The Impact of POPMART’s Brand Personality Dimensions on
Consumer Purchase Intention
Haozheng Wu
Faculty of Creative Tourism and Intelligent Technologies, Macao University of Tourism, Macao, 999078, China
Keywords: POPMART, The Blind Box, Brand Personality, Purchase Intention.
Abstract: POPMART is a company that mainly offers trendy toys and uses the blind box model as its primary marketing
approach. This study investigates the impact of POPMART's brand personality dimensions on consumers'
purchase intention, focusing on six key traits: Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, Ruggedness,
and Sociability. Using a quantitative approach, the research surveyed Generation Z consumers in Macau
through a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was employed to examine the
relationship between brand personality and purchase intention. The results reveal that Sincerity, Excitement,
and Ruggedness significantly positively influence purchase intention, while Sociability exhibits a significant
negative impact, potentially due to overemphasis on community-driven traits reducing the perceived exclusivity
of collectible products. Competence and Sophistication, however, have no significant effect. These findings
highlight the importance of emotional and symbolic brand attributes in shaping consumer behavior, particularly
among youth-oriented demographics. The study not only enriches the theoretical understanding of brand
personality in hedonic consumption contexts, particularly in the context of uncertainty-driven products like
POPMART blind boxes, but also provides actionable insights for brand managers to strategically enhance
purchase intention by prioritizing specific brand personality dimensions.
1 INTRODUCTION
The concept of "blind box" first emerged in Japan in
the 1980s in the form of gashapon culture, where
people purchased uncertain and containing unknown
packaging from brand owners (Rocky, 2021). As a
leading company in China's fashion toy industry,
POPMART's main core business is to develop
fashion toy products based on IP, and blind boxes are
its main sales and profit products. In the past four
years, POPMART has made great progress in both
domestic and overseas markets (Wang, 2023). In the
financial report of 2024 released by POPAMRT, the
brand's business performance and attraction to
overseas groups are very prominent, its total
operating income by region has increased from 10%
in 2021 to 38.85 in Macao, Taiwan and overseas
regions (Slater, 2025). Previous studies have shown
that POPMART's market target group was locked in
female consumers aged 18 to 40, and men's interest in
POPMART products was lower than that of female
(Wang, 2023).
POPMART is a company that mainly offers
trendy toys and uses the blind box model as its
primary marketing approach. The reason why great
success has been achieved both in the Chinese
mainland and overseas markets in recent years has
become a significant research focus in recent years.
Numerous studies have investigated consumers'
purchase POPMART’s products intention, focusing
on consumer psychology, consumers perceive
attitudes, the attributes of blind box products and
POPMART marketing strategies. From a research
perspective, these researchers mainly focus on two
aspects, the perspective of consumers and
POPMART products’ value. Previous studies of
POPMART have not dealt with the attributes of the
brand itself. Studies show that brand differentiation
has a significant impact on consumers' purchasing
decisions and intentions, brand personality, as an
important tool for building brand identity, also builds
a communication connection between people and
products (Aaker, 1997). According to Ahmad and
Thyagaraj (2014), brand personality reflects the
advantages of products through practical functions, as
the carrier of consumer personality, brand personality
fully reflects the self-image of consumers, to establish
the relationship between consumers and brands,
brand personality. These three viewpoints are used to
646
Wu, H.
The Impact of POPMART’s Brand Personality Dimensions on Consumer Purchase Intention.
DOI: 10.5220/0013851600004719
Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics (ICEML 2025), pages 646-654
ISBN: 978-989-758-775-7
Proceedings Copyright © 2025 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda.

