In the wave of consumption upgrading and the rise of the emotional economy, Bubble Mart’s IP Labubu quickly swept the global market with its unique “ugly and cute” image, creating a number of phenomenal data. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the multi-dimensional factors behind Labubu’s success, including its disruptive product positioning, addiction mechanism design, globalization breakthrough path, and hidden concerns in supply chain management.
In the context of the current consumption upgrading and the rise of the emotional economy, Bubble Mart’s IP LabubuIt has taken the global market by storm at an astonishing rate. At the turn of spring and summer 2025, this “ugly elf” with fangs has created a number of phenomenal data: there is a kilometer queue at 3 a.m. in Los Angeles stores; Oxford Street in London was forced to suspend sales due to rush buying conflicts; A mint-colored first-generation Labubu sold for a sky-high price of 1.08 million yuan at the Yongle auction; Bubble Mart’s overseas revenue soared by 375%, and its market value once exceeded HK$300 billion.
Labubu’s success is not accidental, it isDesigner philosophy, user psychology, sophisticated business mechanisms, and global narrativesThe result of a joint action. This article will deeply dismantle Labubu’s explosive logic from the dimensions of product design, user psychology, and growth strategy, and extract a set of reusable methodological frameworks for Internet product managers.
1. Subversive product positioning: the resonance of ugly aesthetics and emotional containers
Labubu’s success stems from its unconventional product positioning, which does not simply create a “cute” image, but provides an “imperfect” container that carries complex emotions.
Counter-mainstream flaw aesthetics
The designer’s “Nordic fairy tale” gene
Labubu is the work of Hong Kong designer Kasing Lung. He moved to Belgium in his early years and was heavily influenced by ancient European elf legends. Labubu is not a “monster” born out of thin air, its prototype is derived from fantasy creatures in Norse mythology. This “rooted imagination” has given it a cultural heritage that goes beyond ordinary trendy toys. Long Jiasheng deliberately retains his nine fangs, cunning and innocent eyes, and slanted smile, which is in stark contrast to the sweet style of traditional Disney-style “perfect, kind, and happy”.
This design philosophy accurately echoes Generation Z’s rebellion against standardized aesthetics, with data showing that 65% of Gen Z users believe that Labubu represents a “harmless spirit of resistance”.
To achieve these three challenges, product managers will only continue to appreciate
Good product managers are very scarce, and product managers who understand users, business, and data are still in demand when they go out of the Internet. On the contrary, if you only do simple communication, inefficient execution, and shallow thinking, I am afraid that you will not be able to go through the torrent of the next 3-5 years.
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From “Character” to “Emotional Projection Container”
Unlike IPs with fixed story lines (such as Marvel, Disney), LabubuThere is no grand worldview and established character。 This kind of “narrative blankness” is precisely the key to its success. It leaves the interpretation power entirely in the hands of the user, making it a pure oneEmotional projection container。
User research shows that 72% of consumers aged 18-30 see Labubu as an “emotional partner” to relieve workplace anxiety and social stress. The typical feedback of Xiaotong, an office worker in Beijing, is: “Opening the blind box after working overtime is like giving yourself a gift that no one will disturb you.” Psychologists have analyzed that this emotional projection makes dolls a carrier of release and silent companion for users’ real stress.
Multidimensional user value pyramid
Labubu meets the multi-level needs of mass players to core collectors by building a three-tiered value pyramid, which product managers can learn from when designing user stratification.
- Base layer (emotional value): Provides instant emotional gratification to the widest range of users. The collection, play and “micro dopamine pulse” of the physical doll and the moment of opening the blind box constitute the basic experience of the product.
- Middle layer (social value): Become the “social currency” of users. Owning a specific style and posting your own collection has become an identity and common language within the circle. For example, 47-year-old user Yu Kai spent 80,000 yuan on a common topic with his son by buying Labubu.
- Top level (asset value): Through limited editions, hidden models and co-branded models, products are given scarcity, thus generating financial attributes. The Vans co-branded model is priced at a premium of 1,284%, and some hidden models are resold at a resale price of more than 50,000 yuan, making it an alternative trend asset that has attracted speculators and high-net-worth collectors.
2. Addiction mechanism design: a growth flywheel driven by behavioral psychology
Labubu’s core product mechanism is built on deep insights into user behavior, forming a growth flywheel from “addiction” to “sharing” to “value-added”.
