On April 3, Miniso issued an apology letter saying:
The Douyin account "Minso Official Flagship Store" released a product display video of Chiikawa. In the video, inappropriate titles for the IP characters appeared. This It has caused emotional harm to many fans who love Chiikawa, and I would like to express my most sincere apologies to everyone!
We are shocked by the internal team's mistakes, which have caused adverse effects, and we will deal with them seriously. Based on this incident, we removed the relevant video as soon as possible. At the same time, in accordance with company regulations, we decided to fire the person first responsible for the incident, severely punished the relevant team, and ordered immediate rectification.
In the comment area of related topics, many netizens expressed that they did not buy it, "If you don't want to sell, don't sell it" and "You don't even understand how to respect it, but you still co-sign it." Someone else commented, "Such a popular IP joint cooperation is going to be pornographic."
It is understood that on March 29, Miniso’s xchiikawa-themed pop-up was launched in Shanghai’s Jing’an Joy City for the first time in the country. The sales of a single store in 10 hours reached 2.68 million, setting another record high. The "new top cute item" Chiikawa co-branded by MINISO was launched in China, covering a variety of co-branded products such as plush dolls, daily necessities, bag decorations, etc. The pop-up attracted a large number of consumers on the first day.
chiikawa is the most popular emoticon among young people of the current Z generation (usually those born between 1995 and 2009). A small comic from Japanese cartoonist Nagano, serialized on social platforms, consisting of three cuties forming "Jiikawa". The main protagonists include: Jiyi, Haqi (also known as Xiaoba), and Wusaqi.
Because of the cute images of the three little animals and its storyline, which overlap with the real life of migrant workers, it attracts young people to join the trap one after another. The
event was extremely popular. Some people queued up early in the morning, and some even brought quilts, mats, etc. to queue up.
It is reported that the Miniso xchiikawa themed flash mob series will be held simultaneously in Beijing Chaoyang Joy City and Shanghai Wujiaocheng Shenghui on April 1. In addition, this series of co-branded products will also be launched in stores across the country. On the afternoon of April 3, reporters from Blue Whale Finance visited the Miniso xchiikawa themed pop-up store in Joy City, Chaoyang, Beijing. There were still many people queuing up at the scene, and consumers had to rely on reservation codes to enter the store in batches to shop. The overall situation was orderly, and there was no "chaos" like the Shanghai pop-up store. The popularity of
offline has also spread to online. Blue Whale Finance reporter saw the above-mentioned peripheral products on Xianyu, each of which is around 100 yuan.
MINISO has always been a "big co-brander", and its co-branded products include but not limited to Disney, Sanrio, Pokémon, and the currently popular Chiikawa. According to statistics, Miniso has cooperated with nearly 100 IPs around the world, which has also brought ample room for premiums to the products.
’s latest financial report shows that Miniso Group’s revenue in 2023 exceeded 13.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 40%; the gross profit margin reached 41.2%, a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percentage points; the adjusted net profit was approximately 2.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110% increase.
As of the end of December 2023, the total number of Miniso stores was 6,413, a year-on-year increase of 973 stores. Among them, 3,926 are open in China and 2,487 overseas. Of course, all Miniso products have super high store opening speed and store data, because they are open to franchise. Among the above-mentioned more than 6,000 stores, there are only 278 directly operated stores, accounting for less than 5%, and up to 95.76% of the stores are opened by franchisees.
Miniso is not satisfied with this. At Miniso’s first investor day event at the beginning of the year, Ye Guofu, chairman and CEO of the company, revealed its strategic map for the next five years. He reminded that the company's vision is to "become the world's No. 1 IP design retail group" and to "adhere to cost-effectiveness, globalization, and product innovation" as its strategy. The goal is to achieve a net increase of 900 to 1,100 stores per year from 2024 to 2028. Home, the number of global stores at the end of 2028 will nearly double the number at the end of 2023. The group's revenue compound growth rate from 2024 to 2028 will not be less than 20%, and IP product sales will account for more than 50% in 2028.
Source: Beijing Business Daily
