news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

On July 22, Forbes released the list of "China's Best CEOs in 2024". This year, Fang Hongbo of Midea Group, Wang Chuanfu of BYD, Lei Jun of Xiaomi, and Ding Lei of NetEase are all on the list. There are a record six young CEOs born in the 1980s, three times as many as last year. Wang Ning, the founder and CEO of Pop Mart, is on the list for the first time. Born in 1987, Wang Ning has become the youngest self-made founder in the history of this list.

It is worth mentioning that among the top ten Forbes China CEOs in 2024, the average contribution of overseas revenue to growth is as high as 33%. This means that if these top CEOs in China cannot lead their companies to achieve cross-market operations, they will fall behind their peers in terms of growth. Today, the ability to operate across borders has become an important indicator of CEO performance.

It has been 20 years since the first Forbes China Best CEO list was released in 2005. The list is very different every year. But what remains unchanged is that no matter what the environment, there are always people who can lead the company to achieve returns far exceeding the market average.

The list of "China's Best CEOs 2024" has conducted an in-depth study of CEOs of thousands of companies, including A-shares, Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks, and overseas-listed Chinese stocks. The list selects the top 50 CEOs of listed companies with the most comprehensive scores, referring to basic financial indicators and shareholder return indicators such as market value of listed companies, range of stock price fluctuations, net profit and growth rate, and ROE.

"This is not a grand entrepreneurial story, but rather the adventure of Wang Ning and Pop Mart in the past 13 years of 'one win and nine losses' in the unstructured retail battlefield. They have not only won market recognition, but also expanded the boundaries of a niche industry to the maximum extent." Forbes commented on Wang Ning.

The following is from Forbes:

More than three years ago, when Pop Mart was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, most investors had never thought that in the tide of mobile Internet, a "retail" company that relied on physical stores could create rich returns comparable to the "dividends of the times". When the time came to 2024, no one thought that when "cost-effective" e-commerce platforms such as Shein and Temu were popular overseas, Pop Mart, as a trendy toy IP company that produces "useless goods", achieved explosive growth in overseas revenue and profits in just over ten months, and even defined the once niche category of "trendy toys" to more global players. In the past 12 months, Pop Mart's stock price has risen by more than 100%.

The capital market was once full of prejudice against Pop Mart, but Wang Ning's success happened to fill an important gap in China's mainstream business cognition - in the retail battlefield where one wins and nine loses, it is not easy to truly "respect time and respect business."

If you were to ask Wang Ning today what Pop Mart is doing, he might answer: "We are working with the best artists in the world to launch products with the help of Made in China. We use the Chinese market to incubate these relatively niche artists, and then expand sales and influence in the global market."

In fact, no matter how Wang Ning describes it, Pop Mart is an extremely difficult existence to replicate. It is not only a product of the discerning eyes of Chinese consumers, but also a cross-cultural, barrier-free artistic expression. Its design is novel and the use of symbols is unique. Whether it is exaggerated, friendly, humorous, or even "melancholy", it satisfies the visual expectations of the younger generation to the greatest extent.

In February this year, Pop Mart opened its third local offline store in Central Ladprao, Bangkok, Thailand; on the opening day, the on-site signing session by CRYBABY artist Molly helped the new store create a new single-day sales record for the company's global stores.

Regarding the success of CRYBABY, artist Molly believes that this IP, which is in collaboration with Pop Mart, is not just a crying child, but a visualization of emotions. It also spreads a common sense that people often ignore - in many cases, laughter is not the only way to make people feel happy, crying can also be healing.

If you want to further understand the uniqueness of Pop Mart, you must first forget the narrative template of "crazy pull-ups" in the elevator of the times. This is a discussion that is outside the main theme, but is closely related to China's long-term dividends: because no matter from which angle, Pop Mart should be born in China. According to Wang Ning, if this business model is in Japan and South Korea, the market is too small to support artists; while in the United States and Europe, the serious bias in manufacturing will lead to too high product incubation costs and it will be difficult for companies to grow. He told Forbes China that it was contemporary China that gave Pop Mart such an opportunity.

Wang Ning, founder and CEO of Pop Mart

So, what exactly is Pop Mart? And who is Wang Ning? These are the questions we need to sort out from the beginning.

