Ye Guofu still loves Wang Ning

Ask AI · Why did Ye Guofu shift from Yonghui to a self-owned IP strategy?

Wanwan Lei Qing.

Author I **** He Jian

Editor I **** Jiang Jiao

Cover I **** Zhen Huan Zhuan

People often say, judging whether a man is sincere or not, it’s not about what he says, but what he does.

Miniso founder Ye Guofu has always said his idol is Yu Donglai, calling himself “his fan,” and has been cheering for Donglai Ge for years, full of enthusiasm. There may be tens of thousands of fans of entrepreneur Yu Donglai, but few men like Ye who can spend a fortune.

Ye Guofu later recalled that after on-site research of a Yonghui Supermarket that had undergone a fat modification, he was inspired to acquire it, saying, “I was thinking how great it would be if this store were mine.” From inspection to announcing involvement, he only took three months, determined to transform Yonghui Supermarket into the next Pang Donglai.

Even if later the whole world didn’t quite understand, Ye Guofu still resolutely defended the value of Yonghui’s fat modification, “If everyone can’t understand, that’s good. If they all understood, I wouldn’t have a chance.”

Men’s obsessions generally fall into two types. One is overt, eager to brag every day, making sure everyone knows. That’s love for his wife, but often the red mole becomes mosquito blood. The other is covert, rarely mentioned directly, but always thinking of the other person. That’s a lover, loved but unattainable, forever the white moonlight.

Now, Mr. Ye Guofu rarely publicly mentions Yonghui Supermarket anymore. Last year, Yonghui accelerated its restructuring but also its losses—annual revenue down over 20% year-on-year, net loss expanded by over 74%, total assets shrank nearly 30%.

In the face of huge losses, even Miniso, as the largest shareholder, was dragged down. Last year, Miniso’s revenue first broke the 20 billion yuan mark, up 26.2% year-on-year, but profit fell 54.1% in the same period, to only 1.21 billion yuan. The main reason for profit decline was an 813 million yuan loss from investing in Yonghui Supermarket.

Miniso 2025 Q4 and full-year financial report

At last night’s earnings call for Miniso 2025 Q4 and full-year results, analysts only symbolically asked, “Does Mr. Ye have any new thoughts or plans regarding Yonghui’s business?” Mr. Ye immediately distanced himself, denying any connection.

“I especially want to clarify to all Miniso shareholders that my core focus has always been MINISO… Please rest assured, over 90% of my energy is on MINISO. MINISO will always be my top priority, and I will never let investment distract me.”

See, Mr. Ye doesn’t even want to talk about Yonghui anymore. In his response, he said Yonghui has completed management team adjustments, and the new management team is capable of handling daily operations and strategic implementation independently. Implicitly, don’t ask me about Yonghui’s issues, ask the new management.

But seeing the new person smile, the old person weep.

Just a year ago, Ye Guofu still firmly defended Yonghui’s value, speaking about Yonghui’s restructuring direction at Miniso’s earnings call. He claimed that future retail trends would be quality retail and interest retail, with Miniso representing interest, and Yonghui representing quality, with deep collaboration in private brands, supply chain upgrades, and product strength.

Whether these collaborations have materialized remains uncertain; anyway, Mr. Ye no longer mentions them. The biggest visible change in Yonghui Supermarket after the fat modification last year might not be Miniso’s supply chain capabilities, but the addition of a large number of Yonghui’s own products. Outsiders might still think Miniso acquired Yonghui, not Pang Donglai, since the collaboration between the two seems more significant than with Miniso.

One shouldn’t overly criticize Mr. Ye’s investment vision. Although the 6.27 billion yuan investment in Yonghui Supermarket hasn’t yielded returns in the short term, a few years ago, Ye’s interest in AI small investments paid off. Previously, Miniso participated in early investments in AI large model company MiniMax, expected to realize a one-time gain of 850-900 million yuan in Q1 this year.

In the earnings call, Mr. Ye talked most about IP. But unlike the past, when Miniso mainly relied on internationally famous IP, the latest strategy is to develop self-owned IP. Since late last year, Miniso has launched several self-owned IP products, including YOYO (RightRight Sauce), DUNDUN Chicken, Kumaru, and others.

The red rose in hand is only mosquito blood on the wall; the white rose that cannot be obtained is forever the moonlight before the bed. Last night, Mr. Ye didn’t mention Bubble Mart at all, but his words carried the flavor of a lover.

For example, he said Miniso’s IP categories will focus on high-margin plush blind boxes and similar products. Or he mentioned that for IP incubation, they have signed many artists and will open Miniso galleries to showcase their works. Artists are very talented—“a painting can sell for tens of millions.” Mr. Ye emphasized that the Miniso gallery is located in Shanghai’s top art center, symbolizing their elevated status among artists.

Of course, more important is how to build IP influence. Ye Guofu introduced that this year, Miniso started a new IP co-branding approach. Previously, they collaborated on character IPs and content IPs, but now they are adding celebrity IP collaborations, which can bring great value to Miniso’s own IPs. “Everyone knows that one of our competitors’ IPs was boosted globally by Lisa.”

Let’s explain: Lisa is a member of the Korean girl group BLACKPINK, and she was the first international star to share Labubu on social media, which instantly made Labubu explode worldwide.

So, earlier this year, Miniso invited Jennie, another BLACKPINK member, to launch the special co-branded series “Jennie Ruby.” A few days ago, Miniso and Jennie’s co-branded pop-up store opened at Shanghai Hanghui Henglong, with reported first-day sales exceeding 2.2 million yuan.

Perhaps fearing that analysts might not be familiar with trends or distinguish the four BLACKPINK members, Mr. Ye had to repeatedly explain Jennie’s importance during the earnings call, such as “She’s also nicknamed the Luxury Goods Miss, endorsing many luxury brands.” Or “Our recent Jennie co-branding is everywhere on Xiaohongshu, and the buzz is very high.”

The store opening at Shanghai Hanghui Henglong is especially worth mentioning. Mr. Ye emphasized, “Do you know what Shanghai Hanghui Henglong is? What does it represent? It’s Shanghai’s most influential, high-end mall filled with luxury brands. Miniso launching IP products there signifies recognition from the highest-level malls and consumers.”

The only flaw might be that Miniso’s store at Hanghui Henglong is just a limited-time pop-up, not a permanent residence. Last mid-year, the beloved brand made a big splash by opening two stores at Hanghui Henglong: the global flagship of jewelry brand POPOP and a POPMART concept store.

Henglong Properties even issued a press release titled “Henglong and Pop Mart, over a decade of partnership.” They did not disclose Miniso’s pop-up store on their official site.

In short, in Ye Guofu’s view, Miniso has learned how to develop its own IP. He defined 2026 as the year for the company’s original IP elevation, having completed organizational restructuring and top-level design for IP business, establishing the IPBG team to oversee the entire process from idea incubation, product development, to full-domain operations.

Mr. Ye attaches great importance to the self-owned IP team, specifically choosing “the most important person in the company” to lead this business—“Our merchandise boss is running this department.”

Last year, Mr. Ye participated in Luo Yonghao’s podcast. He said that their growth path and model are similar to Bubble Mart’s. Only Bubble Mart started developing its own IP earlier; Miniso only began this year. He predicted that in the future, the two companies’ categories and strategies will become more alike, with the only difference being the IPs themselves.

Ye Guofu still loves Wang Ning.