Has POP MART succeeded in "breaking into the US"?
Cover Source | Provided by the enterprise
“She's on the float.”
On November 27th local time, Jacob, who lives in New York, attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He originally thought LABUBU would appear in the form of a giant balloon. Unexpectedly, besides the giant balloon, LABUBU's star friends also appeared on the float.
Li Yue, who is studying in New York, was also equally surprised. “When the floats of Pop Mart and Disney passed by, the cheers from the audience were extremely loud. I thought only Chinese people knew about LABUBU, but obviously many Americans are also very interested in LABUBU.”
As a cultural event that has lasted for a century, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade attracts tens of millions of viewers worldwide every year. This year, globally well - known IPs such as Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants, Super Mario, and Snoopy all made an appearance. And LABUBU, along with a group of “friends”, boarded Pop Mart's exclusive float, making it the first Chinese brand to appear on the float with an original trendy toy IP image in a century.
Since 2025, LABUBU has been continuously active on the global stage and has also faced doubts about the decline of its popularity several times. The discussion about whether LABUBU can maintain its long - term popularity has never stopped. Its appearance in this year's Macy's Parade at least confirms that LABUBU has successfully integrated into the mainstream cultural scene in the United States. LABUBU, who just turned 10 this year, seems a bit young when sharing the stage with the cross - era classic IPs. What is more attention - grabbing is whether Pop Mart behind LABUBU has really succeeded in “breaking into the US”?
A New Friend in the Parade
In Jacob's memory, many local citizens shouted out the names of LABUBU, DIMOO, and MOLLY excitedly when they saw Pop Mart's float. Many fans also brought their collected Pop Mart items to check in and take photos. Three of LABUBU's star friends interacted warmly with the audience along the way. Their strange, cute, and lively shapes continuously ignited the enthusiasm of the scene, attracting cheers from the on - looking crowd. LABUBU's itinerary in the United States also triggered intense discussions on social media.
In the United States, the importance of the Macy's Parade to citizens is self - evident.
Every Thanksgiving since 1924, Macy's has held its annual celebration as scheduled. The parade starts at 9 a.m., with giant balloons, floats, and performance teams as the core content. It includes elements such as cheerleaders, clowns, marching bands, giant cartoon balloons, and Santa Claus appears as the traditional finale character. The entire parade lasts about 3 hours. The parade route starts from the West Drive of Central Park in Manhattan and ends at the Macy's flagship store in Herald Square. It attracts millions of on - site viewers every year and reaches tens of millions of viewers through television.
This year's parade included a total of 34 large balloons and 28 floats.
Among them, Pop Mart's float was themed “Friendsgiving in Pop City”. The 16 - foot - tall LABUBU and MOKOKO appeared in the form of plush air models. At the same time, they were joined by IPs such as SKULLPANDA, MOLLY, DIMOO, PEACH RIOT, and DUCKOO.
As a nationally - watched cultural event, most of the IPs that can appear on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float are already world - class cultural symbols: whether it's Mickey Mouse, Super Mario, Snoopy, or SpongeBob SquarePants, Buzz Lightyear, and Pokémon, they were all born in the last century, accompanied generations of global fans, and demonstrated long - lasting global influence and commercial value.
An industry insider said that the appearance of LABUBU and other IPs as “new faces” and the enthusiastic cheers from local consumers also confirm to some extent that besides the expansion of commercial operations, Pop Mart's IP culture has really gradually penetrated into the local mainstream culture.
“Succeeded in Breaking into the US”?
In 2024, there were continuous stories about Pop Mart's popularity in Southeast Asia. Especially LABUBU had reached the level of a national top - star. Meanwhile, in North America across the ocean, Pop Mart's IPs represented by LABUBU also entered a period of explosion.
Last February, the diva Rihanna was photographed at Los Angeles Airport with a pink LABUBU. This incident was jokingly referred to by netizens as “LABUBU's successful entry into the US”. Subsequently, international superstars such as Brad Pitt and David Beckham also expressed their love for LABUBU on different occasions, attracting a large amount of attention from global fans.
