BEIJING, July 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This July, POP MART opened its first official store in Brisbane and its third Sydney store successively, following the two stores that opened in Sydney's CBD in March. Once again, POP MART hit the fast-forward button on its business development in Australia.
As the third largest city in Australia, Brisbane is on the north edge of the Sunshine Coast and south of Gold Coast, the international tourist attraction. It is famous as the "Sunshine City" with daily 7.5 hours of sunshine on average. On July 8, POP MART's first physical store in Brisbane officially opened at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, which is the largest shopping center in the western suburbs and continues to attract big fashion brands and emerging merchants. It currently has more than 300 specialty stores, and has two Australian retail group stores Myer and David Jones exclusively in the area. In addition, it boasts large chain stores, supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, medical and social service organisations, etc.
A week after the opening of the Indooroopilly Store, the third store in Sydney opened in Westfield Parramatta on July 15. Westfield Parramatta is a well-known local shopping centre with convenient rail and bus lines. Many international and local companies and retailers have branches here. Parramatta is the second-largest commercial centre in Sydney and one of the fastest-developing areas in Australia.
For the opening of these two stores, a variety of collectibles and limited-edition products were exhibited and sold, including the limited SKULLPANDA Dark Maid figurine and LABUBU Shepherd figurine. In addition to the exclusive launch of the Pino Jelly Taste & Personality Quiz Series and MEGA SPACE MOLLY 400% Space Jam, Indooroopilly store also set up a photoshoot spot in the store featuring SKULLPANDA, one of the most popular characters of POP MART. According to the design concept, feeling the warmth of sunshine, SKULLPANDA has arrived in Brisbane by train. The sunflowers are in full blossom outside the carriage, and the seeds of hope are sowed in Australia.
Yuki Wu, General Manager of POP MART Australia and New Zealand shared: "As a representative of China's art toy industry, we will continue to deepen our business development in Australia, and bring in more art toys from China, interacting with consumers from different cultural backgrounds and creating more artistic and cultural sparks."
As a leading pop culture and entertainment company in China, POP MART started to deploy global business in 2018. In the past two years, it has accelerated its progress with the DTC (Direct To Customer) strategy. With the continuous expansion of online and offline channels, the global influence of POP MART's brand and products continues to increase. POP MART has already entered 25 countries and regions, bringing joy and happiness to consumers through products and services centered on art toy culture.
In 2021, POP MART started its business layout in Australia. On 20 August 2022, the first Australian POP MART store opened in Melbourne, soon becoming popular among young Australian consumers. In March of this year, POP MART opened two physical stores in Sydney, which also established a stronger offline channel in the local area. In the future, as a pioneer in the art toy industry, POP MART will continue to globalise and bring a variety of art toy experiences to more consumers around the world.
This June, Google and Kantar jointly released "Google x Kantar BrandZ Chinese Global Brand Builders 2023", which announced this year's top 50 global brands and growth star list. POP MART stood out from 234 Chinese brands and was selected as the "Rising Star". This is the first time that POP MART has entered the list, and it also means that POP MART is moving from a rising star to a brand with international influence, "transferring from China's POP MART to the world's POP MART."