At the top of the trendy toy industry chain, design studios and artists may regard Pop Mart as a platform. Because compared with Disney and Sanrio (the company where Hello Kitty IP is located), Pop Mart is more like a manufacturing platform with a stylized filter. Although it has its own IP design department, in addition to helping artists produce toys, Pop Mart also provides development services for any cultural and creative or even consumer companies, such as Harry Potter, KFC, etc., rather than competing in the IP field. From this perspective, Wang Ning created a link and allowed all participants to benefit from it.

Consumers at the bottom of the chain may be more inclined to view Pop Mart as a trendy toy brand with a rich product line and unique style. Because from the touch to the design, people can know at the first time that this is Pop Mart's "thing". Then you will realize that this product may be MOLLY, DIMOO, or Iron Man or Disney princesses. Wang Ning firmly believes that a good brand should allow customers to close their eyes and imagine what their office looks like, and even the personality of their boss. Just like walking into Starbucks, Lego, Muji, IKEA... without words, you can deeply experience the cultural essence conveyed by these brands.

Although there has always been a view that Pop Mart lacks stories and content in the traditional sense, making it difficult to directly convey the so-called culture to consumers, practice has ultimately proved that vision and symbols can often serve as more direct and efficient content carriers.

When you walk down the street and accidentally see a Pop Mart store, the wonderful and flamboyant atmosphere often attracts your attention in an instant. In contrast, even short videos need to be watched for 5 seconds. Therefore, Wang Ning is more willing to spend money on opening stores in more conspicuous locations.

After Pop Mart went public, Wang Ning often mentioned:"We started with A, tried B in the middle, but succeeded because of C, and may finally become great with D." Perhaps, there has never been a perfect answer to the question of "What is Pop Mart."

Earlier this year, someone asked Wang Ning: "Pop Mart, is it a product brand or a channel brand?"

Wang Ning replied, "For consumers, Pop Mart is obviously not a channel brand. This is just like when we discuss Starbucks, is it a product brand or a channel brand? In fact, we are similar to Starbucks in some aspects."

Perhaps, it is more interesting to explore what Pop Mart is doing than to simply define what it is. Wang Ning firmly believes that the core of a good brand lies in its ability to continuously and highly consistently meet people's essential demands for consumption - that is, a sense of existence and satisfaction.

Therefore, from one perspective, Wang Ning’s most profound influence on Pop Mart, an “entertainment kingdom” built with symbols and visual elements, is precisely his outstanding performance in the field of brand retail. According to a shareholder of Pop Mart, “As long as Wang Ning is there, this team can still make a lot of money if they sell something else.”

But from another perspective, Pop Mart's success in retail or branding is not easy. In the past two years, Wang Ning has more frequently mentioned "respect time, respect business", which seems to be a reference for his decision-making, so that he can smell new precipitation directions from tons of details.

There are many important things in the retail industry, but the most important thing is details.

For a CEO, how to properly handle detailed decisions on the road to scale development is undoubtedly a severe test. When the team is caught in a dispute between left and right, it is often accompanied by unnecessary friction and internal consumption. But for Wang Ning, the purpose of supporting the team to make decisions is to find a third option. He always believes that there must be a better solution, and there is no need to get caught up in absolute discussions.

Wang Ning’s logic is that as long as the problems and resources are “cut” into pieces enough, there will definitely be more than two choices in the end.

For example, when placing products in a store, whether to leave some "breathing space" for customers depends on the store's location, size, customer flow, and its own SKUs. The store in Sanlitun, Beijing, has transformed this question into "how much 'breathing space' is most reasonable" through continuous trial and error and adjustment. Similarly, in terms of the positioning of Pop Mart's No. 1 store, should it become a photo-taking check-in point filled with expensive and rare "toys", or a practical store with a full range of products that are convenient for customers to pick up and buy? The best combination of the two was found through repeated adjustments.

On the more critical issue of IP incubation, Wang Ning also demonstrated his unique thinking. Faced with options A and B, he might choose "both", but the key lies in how to allocate resources reasonably and how to iterate quickly to maximize benefits. In the judgment and trade-offs of thousands of small issues, Pop Mart's unique brand and culture were finally built. Today, their annual revenue in a store of only 50 square meters in London, England, has exceeded 20 million. This year, Southeast Asia has also become the fastest-growing overseas market.