For the US market, product strength is only the starting point. Long - term IP incubation and operation capabilities are the key to continuous growth. As an important origin of global art trends and consumption trends, the US market has always been a core part of Pop Mart's international layout.
In 2021, Pop Mart appeared at the Designer Con Trendy Art Exhibition in the United States and launched the US version of its official application “POP MART Global” in December of the same year. In June of the following year, Pop Mart opened its first offline pop - up store in California, officially reaching out to US consumers through offline channels. In June 2023, Pop Mart further expanded eastward and opened an offline pop - up store at the World Trade Center in New York on the East Coast of the United States.
The long - term operation reached an explosion in 2025. In April 2025, after the release of the third - generation vinyl plush pendant of LABUBU, “High Energy Ahead”, it caused a global rush - buying frenzy. The Pop Mart APP once topped the shopping list on the US App Store.
From the financial report data, we can more intuitively see Pop Mart's growth rate in the US market and the actual “potential energy conversion”.
The company's semi - annual report in 2025 shows that its revenue in the Americas was 2.26 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 1142.3%; the number of stores in the Americas increased from 22 at the end of 2024 to 41 in the first half of 2025.
In addition to the growth of overseas offline stores, in the first half of this year, the influence of Pop Mart's official website and APP increased significantly. In the first half of the year, Pop Mart's online channel revenue in the Americas was 1.33 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 1977.4%.
Since the third quarter, Pop Mart has become even more popular in the United States.
For American consumers, sports events not only provide entertainment but also are one of the most important adhesives in society.
In October this year, Lakers star LeBron James made a surprise appearance in the live - stream of internet celebrity Kai Cenat. Along with him was a LABUBU pendant. This live - stream instantly broke the world record, attracting more than one million viewers.
Recently, at the US Open, the mixed - race tennis player Naomi Osaka even brought a decorated LABUBU to the stadium. Recently, at the “Knicks vs Nets” game, LABUBU also witnessed the exciting moment of this grand sports event with the American people.
The connotation of Thanksgiving is quietly evolving among the younger generation. “Friendsgiving” - the concept that emphasizes spending the festival with friends is becoming increasingly popular, making the traditional festival go beyond family reunions and extend to the celebration of friendship. Pop Mart's float themed “Friendsgiving in Pop City” keenly captured and integrated into this trend, thus establishing a closer emotional connection with consumers.
Meanwhile, LABUBU's figure is also active in many iconic scenes in New York: it not only appeared at the Mark Hotel; in the American ace news program “Today Show”, LABUBU also unexpectedly appeared and interacted with the host, bringing joy to fans.
Now, more and more American consumers are being “healed” by LABUBU. As of now, Pop Mart's US account on the social media Instagram has more than 970,000 followers.
Doing Business for People
What kind of power did Pop Mart, which was once not favored and suffered from prejudice, use to break into the seemingly extremely stable Western cultural circle?
It cannot be ignored that spiritual needs and emotional value are now the universal needs of global consumers. From the development of the entire IP industry, whether it's Disney, Bandai, or Pop Mart, they are all representatives that provide emotional value and products that meet universal needs for global consumers.
For Pop Mart, providing “interesting, loving, and high - cost - effective” IP products to “adult friends” can best soothe the spiritual world of most consumers in the economic cycle. The sense of pleasure that IP products can bring to people and the sense of satisfaction from “collector - style” purchases also enhance the value of IP products themselves.
Earlier, He Yu, an early investor of Pop Mart from Black Ant Capital, also attributed Pop Mart's success to “taking care of people”. Perhaps these are also the primary reasons why Pop Mart, an IP company from China, was able to break into the Southeast Asian and European and American markets in a short time and be accepted by the mainstream cultures around the world.
On more public occasions, Wang Ning, the chairman and founder of Pop Mart, has also repeatedly emphasized Pop Mart's positioning as an IP company.
Wang Ning once compared Pop Mart to a “record company”. He believes that for Pop Mart, excellent designers and artists from all over the world are like singers and musicians to a record company. And Pop Mart is constantly discovering excellent designers from all over the world.
For example, in the US market, Pop Mart is also constantly discovering local designers in the North American market.