Blind box: not selling toys, selling “expectations”
Wang Ning, the founder of Bubble Mart, once bluntly said: “Users buy blind boxes to get a sense of pleasure for 15 minutes, which is essentially a transaction of emotional value.” The scientific principle of this mechanism is the superposition of multiple behavioral psychological models:
- Variable Ratio Reinforcement: Derived from the Skinner box experiment, the behavior is most persistent when rewards appear randomly. Labubu sets the probability of hidden items at an extremely low 0.69% (1/144), an uncertainty that greatly stimulates the brain’s reward center, causing consumers to generate an intense gambling-like surge of dopamine when opening the box.
- Loss Aversion and Gestalt Psychology: Through “series collection” design (such as fruit series/candy monster series), take advantage of the Gestalt mentality of consumers who want to “collect a set”. Once collected, sunk costs and an aversion to “incompleteness” drive users to keep repurchasing. The data shows that the completion rate of users’ single series collection is as high as 73%, and the average purchase frequency is 6.8 times/series.
- Endowment Effect: When a user owns an item, their value is higher than its market value. With each Labubu, users feel more attached to the entire series and are more willing to invest money and effort to “fill it out”.
Social monetization: from product consumption to identity capital
Labubu has successfully transformed a physical product into “identity capital” that can be circulated and valued in social networks.
This system successfully transforms consumption behavior into social behavior, forming a perfect closed loop of “consumption-display-interaction-value-added-reconsumption”.
3. The path of globalization to break the circle: from oriental aesthetics to world languages
Labubu’s globalization process demonstrates a mature “Glocal” (Global + Local) operation strategy, realizing the transition from product going overseas to “cultural reverse export”.
The chain reaction of the star effect
- Unplanned organic detonation: In April 2024, Blackpink member Lisa posted the Labubu macaron series on social platforms, which is not an officially planned advertisement, but based on her real love sharing. The authenticity of this “wild endorsement” quickly triggered a rush to buy in the Southeast Asian market. Subsequently, the spontaneous follow-up of European and American stars such as Rihanna and Beckham formed a viral spread that crossed borders and circles.
- The reverse return of overseas heat: The popularity of overseas has in turn greatly stimulated the domestic market. When Labubu was awarded the title of “Magical Thailand Experience Officer” by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and was personally picked up by the minister, its WeChat index and search volume in China soared by 420% in a single week, forming a beautiful “export-to-domestic” marketing event.
Cultural flexible implantation strategy
Labubu’s globalization is not a simple product copy, but adopts the strategy of “global IP, local narrative” to deeply graft with local culture.
At the heart of this strategy is as the overseas head of Bubble Mart said: “We are not translating a Chinese story to the world, but.”Artists and consumers from all over the world are invited to tell their own stories with our IP。”
Fourth, the hidden worries behind the supply chain and high growth
As Labubu’s global explosion occurs, its products and operating systems are also facing serious challenges, and these risks are also important for any fast-growing product.
- Quality control and supply chain crisis: In the first quarter of 2025, overseas demand surged by 475%, overwhelming Dongguan foundries, which account for 85% of the country’s trendy toy production capacity. The imbalance in production capacity directly leads to a decline in quality, and the complaint rate of users about tilting the head (23%), paint loss (31%), and insufficient cotton filling (18%) has increased by 58% year-on-year.
- The battle between imitations and genuine: The huge profit margin has given birth to a huge piracy industry chain, with some workshops producing more than 200,000 pieces per month. The high-end imitation “Lafufu” is even comparable to the genuine in terms of workmanship and details, eroding market share at a lower price.
- Ethical Controversy and Addiction Management: The low probability of hidden money (0.69%) has been questioned by regulatory authorities in many countries as disguised gambling, and South Korea has mandated that the probability must be clearly disclosed on the packaging. At the same time, cases such as “47% of users admit to excessive consumption” and “super users spend 6 million yuan to build a ‘baby house'” reported by the media have also triggered social discussions about inducing irrational consumption.
- IP fatigue risk: Any IP that relies on a single image faces the challenge of life cycle and aesthetic fatigue. How to avoid Labubu becoming a “meteor” after becoming a “phenomenon” through continuous content innovation and ecological expansion is a long-term issue facing Bubble Mart.
