Collectible toys and IP collaborations are some of the hottest topics now for consumers and investors alike. The leading toymaker in China, POP MART, released its annual report for 2024 and showed that it had earned 13.04 billion RMB (1.79 billion USD) in 2024, up 106.9% year-on-year (YoY). Revenue outside Mainland China increased 375.2% YoY, weighing 38.9% of the total income. Its market value jumped to over 200 billion HKD (25.71 billion USD) after the disclosure. Now TOP TOY, the designer toy brand from MINISO, is ready to take on POP MART, or is it?
TOP TOY was founded in 2020, the day after POP MART went public. Last year, the MINISO-owned brand earned 1.41 billion RMB (194 million USD) in gross merchandise value (GMV) and 980 million RMB (134.84 million USD) in revenue, growing 45% YoY and was profitable. The number of shops grew from 148 to 276 in 2024. It has also been reported that MINISO is considering listing TOP TOY after spinning off its collectible toy arm.
When asked, Sun Yuanwen (孙元文), founder and CEO of TOP TOY said that the brand does not consider POP MART a rival because he feels that POP MART works mostly with its own intellectual properties (IPs) such as MOLLY and LABUBU, but TOP TOY is a licensing/collaboration-centric toymaker. Indeed, last year, the brand launched over 40 IPs to create merch.
TOP TOY relies on MINISO for both the supply chain and channels. Abroad, its presence is often in the form of a store in a store inside MINISO shops. In this sense, TOP TOY is a platform for items from other IPs. This is why some commentators don’t consider it a real toymaker. TOP TOY announced recently that it had gathered over 10 billion RMB (1.37 billion USD) to open 1,000 stores globally in the next 5 years. How it competes with POP MART in and outside China is certainly worth watching closely.
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