- Alibaba's first offline designer toy store, Lucky Loop, has opened in Beijing, with a Shanghai store already in the pipeline.
- Alibaba is attempting to challenge industry leader Pop Mart through AI technology and proprietary IPs.
Alibaba's first offline designer toy store, Lucky Loop, has opened in Beijing, with a Shanghai store already in the pipeline.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is making a major push into the physical designer toy market to challenge Pop Mart's dominance in the sector.
Alibaba's first offline designer toy store, Lucky Loop, opened in Beijing in mid-February, and preparation for its first Shanghai store is already underway, according to a Thursday report by local media Tech Planet.
This marks Alibaba's official challenge to industry leader Pop Mart, as it seeks a slice of a market that is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion).
China's designer toy market reached 72.7 billion yuan in 2024, growing at a rate of 26%, and is on the verge of entering the 100-billion-yuan tier, the report said, citing an industry research.
The Beijing store is located in a Chaoyang district hub popular with young designer toy consumers and focuses on creating an immersive shopping experience, according to Tech Planet.
Operated by Alibaba's Damai Entertainment, the new store not only sells popular overseas products but also prominently displays Alibaba's upcoming proprietary IPs.
To differentiate itself in a fiercely competitive market, Alibaba is attempting to introduce artificial intelligence into the designer toy sector, aiming to break away from the traditional sales-only model.
Its recently beta-tested "Miaoya AI" platform is expected to provide users with personalized customization services, and this cutting-edge technological support could become a unique commercial competitive advantage for Alibaba.
However, breaking through in this sector will not be easy for Alibaba, as the absolute industry leader Pop Mart is completing its transition into a global IP business empire.
Pop Mart has moved past the "blind box bubble" phase and is building a sustainable IP ecosystem through the family-oriented expansion of Labubu and a new IP matrix including Twinkle Twinkle, according to a research report by Guolian Minsheng Securities last month.
Guolian analysts project that Pop Mart's revenue will surpass 51 billion yuan in 2026, with adjusted net profit reaching 18 billion yuan.
($1 = 6.8880 yuan)