explain the influence of brand personality on
consumers' willingness. Therefore, studying the
brand personality of POPMART is essential for
understanding consumers' purchase blind box
intention. The main purpose of this paper is to
conduct an analysis of the brand personality
dimension of POPMART through questionnaire
collection, thereby exploring the influence of
POPMART's brand personality on consumers'
purchase intention. Through the analysis of the
POPMART brand personality dimension, the
findings of this research have practical implications
for trendy toy and blind box companies that provide
cases and directions for shaping unique brand
personalities, deepen understanding of consumer-
brand relationships and offer actionable insights for
brand managers to improve their strategies.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Blind Box Uncertainty
Kovacheva and Nikolova (2023) proposed a
framework to define uncertain marketing,
characterized by the uncertainty of the natural
attributes of the product and its intentional
introduction by marketers, and that all consumers
have a fair right to know about the situation where the
product conceals some information, the purpose of
concealing unknown information is not to hide the
shortcomings of the product. The exposure degree of
the product's quality attributes is consistent.
POPMART's uncertainty marketing is achieved by
retailing 'blind box collectibles' and hiding individual
variants in the series through opaque packaging,
allowing consumers to activate the hedonic' gameful
experiences' at the initial stage of purchase (Lee,
Wyllie, Brennan, 2024). Charoenwiwatchai (2024)
found that the success of POPMART can be
attributed to providing different IP designs for art toy
collectors to meet their tastes and preferences, while
selling art toys in blind box mode. In this situation
where the specific toys inside are uncertain, the
elements of perceiving surprise and excitement can be
perceived. Thereby increasing the repeat purchase
rate of consumer. Yang (2023) found through his
research on 4P marketing strategy (Product, Price,
Place, Promotion) that POPMART, by emphasizing
the surprise brought by its blind box opening in
product design, is the key to attracting customers.
Though the consumption pattern of blind boxes is
mainly impulsive shopping, the price consciousness
will limit the impulsive purchase of consumers
(Gong, Yee, Lee, Saif, Liu, & Anonthi, 2024).
POPMART makes good use of product rarity and
uniqueness in its pricing strategy to make the high
price of its limited products reasonable (Yang, 2023).
As stated by Li (2025), the other reason why
POPMART can still occupy a large part of the market
in China's fashion toy industry while raising the
prices of its products is mainly that it maintains the
interest of attracting customers to purchase through
the exquisite design of its own products. Therefore,
the number of fans of Pop Mart shows no sign of a
decline after the price increase.
2.2 Brand Personality & Purchase
Intention
Brand personality is the key bridge that builds a
relationship between the brand and consumers. The
personification of brand personality can well reflect
the personal personality characteristics of consumers.
Therefore, brand personality is also defined as "the set
of human characteristics associated with a brand"
(Aaker, 1997). Aaker (1997) analyzed the Big Five
personality scale in psychology and condensed 114
brand personality traits confirmed by respondents
through factor analysis, and finally extracted five
brand personality dimensions: Sincerity, Excitement,
Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness. The
model FCB Grid, developed by Vaughn (1980) to
describe the characteristics of consumers’ decision-
making behaviors, divides consumers' purchasing
behaviors into two key dimensions: "Involvement"
and "Thinking" & "Feeling". POPMART's products
are sold in the form of "blind boxes". In fact, such
"gambling and rewarding" behaviors create
excitement, anticipation and emotional investment for
consumers. The Millennial generation and Generation
Z, as the main potential customers of the POPMART
brand, are driven by deep-rooted factors such as
collecting rare items and pursuing social status when
purchasing POPMATRT products. Therefore, through
the analysis of the FCB model, POPMART is a brand
with the nature of "Feeling" and "high Involvement"
(Sharma, 2003). According to the research of De La
Paz Toldos-Romero & Orozco-Gómez (2015), in the
product categories of "Feeling" and "High
Involvement", Hipness, Vivacity, Success and
Sincerity are brand personality dimensions that
significantly influence purchase intention.
Whyke (2022b) defines adult toy consumers and
collectors of Generation Z in China as' the grown-up
missing child '. This group of people did not have
sufficient resources and economic support to
purchase products when they were young. Therefore,
after they have the purchasing power in adulthood,
the desire to consume will form a huge emerging
market (Whyke et al., 2022b). A study by Hamilton
et al. (2018) also demonstrated that if people in their
The Impact of POPMART’s Brand Personality Dimensions on Consumer Purchase Intention
647

