How China’s toy company Pop Mart became a success – Ashley Dudarenok

China’s toy company Pop Mart has become an instant domestic and international success for a new generation of consumers. Marketing guru Ashley Dudarenok explains in Time how Pop Mart was able to read the hearts and minds of a new brand of consumers. Pop Mart understands those consumer needs, according to Dudarenok, and the Chinese domestic market lets companies “fail fast and succeed fast” to figure out what consumers really want.

Time:

Where Pop Mart distinguishes itself from both domestic and international competitors is in reading the mood of its consumers, Ashley Dudarenok, who runs a China and Hong Kong-based consumer research consultancy, tells TIME. Whether it’s rebelliousness, a desire to escape, or exhaustion from work or school, Pop Mart customers are buying more than just a toy, they’re buying a symbol of themselves…

Dudarenok, the consumer research consultant, sees Pop Mart’s global success as more than just an ebbing of stigma against Chinese manufacturing; instead it’s a direct result of the company’s ability to navigate and succeed in the Chinese market. “It’s not a surprise that this kind of company comes out of China,” says Dudarenok. That’s because “China is the world’s most competitive digital market, with maybe the most spoiled consumer in the world that wants things fast, cheap, and good.” Pop Mart understands those consumer needs, according to Dudarenok, and the Chinese domestic market lets companies “fail fast and succeed fast” to figure out what consumers really want.

One way Pop Mart distinguishes itself from Japanese competitors is through its stores. By contrast, Dreams Inc. largely sells its toys online or through distributors like Kiddy Land, Kinokuniya, and Urban Outfitters. Pop Mart, on the other hand, turns its own stores into an experience—with each modeled after one of its characters—fuelling customers like Carillo and Leow to plan travels around visiting different Pop Mart stores. They’ve also capitalized on the blind box craze through their roboshops vending machines that make buying their blind boxes all the more accessible.