A representative one is the illustrator Libby Frame who lives in Los Angeles. Her creation, Peach Riot, is a punk band composed of three girls, with a strong West Coast punk style. This cultural gene also enables this IP to quickly establish an emotional connection with local American consumers.
At the end of 2023, as soon as the first series of Peach Riot was released, it became the number one in single - series sales in the United States. However, it takes time to discover excellent creators around the world, and it cannot be achieved overnight to grasp the preferences of overseas consumers. To better operate the North American market, Pop Mart has also formed a local team.
At the semi - annual report performance meeting in August this year, Pop Mart's management also said: Pop Mart did spend two years finding good talents and forming a relatively good team. We gradually figured out the business rules of the US market bit by bit.
In the detailed operation, Pop Mart can also see the differences in the local market and carry out differentiated operations. American culture is more diverse, and even Americans who are interested in Pop Mart belong to different ethnic groups. Compared with other overseas markets, the US market has internationally - renowned IP companies such as Disney and Pixar. Mature IP products have taken root and grown in the local area, and it is relatively difficult for new foreign IPs to break into the US market and be accepted by local consumers.
Therefore, in Pop Mart stores in the United States, popular IPs such as MOLLY and SKULLPANDA, which usually occupy the central position in domestic stores, “retreat” inside the store. Instead, there are co - branded products with Disney IPs that local consumers are more familiar with. When young consumers are attracted by the more familiar big IPs, they are also prone to aesthetic fatigue and then discover the fresher and more diverse original IP products of Pop Mart.
As of now, many of Pop Mart's artist IPs have also gradually accumulated their own audiences in the United States. Not only has LABUBU joined the ranks of world - class IPs, but IPs under Pop Mart such as MOLLY, SKULLPANDA, DIMOO, and HIRONO are also continuously selling well. An insider from Pop Mart said that in fact, the difference between the top - selling IPs in different regions is not particularly large. Although the cultural backgrounds are different, consumers' needs for beauty are common.
At the Beginning of the Explosion of Chinese Original IPs
Judging from the current development, Pop Mart's influence on local consumers in the US market is a gradual process.
To highly summarize the reasons for its successful integration into the mainstream European and American cultures, besides hitting the global emotional consumption trend and meeting “universal values”, the competitiveness of the company's rich IP matrix, long - term investment in content, and the local strategy of “global standardization, regional differentiation” all give Pop Mart the confidence to develop and grow in different regional markets.
Meanwhile, Pop Mart's global organizational structure and supply chain are also constantly evolving.
In April this year, Pop Mart established regional headquarters such as the Americas region and the Europe region to strengthen its local operation capabilities. In terms of the supply chain, its factory in Vietnam has also been put into production, ensuring the stability of the supply chain and cost advantages.
Of course, for Pop Mart, the European and American markets, especially the US market, also have an important strategic position.
As the world's largest economy and the world's largest IP market, the US market has huge potential for any Chinese company going global. In 1963, Japan's first serialized TV animation, “Astro Boy”, was exported to the United States, marking the beginning of Japanese animation's entry into the global market.
By horizontal comparison, in present - day China, with the development of urbanization in the past three decades and the rise of the younger generation, it has the soil for the development of original IPs similar to that of Japan in the 1960s. Excellent IP companies represented by Pop Mart are at the forefront of the explosion of Chinese original IPs. It is believed that in the future, whether it's the phenomenon - level LABUBU, Nezha, or Langlangshan, if they want to develop to the maximum extent, the United States is an important market that must be conquered.
In October 2025, Pop Mart announced its third - quarter financial report. The American market continued the glorious achievements of the semi - annual report, with a year - on - year increase of more than 1200%.
At the end of September this year, Morgan Stanley visited six Pop Mart stores in the United States. In its report, the customer flow and transaction volume of five of the stores were significantly higher than those of the surrounding stores, second only to Apple.
As of now, Pop Mart has opened more than 60 offline stores in the United States. But Pop Mart also emphasizes that the number of stores in the US market will not increase significantly, and it will still adhere to better store - opening quality. Next, Pop Mart will also open flagship stores in excellent locations in several major US cities one after another. “Strategically speaking, the US market will take up most of our energy.”