early childhood are exposed to resource scarcity for a
long time, it will have a negative impact on their self-
esteem. Therefore, as they grow older and their
purchasing power increases, "Materialism" will affect
the subjective purchasing intention of such people.
They will have a stronger consumption tendency
towards scarce products compared with other groups
of people. Consumers' positive or negative views on
a brand at the psychological level can largely affect
their purchase intention. Emotion-driven purchase
intention has a two-way influence on both consumers
and brand owners. Therefore, brands with strong
emotional connections often can stimulate higher
purchase intentions (De La Paz Toldos-Romero &
Orozco-Gómez, 2015). Brand personality further
strengthens the purchase intention by enhancing
consumers' emotional satisfaction and symbolic
identification, thereby generating emotional
resonance (Keller, 2001). The brand personality
developed by Aaker (1997) can well reflect the
potential behavioral relationship caused by the
emotional connection between the brand and people.
Accordingly, we the study posits that:
H1. The five brand personalities a) Sincerity, b)
Excitement, c) Competence, d) Sophistication, e)
Ruggedness will have an impact on consumers'
purchase of POPMART product intention.
H1a. Sincerity has impact on consumers' purchase
of POPMART product intention.
H1b. Ruggedness has impact on consumers'
purchase of POPMART product intention.
H1c. Competence has impact on consumers'
purchase of POPMART product intention.
H1d. Sophistication has impact on consumers'
purchase of POPMART product intention.
H1e. Excitement has impact on consumers'
purchase of POPMART product intention.
2.3 Sociability
Sociability is a trait in a brand's personality that is
related to consumer interaction and social functions.
According to Aaker (1997), the "Excitement"
dimension in the brand personality framework implies
the concept of sociability. Brand personality
characteristics promote interaction with consumers
through social attributes, thereby enhancing
consumers' emotional connection and perception of
the brand (Geuens, Weijters, & Wulf, 2009). Li (2025)
holds that in its brand operation, POPMART has fully
utilized sociality as its core competitiveness. This
attribute not only reflects the interaction and
connection among consumer groups but is also
strengthened through its elaborately designed
community operation strategy. Research on blind box
consumers shows that POPAMART is not just a
simple consumer brand. Nowadays, it has gradually
become a social network and cultural community
composed of collection, communication and display
(Whyke et al., 2022). POPMART has built online and
offline platforms for this purpose, providing
consumers with Spaces for communication and
interaction. For example, POPMART uses social
media platforms to build a shared community for
collectors. Through users' sharing of comments on
purchasing blind boxes and unboxing experiences,
Strengthened the social effect of the POPMART brand
(Charoenwiwatchai, 2024). Consumers hope to
integrate into the community by sharing and
presenting their collection processes and purchasing
experiences. The purpose of such behavior is to
enhance the sense of belonging and social identity
among groups (Tajfel, 1982). Kuo (2022) pointed out
that consumers obtain a sense of psychological
belonging and group identity through social
interaction with brands. The Psychological Salience of
this sense of belonging is jointly determined by the
Accessibility between the brand and the consumer's
self-concept and the Fit between the brand personality
and the consumer's social self.
In recent years, many researchers have questioned
whether the Brand Personality Scale (BPS) proposed
by Aaker (1997) can accurately measure brand
personality and have developed a variety of alternative
scales. For instance, Geuens et al. (2009) proposed a
new scale with five dimensions: Responsibility,
Activity, Aggressiveness, Simplicity and
Emotionality. De La Paz Toldos-Romero and Orozco-
Gomez (2015) discovered seven dimensions of brand
personality in the Mexican market research. Including
Success, Hipness/Vivacity, Sophistication, Sincerity,
Domesticity/Emotionality, Ruggedness and
Professionalism. And Sung et al. (2014) developed six
brand personality dimensions for luxury goods.
Adding Sophistication, Professionalism,
Attractiveness and Materialism while retaining
Excitement and Sincerity. Furthermore, Balabanis and
Karpova (2024) also proposed the "Luxury Brand
Personality" (LBP) framework for luxury brands.
Including Vibrancy, Constancy, Haughtiness,
Elegance, Demureness and Femininity. These studies
indicate that the measurement of brand personality
requires more dimensional adjustments and
optimizations in different markets, cultures and brand
types to obtain a more accurate reflection of
consumers' perception of brand personality.
Therefore, although Sociability is classified under the
category of Excitement in BPS, while Excitement
emphasizes the vitality and appeal of the brand,
Sociability pays more attention to the role of the brand
in promoting consumer interaction and building social
networks. The previous marketing strategies of
POPMART demonstrated the hope of influencing
ICEML 2025 - International Conference on E-commerce and Modern Logistics
648