A research report released in March by Morgan Stanley analyst Dustin Wei's team believes that driven by continued overseas expansion and new businesses, Pop Mart's profit curve is expected to enter the fast lane in the next 1-2 years.

In 2024, Pop Mart started more diverse attempts. At the end of June, they launched the self-developed mobile game "Dream Home", which became a key step in the company's IP contentization. The best-selling building block series launched at the same time also built up the company's IP moat higher.

This is not a big entrepreneurial story, but the adventure of Wang Ning and Pop Mart in the past 13 years of "one win and nine losses" in the unfixed retail battlefield. They not only won the recognition of the market, but also expanded the boundaries of a niche industry to the maximum extent.

The following is an excerpt from Forbes China's conversation with Wang Ning:

Forbes China: Exporting culture overseas is an extremely challenging task, and Pop Mart’s rapid growth in overseas markets is remarkable. What do you think about this?

Wang Ning:

I think there are several significant differences between our overseas expansion and the previous brands. First, our brand and products are all originated in China and have successfully entered the overseas market. Our target consumers are not only Asians, but we have truly won the love of local consumers. Secondly, unlike traditional Chinese overseas brands that mainly rely on price advantages, we do not rely on low prices to attract consumers. We pay more attention to cultural identity and consumer experience, rather than just providing high-quality and low-priced products.

What is more worth mentioning is that as a cultural brand, Pop Mart faces even greater challenges. Because what we sell are non-essential products, if we want consumers to pay for them, we must let them identify with our culture. This is much more difficult than simple product substitution or price competition.

In addition, our development strategy in overseas markets is also unique. We did not choose to find overseas partners or agents, but chose the direct sales model. Our stores around the world are directly operated stores, directly hiring and training local teams. This model allows us to have a deeper understanding of the local market and culture, so as to better meet the needs of local consumers.

Forbes China: What do you think are the biggest differences or impact points between Pop Mart’s “0 to 1” in the domestic market and its “0 to 1” in overseas markets?

Wang Ning:

In the domestic market, the process from 0 to 1 is indeed very long. This process is not only about product and brand promotion, but also about our own exploration and growth. For example, the formation of the team, the exploration of business models, the continuous iteration of products, as well as the mistakes we made and the right direction we found in the process. We spent more time and energy on the business model.

In the overseas market, the situation is different. We already have a relatively mature framework, our products have been recognized by the market, and we also have a relatively international operating system. For example, we have signed contracts with artists from all over the world before we went international. Now, we are exporting these artists and products that have been verified by the Chinese market to all parts of the world. Therefore, in the overseas market, the cultural barriers we face will be relatively small.

In Q1 2024, Pop Mart's overseas business revenue increased by 245-250%. At the end of 2023, the company's overseas retail stores will be 80 (including joint ventures), an increase of 37 stores compared with the end of 2022. In 2023, the ratio of overseas stores in the East and the West will be about 7:3.

Forbes China: For IP-centric products like Pop Mart, how do you ensure that it will be equally popular in overseas markets?

Wang Ning:

First of all, toys are a universal need. Whether it is design, art, or the small happiness that brings beauty and joy to people, these are universal needs that transcend culture and region. Secondly, our designs are also international. The artists we work with come from all over the world, including Japan, South Korea, Europe, America, Southeast Asia, as well as China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In addition, we also cooperate with well-known brands such as Disney, Universal Pictures, Sanrio, etc. These collaborations help us integrate into the culture of different regions more quickly.

Of course, we also pay great attention to localized operations. For example, in Thailand, we cooperated with Thai artist Molly, and her work CRYBABY was very popular in Thailand, becoming a highlight of our market in Thailand. Similarly, in the US market, we cooperated with an American artist, and his work PeachRiot also achieved high rankings locally. These localized strategies enable us to better meet the needs of consumers in different countries and regions.

Forbes China: Compared with last year, what is the biggest change in your mentality this year? What are the new changes in the direction of your attention?

Wang Ning:

Although the changes from year to year are not particularly significant, I did feel some special surprises this year. First, our brand and products are increasingly accepted and recognized by multinational markets. Initially, when we tentatively entered new markets, we were worried about whether consumers would accept our products and whether there was a market. However, after trying in many countries in Europe, America and Southeast Asia, we found that our products were not only accepted, but also performed well in the market. Now, we are even more pleased to see that consumers in these regions have begun to have a fanatical love for our products. In many parts of Southeast Asia, as well as Europe and the United States, there are often queues to buy, especially in the recent Thai market, where our stores are often sold out.

