Late last year, the experience-led retail brand MINISO opened its first MINISO LAND location in Thailand in the Siam Square shopping district of Bangkok, part of the company’s strategy to expand its Super IP + Super Store initiative. The opening marked the first time the MINISO LAND experiential format has been launched outside its home market in China and signaled a new phase in the brand’s international ambitions.
The expansive IP-themed space drew immediate attention from consumers across Bangkok. Visitors turned up in large numbers for the debut, attracted by the mix of interactive design, popular character partnerships, and a highly visual store environment aimed at turning routine retail trips into memorable brand experiences. The Thailand launch highlighted how MINISO is positioning itself beyond a conventional value retailer toward an IP-driven destination format.
To learn more about how the brand got where it is and where it is going, we spoke with Robin Liu, MINISO’s Chief Marketing Officer.
During our interview, Liu discusses the strategic thinking behind MINISO LAND, the growing emphasis on proprietary IP incubation alongside licensed partnerships, and how Chinese brands are increasingly defining global branding through culture-first approaches and deeper connections with younger consumers.
How does the recent launch of the first MINISO LAND store in Thailand fit into the brand’s broader marketing and retail strategy across the region?
The first overseas MINISO LAND opened in Bangkok’s Siam Square, marking the debut of the “Super IP + Super Store” model overseas and accelerating our shift from value retail to experiential retail.
Spanning over 1,000 square meters across three floors, the store features more than 8,300 SKUs and over 80 globally popular IPs, including Disney, Sanrio, and Harry Potter. It also offers Thailand-exclusive products such as Muay Thai-themed DUNDUN Chicken and plush elephants.
Future competition won’t be about who carries more SKUs, but who can create spaces consumers want to enter, share, and keep returning to.
Thailand was chosen because it is one of the consumption hubs of Southeast Asia, with a high proportion of young consumers and strong enthusiasm for IP culture. Since entering the market in 2016, MINISO has deepened localization and, in 2025, began a full rollout of upgraded stores. MINISO’s strong reputation helped the launch of MINISO LAND attract wide international and local media attention.
The Thailand market validates the “Super IP + Super Store” model and establishes an experiential benchmark. The flagship store is expected to influence surrounding markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam, strengthening regional brand power across Southeast Asia.
MINISO has described its strategy as “Super IP + Super Store.” From a marketing perspective, what advantages does this model offer in driving customer engagement and long-term loyalty?
At MINISO, retail competition goes beyond products—consumers pay for emotional value, personal interests, and cultural experiences. Our global “Super IP + Super Store” strategy upgrades the brand from functional retail to experiential consumption.
MINISO LAND embodies this approach. It is not simply a bigger store but an immersive, storytelling space built around IP worlds. Popular IPs create familiarity and emotional connection, encouraging consumers—especially younger audiences—to linger, share, and return, while new, exclusive, and limited collections make the store a destination for surprises and repeat visits. These experiences become marketing, amplified by user-generated content, social sharing, and on-site interaction.
Regarding customer engagement and long-term loyalty, this model delivers three strategic benefits:
- Strengthens brand perception—from standard stores to immersive MINISO LAND flagships in top-tier locations—supporting our vision to become the world’s leading IP operation platform.
- Builds strong loyalty as stores become part of consumers’ entertainment and social routines.
- Creates city-level traffic hubs where flagship stores host product launches, artist signings, and fan events, fostering engagement and sustained freshness.
As physical retail continues to evolve, many brands are turning to experiential formats as key differentiators. From your perspective, in general, what role will IP-led, experience-first concepts like MINISO LAND play in shaping the future of global brand-building?
IP-led experiential retail is reshaping the foundations of global retail. Future competition won’t be about who carries more SKUs, but who can create spaces consumers want to enter, share, and keep returning to. MINISO LAND represents this new wave.
IP-led, experience-first concepts like MINISO LAND will become a core driver of global brand-building because consumers are no longer visiting stores solely to purchase—they’re seeking emotional value, cultural resonance, and memorable moments. IP experiences deliver all three in ways that traditional retail cannot.
This shift from “stores that sell” to “spaces that connect” will define how global brands grow in the next decade.
MINISO LAND’s performance proves this model is not just exciting, but commercially viable. Our MINISO LAND on Nanjing Road, Shanghai achieved over RMB 100 million in sales within nine months, with monthly sales exceeding RMB 16 million. The concept has also earned industry recognition, winning Best New Store Concept at the MAPIC Awards 2025.
Looking ahead, IP spaces will serve as cultural as much as retail touchpoints—places for storytelling, community-building, and cross-market engagement. This shift from “stores that sell” to “spaces that connect” will define how global brands grow in the next decade.
The new in-house Proprietary IP Incubation Plan marks a significant step toward owned content. How do you envision MINISO’s original IPs evolving alongside your licensed partnerships?