consumers' long-term behavior through brand
sociality. Therefore, we the study posits that:
H2a. Sociability has a significant impact on
consumers' willingness to purchase Pop Mart
products.
H2b. Compared with Excitement, Sociability has
a greater influence on consumers' willingness to
purchase Pop Mart products.
3 METHOD
3.1 Research Design
This paper adopts quantitative research methods and
constructs a theoretical model through literature
review and hypotheses. To determine the five brand
personality dimensions created by Aaker (1997).
Sincerity, Ruggedness, Competence, Sophistication
The influence of Excitement and its subset dimension
Sociability on the willingness to purchase
POPMART products (Figure 1).
The study adopted descriptive statistical methods
to summarize the characteristics of the samples. By
setting six brand dimensions as independent variables
and taking Purchase intention as the key dependent
variable. Linear regression was used to analyze the
data results and test the influence of the six brand
personality dimensions in the theoretical model on the
purchase intention. All analyses were conducted
using SPSS 26.0.
Figure 1> Theoretical mode
3.2 Data Collection
This study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of
the perception of the brand personality and the
influence of purchase intention among the main
consumer groups of POPMART. Combined with the
current research findings, it is found that the current
main consumer group of POPMART is universities of
Generation Z (Wang, 2023). Therefore, the data of
this research was collected in the form of
questionnaires. Due to the convenience of data
collection, the distribution locations were selected in
the WeChat groups of various universities in Macau,
and at the same time, it was displayed on the online
wall of the University of Macau. All respondents were
informed before filling out the questionnaire that all
the collected data would be used for academic
research.
The questionnaire is divided into three parts. The
author set a screening question in the first part. Ask
the respondents whether they have purchased
POPMART products (not limited to blind box). All
respondents who answer "No" will finish filling out
the questionnaire. The purpose of setting this question
is to screen the people who have perception and
consumption experience of the POPMART brand for
collection, in order to obtain more accurate data
feedback. The main body of the questionnaire was
measured using a 5-point Likert scale (1 point
indicates strong disagreement, and 5 points indicates
strong agreement), and the recognition degrees of the
respondents towards the six brand personality
dimensions in the theoretical model of this study were
collected. The last part is the collection of
demographic information, including gender, age,
occupation and educational level. Meanwhile, to
ensure the validity of data collection, a reward
mechanism was adopted for this questionnaire
collection. Red envelopes were distributed within the
WeChat group, and users who filled out the
questionnaire could receive red envelope rewards.
Table 1: Population characteristic statistics
Item Count Percentage
Gender Male 63 44.37%
Female 79 55.63%
Age <18 5 3.52%
18~15 124 87.32%
26~30 8 5.63%
31~40 3 2.11%
41~50 2 1.41%
>51 0 0.00%
Education
background
Junior high
school
1 0.70%
High school 4 2.82%
Junior college 16 11.27%
Undergraduate 115 80.99%
The Impact of POPMART’s Brand Personality Dimensions on Consumer Purchase Intention
649

