The millet economy is booming and "breaking out," Miniso is riding the wave to soar

Since late September, China's capital market has significantly warmed up. Against the backdrop of a substantial increase in market participants' risk appetite, the liquidity of equity assets has been abundant, and various thematic concepts have emerged. Among them, the newly emerged "Guzi Economy" has particularly attracted the attention of various investors. According to Wind data, from November 26 to December 12, the Guzi Economy concept index saw a cumulative increase of 15.66% over nearly half a month. Additionally, according to incomplete statistics, more than 80 companies have been included in the IP economy (Guzi Economy) concept.

Accompanying Guzi products is the rapid rise of ACG (Anime, Comic, and Game) culture among young people. "Guzi" not only carries the love for IP but has also become a new trend in the consumer market. This has brought a significant "tailwind" to Miniso (09896, MNSO.US), which leads interest consumption.

According to the observation of Zhitong Finance APP, in this consumption boom, Miniso, relying on its unique brand advantages and precise market positioning, has been favored by the capital market, with stock prices in both the US and Hong Kong markets rising sharply, with Hong Kong stocks once increasing by more than 18%, and the total market value approaching HKD 60 billion.

Rapid Expansion of the ACG Market, Miniso's First-Mover Advantage is Significant

In 2024, IP-related products continue to be highly popular. To understand how "Guzi" has become a "fashion item" for the new generation of young people, one must first discuss the rapid expansion of the ACG influence and consumer base.

Guzi is a transliteration of the English word "goods," referring broadly to ACG peripheral products derived from copyrighted works such as animation, comics, games, and novels. From the perspective of the industrial chain, the "Guzi Economy" involves multiple links including IP development and design, operation and communication, product manufacturing, and market sales.

According to statistics from iiMedia Research, in 2019, the number of general ACG users in China was 354 million, expected to reach 503 million in 2024, and projected to reach 570 million by 2029; in 2019, the market size of general ACG and peripheral products in China was 298.3 billion yuan, which is expected to rapidly increase to 597.7 billion yuan in 2024 and is anticipated to reach 834.4 billion yuan by 2029, making it the fastest-growing general ACG market in the world.

Source: iiMedia Research

The new generation of consumers no longer merely seeks the satisfaction of material needs but also hopes to express emotional connections and cultural identities. Guzi products carry multiple functions such as emotions, fan culture, and community recognition, possessing comprehensive values such as self-enjoyment, collection, social interaction, and trading, which stimulate ACG users' high consumption willingness for derivative peripheral products.

Current mainstream market views suggest that the reason "Guzi" can become popular is due to the underlying logic that the increasingly rich supply of excellent IP on the supply side aligns with the growing self-enjoyment consumption demands of the new generation of consumers on the demand side, leading to a continuous improvement in the industry's prosperity under the resonance of IP supply and spiritual consumption.

This view seems to align with Miniso's remarkably forward-looking vision: as early as 2020, Miniso's founder Ye Guofu first proposed that "interest consumption" would become a new trend dominating the future direction of consumption, seizing the trend of global young people paying for interest consumption, and actively promoting strategic cooperation with diverse IPs, positioning Miniso as a representative of a beautiful lifestyle Highly globalized new consumer brands.

Looking back from the current point in time, the millet economy and Miniso's IP strategy are essentially manifestations of Ye Guofu's "interest consumption" theory. Since 2021, "interest consumption" has become a global trend, and Miniso has followed this strong wave to enter more and more countries and regions, becoming the first Chinese brand to enter Times Square in New York City and the first to enter the Champs-Élysées in Paris in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

This extremely forward-looking layout has also brought extremely rich returns. Miniso has clearly occupied an important first-mover advantage in the field of "millet economy." To date, Miniso has collaborated with over 150 well-known IP images globally, driving sales of over 800 million IP products. Among the top 10 global IP licensors, 6 have partnered with Miniso, and among the top 20, 9 have also reached cooperation with Miniso.

Reflected in performance, this is manifested as a 22.8% year-on-year increase in group revenue in the first three quarters of 2024, reaching 12.28 billion yuan, with overseas business revenue exceeding 4.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 41%. Among these, the sales of IP products in overseas markets accounted for over 40%, with sales increasing nearly 85% year-on-year, highlighting the significant impact of the IP strategy on overseas sales.

Facing the vast market for IP derivative consumption represented by the "millet economy," since Miniso already has a significant first-mover advantage, it is particularly important to further consolidate its competitive advantage based on the existing foundation.