We are not simply adding a few proprietary IPs, but moving in a more fundamental direction—transforming from a retail brand into a global IP operation platform. This means our future competitiveness will come not only from products but also from content, characters, storytelling, and cultural influence.
Combining licensed and proprietary IPs establishes a dual strategy for growth that moves us from selling products to creating culture.
The dual strategy of “licensed IP + proprietary IP” drives this shift. Licensed IP delivers global reach, with over 150 partners including Disney, Sanrio, and Chiikawa.
Proprietary IP such as DUNDUN Chicken, PENPEN Penguin, and Gift Bear and Friends strengthen long-term brand value. We have also signed 16 art-toy artists and successfully incubated original and artist IPs such as YOYO, Kumaru, and Carrot Street, further enriching our portfolio.
Combining licensed and proprietary IPs establishes a dual strategy for growth that moves us from selling products to creating culture. Looking ahead, we aim for MINISO to be not only the world’s most dynamic IP retail platform but also a global IP operator that consistently produces original content with international influence.
Can you share more about the process of selecting and incubating new artists under MINISO’s proprietary IP plan, and how that connects to your broader creative marketing roadmap?
We have established a dedicated team for proprietary artist IPs, covering scouting, signing, operations, and long-term IP development. To attract top creators, we also launched the “Global Young IP Talent-MINISO Muse” program, offering substantial annual salaries to recruit leading IP creators globally.
Proprietary IPs not only enhance brand premium and emotional connection but also fully leverage MINISO’s core strengths: comprehensive product categories, omnichannel penetration, global presence, and end-to-end operations.
Full value chain advantage, covering design, R&D, production, and sales, enabling efficient product development that commercializes proprietary IPs quickly while reducing costs and improving turnaround.
Global store network, spanning over 110 countries and regions, proprietary IPs can achieve rapid internationalization and create cultural resonance worldwide.
Immersive retail spaces like MINISO LAND provide multidimensional showcases for proprietary IPs through themed displays, interactive installations, and pop-up events, strengthening consumer engagement.
Proven IP management, years of licensed IP operations have established mature lifecycle management methods, ensuring long-term IP value.
For example, proprietary IP YOYO debuted in June 2025 with Icon Box blind boxes featuring a tilted-head pose and detachable parts that encouraged user-generated content and customization. Despite a lower price point than most blind boxes, YOYO quickly became a hit IP, with projected sales of RMB 40 million this year, sparking extensive user-generated content online. We prioritize long-term value by maintaining distinctiveness and avoiding overexposure, ensuring sustainable cultural impact.
The success of the Korean Wave has marketers worldwide searching for ways to harness a similar cultural influence. How are Chinese brands defining their own approach to global branding and storytelling?
Chinese brands are shifting from exporting products to exporting culture. Through IP, design, and storytelling, they are building cultural relevance and meeting global demand for emotionally resonant experiences. Brands today are not just selling items—they are communicating values and shaping global narratives.
Chinese brands are shifting from exporting products to exporting culture.
For MINISO, this means using our global footprint to help Chinese original IPs gain worldwide visibility, such as supporting Black Myth: Wukong through in-store exposure. With our proprietary IPs, we aim to develop original characters rooted in Chinese culture and elevate them into globally recognized IPs. This aligns with our mission, “Life is for Fun,” while contributing to China’s growing cultural presence worldwide.
Another key evolution is the shift from “contract manufacturing” to “channel-driven” strategies. Chinese brands are increasingly building their own distribution, enabling direct consumer engagement and stronger brand influence. MINISO exemplifies this with a multi-engine model—China’s supply chain with global IP, global design, and global retail channels. With over 7,800 stores around the world, we have established a differentiated competitive advantage in global retail.
With experience both inside and outside China, what advice would you give to international marketers looking to connect more effectively with Chinese consumers?
Chinese Gen Z and millennials buy identity and emotional value, not just function. To connect with them, brands should create IP-driven products with clear storytelling and offer immersive, highly shareable experiences. MINISO LAND reflects this shift by turning retail into an experience and becoming a popular “check-in” destination.
Social engagement is equally important. Young consumers rely heavily on UGC on platforms like RED (Xiaohongshu) and Douyin (Chinese TikTok), so brands should encourage organic sharing and co-creation. MINISO actively leverages this approach by treating key opinion consumers (KOCs) as brand ambassadors. A notable example was MINISO’s collective wedding campaign, which went viral and generated 40,000 to 50,000 interactions.
Building on this success, MINISO invited more than a dozen KOCs in Guangzhou this year to participate in similar initiatives, deepening engagement and attracting more organic attention.
Finally, a strong CRM is essential. Leveraging China’s private-domain ecosystem, especially WeChat, allows brands to build direct, long-term relationships through D2C messaging, communities, and livestreaming.
