Pop Mart Uses Singapore Flagship to Transform Its Characters into a Global Lifestyle Business

Scheduled to open on July 30 at WEAVE in Resorts World Sentosa, opposite Universal Studios Singapore, the new location combines conventional Pop Mart retail with Southeast Asia’s first Pop Bakery. The bakery offers 45 character-inspired pastries and beverages priced from S$5 to S$32, including three-dimensional desserts based on Labubu and Molly. Singapore follows the April launch of Pop Mart’s first permanent bakery in Qinhuangdao, China, after the company tested consumer demand through more than 30 dessert-truck pop-ups. Pop Mart is already considering additional bakery locations in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, with Europe and the United States identified as longer-term possibilities.

The expansion is supported by Pop Mart’s exceptional 2025 financial performance. Revenue rose 184.7% to RMB37.12 billion, while net profit increased 293.3% to RMB13.01 billion. Gross margin improved from 66.8% to 72.1%, partly because overseas sales accounted for a larger share of the business. Asia-Pacific revenue reached RMB8.01 billion, up 157.6%, and the company expanded its regional store network from 54 to 85 locations. Singapore therefore provides a strategically valuable base from which Pop Mart can reach both Southeast Asian consumers and international tourists while testing formats that could later be replicated across the region.

However, growth is beginning to normalise after the extraordinary Labubu-driven expansion of 2025. Pop Mart’s overall revenue still grew between 75% and 80% during the first quarter of 2026, while mainland Chinese revenue increased between 100% and 105%. Nevertheless, these rates marked a significant deceleration from the previous year. Third-party e-commerce data also showed that domestic online sales across Tmall, Taobao and Douyin fell 5% year on year in May and were 14% lower than in April. These figures cover only selected digital channels rather than Pop Mart’s entire Chinese business, but they reinforce investor concerns that demand for blind boxes and plush collectibles may become less predictable.

The bakery is part of a wider effort to turn Pop Mart from a toy seller into an intellectual-property and entertainment group. The company has expanded its Pop Land theme park in Beijing and is working with Sony Pictures on a Labubu film. Food gives consumers another way to interact with its characters and may encourage more frequent purchases than collectible toys, while flagship stores can combine merchandise, dining, photography and entertainment in a single destination. This model resembles the strategy used by major global entertainment companies, where films, physical experiences and consumer products reinforce one another and extend the commercial lifespan of successful characters.

Diversification also brings execution risks. The Monsters, the character family that includes Labubu, generated RMB14.16 billion in 2025 and accounted for 38.1% of total revenue. Plush toys represented just over half of company sales, demonstrating that Pop Mart remains concentrated in the products most closely associated with the recent craze. Inventory rose to RMB5.47 billion, while inventory turnover increased from 102 to 123 days. Distribution and selling expenses more than doubled, and transportation and logistics costs rose by 280%. Operating bakeries will introduce additional challenges involving local sourcing, food safety, perishability and store-level profitability. The Sentosa flagship’s long-term significance will therefore depend less on opening-day queues than on repeat visits, cross-selling and consumers’ willingness to engage with a broader portfolio of Pop Mart characters.