Pop Mart's Revenue Halves in the Third Quarter as Its Breakout Collectible Toy Craze Cools

Pop Mart International Group said third-quarter revenue fell between 45% and 50% from a year earlier, a sharp reversal for the Chinese toy maker whose collectible plush character line turned it into one of the most talked-about consumer brands in the world over the past two years. The announcement, made Tuesday, marks one of the clearest signs yet that the viral momentum behind that single product line is fading faster than the company's broader business can offset.

When a craze is the business model

Pop Mart built its recent growth on blind-box collectible culture, where scarcity, surprise, and social media virality drive demand well beyond what a toy's intrinsic appeal alone would generate. That same dynamic cuts both ways: a product that can go from niche to global phenomenon in a matter of quarters can just as easily see demand cool once the novelty fades and resale markets that once ran hot start to cool off alongside it. A halving of quarterly revenue suggests that unwind is now well underway.

Overseas markets cooling faster than home

Notably, the slowdown is hitting Pop Mart's overseas sales harder than its domestic China business. That is a meaningful detail because international expansion had been the centerpiece of the company's growth story, the evidence that its collectible-toy format could travel well beyond its home market. A faster pullback abroad suggests the craze may have been even more trend-driven and less sticky among international buyers than among the company's longer-established domestic customer base.

Still pushing to expand, despite the slowdown

Despite the sharp revenue decline, Pop Mart is continuing to pursue global expansion rather than pulling back to consolidate around its strongest markets. That is a bet that the company's broader brand and other product characters can eventually pick up where this particular craze is fading, converting what was a single breakout hit into a more durable, diversified toy business over time.

A test of diversification risk

The core challenge Pop Mart now faces is one familiar to any company that rides a single breakout product to rapid growth: proving the underlying business, not just the hit, has staying power. Whether this quarter's decline marks a temporary cooling-off period before demand stabilizes at a lower but sustainable level, or the start of a longer unwind as the broader collectible-toy trend loses steam globally, will likely become clearer only once the company reports whether its next quarters stabilize or keep sliding.