This year, I also gained a new understanding of globalization. Initially, we thought that globalization meant that our brands and products could enter markets around the world. But later I discovered that globalization is actually a two-way process. It not only allows our products to enter the international market, but also feeds back the needs and trends of the international market to the domestic market, thereby promoting the development of the domestic market.

Just like Swiss watch shops and Japanese biscuit shops, their main customers are often tourists from all over the world. Similarly, we have now become the target of global consumers, who not only buy our products overseas, but also continue to buy them in China. This phenomenon has also attracted a large number of foreign tourists to our Chinese stores.

Therefore, I believe that if we do globalization well, we can not only bring our brand and products to the world, but also promote the further development of the brand in China by feeding back to the domestic market. This is something I had not expected before, and it is also my biggest experience and change in globalization strategy this year.

Forbes China: A business school's case study on Pop Mart concluded that IP incubation capabilities determine how far a company can go. What do you think of this?

Wang Ning:

Indeed, IP incubation capabilities are crucial to the development of Pop Mart. Since we started to launch MOLLY, many people have doubted whether we can create a second IP that is so successful. But we launch new IPs every year, and some are becoming more and more popular. We have a mature system to incubate and operate these IPs. This system is not completely procedural, because the creative and cultural industries do rely on innovation and personal ability. But at the same time, we also pay great attention to standardization and replicability. Our IP incubation process is not determined based on my personal preferences, but has a relatively objective evaluation standard and resource allocation mechanism. This resource allocation mechanism is based on data and market feedback, not on personal subjective judgment. Even if one day I am no longer the CEO, this system will still be able to continue to operate and incubate new IPs.

Forbes China: We have seen that Pop Mart has also invested in animation studios, entered the film industry, and cooperated with Hanfu brands. What kind of company do you ultimately hope to build it into?

Wang Ning:

Many years ago, we described our brand vision in our prospectus: we hope to become a globally influential trend culture and entertainment company, and this has not changed.

Regarding the creation and operation of IP content, I have always advocated breaking the shackles of traditional thinking and not sticking to fixed frameworks and logic. We should not simply equate IP with movies, stories or specific forms of action. Take Disney as an example. The most popular IP in recent years, Lingna Belle, does not have a complicated background story, but has won the love of the public. This reminds us that a successful IP does not rely solely on stories, but needs to find a unique way to resonate with consumers.

A good story can indeed create a rich worldview for the IP and quickly attract more audiences as a low-cost marketing tool. However, we should also realize that the value realization and user acquisition of IP are not only achieved in a fixed way, but we should customize the development path according to their characteristics. I think every era is different, and we don’t need to stick to a certain paradigm.

Forbes China: What is the core competitiveness behind Pop Mart's successful creation of multiple IPs? Why Wang Ning? Can you share your business philosophy and methodology as a CEO?

Wang Ning:

If we get back to management and the CEO itself, I would like to share a few key points.

First, we have created a completely new industry segment, which is much more difficult than being a follower.Fortunately, we had the opportunity to discover and tap into a huge demand that was previously ignored, and then developed it into a huge market, and even changed people's lifestyles. Our core consumer group is young people aged 18-35, and we help adults rediscover the joy of buying toys. By purchasing our products, they not only meet their own needs and sense of existence, but also give these products social functions, making them a part of their lives.

Second, we always adhere to the concept of "slow company".Although on the surface, our annual growth is very rapid, in fact, we have always maintained a steady pace. We adhere to long-termism, resist many temptations, and always insist on doing what we think is right. In the early days of our business, when everyone was discussing B2C vertical e-commerce and online traffic, we chose the offline physical store path, which seemed not "sexy" at all. We focused on brand building and launched non-rigid-need products, which were considered high-risk business attempts at the time. However, it is these counterintuitive decisions that make us stand out in the fiercely competitive market.

In addition, we adhere to the direct sales model, maintaining a high degree of autonomy and control in both domestic and overseas markets. We are well aware of the temptation of scale and numbers, but we always stick to our original intentions and principles. These seemingly clumsy decisions are actually the key to our success.

Source: Forbes, BubbleFan