MINISO turned a Chinese ten-yuan store into a global IP-led retailer

MINISO's first store opened in Guangzhou in 2013, founded by Ye Guofu with Japanese designer Miyake Junya. The brand spent its first decade wearing a Japanese identity — its Chinese trademark (September 2013) predates the Japanese one (April 2014), and Ye later admitted '100% Japanese quality' was packaging while about 90% of goods were made in China. What mattered was the formula: design-led small goods at ten-yuan prices, expanded through franchising to 5,000+ stores globally by 2021.

The listing years forced a repositioning. MINISO raised ~$608M in its NYSE IPO on 15 October 2020, filed for a Hong Kong dual-primary listing on 31 March 2022, priced at HK$13.80 and listed on 13 July 2022 (net proceeds ~HK$476M) after cumulative losses of nearly ¥2B in 2019–2021. In August 2022, after a nationalist backlash, the company publicly apologized and dropped its Japanese styling — then pivoted hard to what held: IP licensing and globalization.

The pivot showed in the numbers: FY2024 revenue of about ¥17B, gross margin of 44.9% (eight straight quarterly records), adjusted net profit of ¥2.72B, and 7,780 stores by end-2024 — 4,386 in China and 3,118 overseas, where MINISO-brand revenue grew 41.9% YoY and reached 39.4% of the brand. IP-themed stores (Barbie, Harry Potter, Sanrio), a Times Square flagship, and TOP TOY (spun off for its own HK listing in 2025) carried the margin and the overseas story.

From one Guangzhou store in 2013 to 7,780 stores worldwide by end-2024 (3,118 overseas), revenue ≈¥17B with a record 44.9% gross margin and ¥2.72B adjusted profit.

The 'fake Japan' styling was a bridging asset, not the strategy: it anchored prices and was dropped once nationalism turned; the durable move was IP licensing lifting gross margin to 44.9%.

Franchising plus distribution made overseas a second curve: external capital opened stores while brand IP and design raised the take rate — overseas openings first outpaced domestic in 2024.

A brand story can be manufactured, but it needs a cost boundary — know when the costume becomes a liability; the compounding asset remains licensing, design and global formats.

MINISO ended 2024 with 7,780 stores (China 4,386, overseas MINISO 3,118, plus 276 TOP TOY), FY2024 revenue ≈¥17.0B, gross margin 44.9% and adjusted net profit ¥2.72B. Overseas has become the growth engine (MINISO-brand overseas revenue +41.9% YoY). In 2025 the company filed to spin TOP TOY onto the Hong Kong exchange. The 2022 'de-Japanization' apology closed the original brand fiction for good.