Labubu boo-boo? US sales plunge for toy maker as it struggles to diversify beyond popular plushie – UK Times

Chinese toy maker Pop Mart has seen its sales in the U.S. plunge as it struggles to diversify beyond its popular Labubu plushie.

The monster plushie that is known for being both creepy and cute gained popularity in recent years, becoming a viral fashion trend on social media as Labubu fanatics clipped key-chain-sized versions to their bags.

Labubus helped Pop Mart generate more than 37 billion yuan, about $5.4 billion, in revenue in 2025, nearly triple what it made the year before, according to Reuters.

But U.S. sales were 45 percent lower in March compared with the year before, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, a tool that tracks credit and debit card transactions. The data does not account for sales made through other payment methods, such as cash.

While Labubus captured the hearts of many Americans, Pop Mart has struggled to build a deep fan base in the U.S. for its other plushie characters, Melinda Hu, a consumer analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, explained in a Bloomberg article Wednesday.

The Independent has reached out to Pop Mart for comment.

Sales from Pop Mart’s Skullpanda character more than doubled to 3.54 billion yuan, or around $512 million, last year, according to CNBC. The Twinkle Twinkle plushie made the company 2.06 billion yuan, about $300 million.

While Pop Mart’s annual revenue rose 185 percent from the year before, its shares plummeted more than 22 percent when its annual earnings came out last month, according to CNBC, which noted concerns about the sustainability of the company’s Labubu-driven growth.

Pop Mart CEO Wang Ning insisted during an earnings call at the time, “Pop Mart has more than just Labubu,” per CNBC.

The company’s shares are yet to recover from its late March dip. The stock currently sits at around HK$155, or around $20.