Pop Mart’s Labubu craze supercharges TikTok Shop sales

The company’s meteoric rise on TikTok Shop is fueled by an organic groundswell of consumer enthusiasm for Labubu — the big-eyed, sharp-toothed collectible figure that has become an internet sensation. Pop Mart’s success stands out because, unlike other top TikTok sellers that rely on massive influencer networks, Pop Mart has harnessed a relatively small group of creators and leaned heavily on livestream shopping. This strategy has helped it tap directly into the frenzy for Labubu collectibles, which frequently sell out within minutes of a restock.

Most successful brands on TikTok Shop work with at least 5,000 creators, according to an analysis conducted by Charm.io. Tarte Cosmetics, a bestselling brand on the platform, for instance, has a network of around 20,000 creators year-to-date, Charm.io’s data shows. Pop Mart, meanwhile, has only worked with 1,300 creators since the start of the year.

“The fact that they’re working with such a relatively small base of creators is really an outlier versus how many sales they’ve generated on the platform,” said Charm.io CEO Alex Nisenzon. “Like, that’s really crazy.”

Pop Mart’s ability to drive sales largely through its own livestreams — rather than relying heavily on pre-recorded creator videos — sets it apart. In June, roughly 85% of Pop Mart’s TikTok Shop sales came from livestreams, with only a fraction driven by traditional video content. In comparison, most top brands on TikTok Shop generate most of their revenue on the platform through pre-recorded videos. That makes Pop Mart’s success, achieved with a much smaller creator base, all the more remarkable.

Pop Mart regularly hosts livestreams on its official TikTok Shop channel for hours at a time. The livestreams may or may not include Labubu drops, but they attract thousands of hopeful viewers. Pop Mart did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

“What that indicates is that there’s this organic demand from consumers for these products, versus that need to penetrate the audience in a way that [other brands] are doing,” Nisenzon said. “People are coming and actively seeking these products. They’re not trying to drive impressions.”

The success of Labubu has made Pop Mart a standout on TikTok — even as the social media company’s e-commerce business has struggled behind the scenes. The platform has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs this year and continues to grapple with regulatory uncertainty in the U.S., including a looming deadline in mid-September for parent company ByteDance to divest the app or face a potential ban. Despite these headwinds, TikTok Shop remains a fast-growing part of the social media giant’s global business — TikTok Shop has quickly expanded into international markets including Mexico and Brazil to hedge against a possible ban in the U.S.

The Labubu phenomenon has created a frenzy on TikTok, where Labubu unboxing videos rack up millions of views and collectors scramble to secure the latest figures during livestream sales. As Modern Retail previously reported, the Labubu hype has also driven intense demand on third-party marketplaces like Whatnot and StockX.

In May, global eBay users in the collectibles category searched for “Labubu” more than 450 times per hour, the company told Modern Retail. The collectible monsters also entered the top 10 most-searched terms in the category for the first time in May, alongside Pokémon, LEGO, PSA 10, Hot Wheels, Barbie and Monster High. Finally, searches for “Labubu blind box” in the global collectibles category jumped more than 260% in May compared to April.

Labubu isn’t even listed on Amazon, yet it’s also making waves on the company’s sprawling web store. Revenue for Labubu-inspired products, including apparel, plushies and stickers, surged 1,930% in 12 months on Amazon, from $361,000 to $7.34 million, according to data analytics firm Jungle Scout. Third-party sellers seized on the hype, driving 98% of sales by meeting demand with Labubu-inspired merchandise.

“What has happened is a whole bunch of sub-cultures have lined up in just the right way,” according to Noah Mallin, a digital marketing and Gen-Z consultant. Mallin pointed to factors like K-pop fandoms (Labubu has been embraced by K-pop girl group Blackpink’s Lisa), the “kidult” collectibles trend and blind-box unboxing culture (where buyers don’t know which figure they’re getting). “It’s like slices of Swiss cheese lining up to make a hole,” he said.

It’s fair to ask if Labubu is here to stay or whether the viral toy is merely a passing fad. To Charm.io’s Nisenzon, the internet-famous doll shows no signs of slowing down, as Pop Mart has consistently grown its sales on TikTok Shop for the last 10 months.

As Nisenzon put it, “If anything, I expect that it will continue growing, and from what I can tell, it seems like there’s more and more interest in this.”

Julia Waldow contributed to this story.