customer walks in, sees a Labubu they can buy right away and already has one clipped to their bag. Do they want another?