5. Productization enlightenment: key elements for building an emotional economy system
Labubu’s case provides a deeply reusable emotional economy model for all product managers, especially those working in the digital product and internet sectors.
Three principles of emotional economy construction
- Anti-perfectionist design: transforming “defects” into “memory points”。 In product design, deliberately retaining some “imperfect” or “clumsy” details can increase affinity and reduce users’ psychological defense. For example, the slight delay and vibration of WeChat’s “pat” function have a clumsy cuteness; In the early days, BeReal forced users to share without filters, and this “roughness” is precisely its charm.
- Controllable random rewards: Incorporate the “blind box mechanism” into user incentives。 This is not just a simple point or coupon, but a “surprise moment”. For example, Alipay’s “Collect Five Blessings” activity is the core of using random rewards and the desire to collect; In content-based products, the “treasure content” recommended by algorithms is also a kind of information blind box. The key is:The sense of value of rewards and the uncertainty of acquisition。
- Asset-based social currency: creating virtual rights and interests that can be displayed and negotiated。 In the product, it is necessary to design “scarce assets” that can represent the user’s identity, taste and investment. This can be the red diamond system of the QQ show, the limited skin in the game, the Karma points of the Reddit community, or even the “Weekly Reading Star” badge of WeChat Reading. The core is to make users’ efforts and consumption “visual” and “show off”.
A strategic self-question checklist for product managers
Instead of copying functionality directly, look at your product with the following four strategic questions:
1) Emotion and Identity: “What is the ‘Labubu’ of my product?” ”
- What core emotional values (security, accomplishment, companionship) do our products provide?
- What is the “ugly fang” of our products? Which imperfect but real “flaw” that resonates with users?
2) Habits and rituals: “How to design users’ ‘collection behavior’?” ”
- In addition to a single reward, can we design a series of tasks or badge systems that require continuous user investment and have the pleasure of “collecting”?
- How to ritualize user behavior (e.g., login, post, consumption) into a daily/weekly “little luck”?
3) Community and status: “What is the ‘hidden model’ in the product? ”
- What is scarce in our user system? Is it identity, information, or power?
- How do we define and demonstrate the status of “core players”? How do they gain respect and recognition within the circle through their products?
4) Ecology and cycles: “Where are our ‘theme parks’ and ‘cartoons’?” ”
- When the core functions enter the platform period, what kind of content ecology, service extension or community activities do we plan to extend the user life cycle? (such as Bubble Mart shooting animations and opening parks)
- How to evolve from a “tool-based product” to a “lifestyle brand”?
Conclusion: Building a “Community of Meaning”
The rise of Labubu marks a fundamental change in the consumer value evaluation system: when a man-made object carries enough emotional projection, circle identity and cultural narrative, it can transcend the physical function and become a high-premium commercial symbol.
For product managers, the ultimate challenge is no longer optimizing a feature or improving a metric;Building a “community of meaning”。 In this community, the brushstrokes of Hong Kong designers, the molds of Dongguan factories, the awards of Thai ministers, the carnival of teenagers on TikTok, and the heartbeat of every ordinary consumer when opening the blind box have condensed into a business empire worth HK$300 billion.
This may be the ultimate code of emotional economics:Let every user see and accept the imperfect but still cute self in your product.
Resources
The Labubu Phenomenon: How an Ugly Cute Monster Became the Social Currency of Global Gen Z (2025)
Analysis of the popular series (2025)
Dongguan, the “Capital of China’s Trendy Play”, is brewing the next hit (Securities Times, 2025)
LABUBU is out of the circle with these three points (Digital British Open, 2025)
Who is buying Pop Mart (Sohu, 2025)
How Brands Can Seize the “Wild Traffic” of Stars (The Paper, 2025)
The LABUBU you want may be produced in this “China’s Trendy Play Capital” (2025)
Behind the success of Labubu’s business model (Sohu, 2025)
Singled to 1.08 million, Labubu went crazy around the world (2025)
Bubble Mart’s genes have long been engraved with a globalization code (21 Finance, 2025)
Goldman Sachs: Bubble Mart Labubu Strong Demand But Supply Challenges (Yahoo Finance, 2025)
The Pinku brand deconstructs the Forbidden City Diancui Phoenix Crown into 1000+ standardized modules, and realizes the industrialization of intangible cultural heritage through 0.01mm laser cutting