Dual Advantage of IP and Channels Resonates, Miniso Leverages "Fuyiao"

The current market has reached an extremely consistent consensus. Some brokerage research reports indicate that China's spiritual consumption now has a development foundation in terms of economy and population, with the supply side possessing a rich reserve of quality IP and talent. On the demand side, the penetration of the audience group and related consumer spending are gradually increasing. Young consumers, driven by the need for personalization and value recognition, have a high willingness and ability to pay a premium. Under this major industrial trend of flourishing IP derivative consumption, high-quality companies with both content ecology and brand power are emerging.

For the entire industrial chain of the "millet economy," which has enormous development space, IP and channels are core, and this is also Miniso's core advantage. With the arrival of the millet consumption boom, Miniso has welcomed the "timing" for explosive growth. Relying on keen insights into consumer trends and rapid response capabilities, Miniso has achieved multi-dimensional advantages in IP resource accumulation, IP innovative design, store channel scale, supply chain construction, and store format matrix, building a complete commercial closed loop and forming a trust foundation with a wide range of consumers, strongly seizing the global consumer market.

From a product perspective, in terms of the reserve of two-dimensional IP, the company has already reached licensing agreements with popular IPs favored by the two-dimensional crowd, such as top Japanese anime and games. It is expected to launch self-developed millet-related peripheral products monthly next year, creating differentiated creative products through commissioned works and secondary creations, and collaborating with Bandai to launch more licensed Japanese millet peripherals. Currently, Miniso has established a management and R&D team in Shanghai composed of professional and experienced IP operators and talents from the two-dimensional circle According to Zhitong Finance APP, previously, Miniso collaborated with the well-known Japanese anime IP chiikawa to launch pop-up stores in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, triggering a phenomenon-level consumption craze and repeatedly breaking sales records. Ye Guofu summarized this phenomenon-level collaboration with five "unprecedented": unprecedented performance, unprecedented speed, unprecedented efficiency, unprecedented courage, and the unprecedented enthusiasm of chiikawa fans.

Miniso X chiikawa themed pop-up store's national first stop lands in Shanghai Jing'an Joy City.

It is not difficult to see that Miniso is leveraging its precise insights and exploration of global young people to launch a series of "good-looking, fun, and useful" new products that cater to consumer interests. These self-developed products generally have higher profit margins and commercial value, aligning more closely with its strategy of "using IP strategy as a lever and strategic categories as a foundation," forming an irreplicable brand advantage.

In terms of channels, the first global-level MINISO LAND store opened on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai, gathering global IP superstars and bringing consumers an IP feast. This nearly 2,000 square meter large store quickly became a "food valley" for many young people, achieving a sales figure of 12.03 million RMB in its first month of trial operation, setting a new global monthly sales record for stores. During this year's Halloween period, the fifth personality series products launched by Miniso sold out at a rate of 93% on the first day of the store's debut.

In the future, Miniso will also establish themed store formats, positioning MINISO FRIENDS for this store format, creating a series of exclusive themed stores around four major categories: ACG (Anime, Comic, Game), blind boxes, plush toys, and pets, to build a "friends" community culture and interactive space. This is undoubtedly a channel that can connect more closely with the ACG community culture.

Miniso's deep cultivation of community marketing activities has further helped them penetrate niche markets and deepen user stickiness, providing a rich and diverse customized interactive experience for the core consumer group.

As the "pain culture" of decorating daily necessities with ACG elements becomes popular among young circles, in September this year, Miniso launched the "Pain Wind Plan" around pain culture, exploring and showcasing the pain trend through multiple activities, further strengthening its brand image in the ACG community and attracting a large number of fans to participate in interactions. The brand slogan "Come to Miniso, chase the 'pain wind'" also paraded through the streets of Guangzhou with a giant pain-themed vehicle filled with grains, bringing some "painful" shock to passersby.

Miniso collaborates with a hundred trendy toy users to create "pain cars"

Looking ahead, with a solid user base among the broader Generation Z demographic, the continuous popularization of ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games) culture, coupled with the rapid development of local IPs, will lead to an increasing variety of derivative products. The market scale of the "Guzi" economy is bound to continue expanding, and its underlying consumer potential and market space are immeasurable.

In this context, the emotional demand generated by "Guzi" products ignites the enthusiasm of ACG users, which will also open up greater commercial space for Miniso itself. Miniso will further promote the "Guzi" economy to become a new trend in global consumption, continuing to focus on its IP strategy, emphasizing the ACG community, vigorously developing the "Guzi" economy, and continuously consolidating its "benchmark" market leadership position.

It is expected that Miniso is seizing consumer insights to capture user mindshare through innovative IP collaborations, creating a rich product matrix to stimulate consumption, and then solidifying a commercial closed loop through community influence. The combination of quality IP + high cost-performance ratio + diverse products continues to translate into customer acquisition and commercial monetization power. Its growth value is not limited to a single "Guzi" economy field but is continuously advancing towards a global "super brand" that fits multiple business formats, undoubtedly deserving of investors' attention