Master's Degree
or above
6 4.23%
Profession Student 123 86.62%
Office worker 11 7.75%
Self-employed 2 1.41%
liberal
p
rofessions
4 2.82%
Other 2 1.41%
A total of 156 responses were collected over a
period of three weeks (table 1). After screening
specific questions, 14 respondents were excluded
from the data analysis due to their lack of purchasing
experience. Ultimately, 142 samples were used for
data analysis. Among the participants, the proportion
of females was slightly higher than that of males.
There was a total of 79 females (55.63%) and 63
males (accounting for 44.37%). Most of the
respondents were aged between 18 and 25, totalling
124 people, accounting for 87.32% of the total
sample. Secondly, there were a total of 8 people aged
26 to 30 (accounting for 5.63%), 5 people under 18
(accounting for 3.52%), 3 people aged 31 to 40
(accounting for 2.11%), only 2 people aged 41 to 50
(accounting for 1.41%), and 0 respondents over 51
years old. In terms of the occupations of the
respondents, students accounted for the vast majority,
totaling 123 people, accounting for 86.62% of the
total sample. Data analysis shows that most
respondents are young college students of Generation
Z. Therefore, the overall sample characteristics are in
line with the target population collected in this
questionnaire. The final collected data will be tested
for hypotheses using the SPSS tool and the linear
regression analysis method.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Descriptive Analysis
The mean scores for six brand personality
dimensions in the theoretical model ranged as shown
in table 2: sincerity (M = 3.83, SD = 1.02), excitement
(M = 4.11, SD =1.01), competence (M = 3.99, SD =
1.04), sophistication (M = 3.94, SD = 1.01),
ruggedness (M = 3.61, SD = 1.14), and sociality (M
= 4.11, SD = 0.94). The mean purchase intention
score was 3.63 (SD = 1.10).
Table 2: Descriptive analysis data
Mean Std. Deviation
Sincerity
3.83 1.02
Excitement
4.11 1.01
Competence
3.99 1.04
Sophistication
3.94 1.01
Ruggedness
3.61 1.14
Sociality
4.11 0.94
Purchase
intention
3.63 1.10
4.2 Linear Regression Analysis
The focus of this study is to explore the influence of
the POPMART brand dimension on consumers'
willingness to purchase POPMART products, and
multiple linear regression analysis is adopted. The
dependent variable is set as consumer purchase
intention, while the independent variables include six
brand personality dimensions: Sincerity, Excitement,
Competence, Sophistication, Ruggedness and
Sociability.
Table 3: Regression Analysis data
Variable
Purchase intention of POPMART Products
B Std. Beta T Sig.
(Constant) 0.499 0.297 1.684 0.095
Sincerity 0.383 0.113 0.355 3.392 0.001
Excitement 0.251 0.107 0.230 2.351 0.020
Competence 0.016 0.115 0.015 0.142 0.887
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650

Sophistication 0.182 0.118 0.167 1.547 0.124
Ruggedness 0.297 0.082 0.307 3.628 0.000
Sociality -0.298 0.108 -0.255 -2.771 0.006
𝑅 = 0.756, 𝑅

= 0.571, 𝐴𝑑𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑅

= 0.552, 𝑆𝐸 = 0.737, 𝐹 = 29.923 (𝑝 < .001)
*Statistically Significant at the 0.05 Level
First, the author tested the fit of the regression
model of overall significance and model, the data
showed in the ANOVA table, F = 29.923, (p <. 001),
the fit of the model indicators Adjusted 𝑅

= 0.552
(table 3). The data results show that Since p<.005
Therefore, it is concluded that consumers' preferences
for the six brand personality dimensions of Sincerity,
Excitement, Competence, Sophistication,
Ruggedness and Sociability will have a significant
impact on the willingness to purchase POPMART
products. 𝑅

= 0.552 shows that the 50.2%
consumers purchase intention of the POPMART
products can explain through the six brand
personality dimensions of potential recognition
degree.
The results of the multiple linear regression
analysis revealed that sincerity (β = 0.383, p = 0.001),
excitement (β = 0.251, p = 0.020), and ruggedness (β
= 0.297, p < .001) had significant positive effects on
purchase intention. Sociality (β = -0.298, p = 0.006)
has a significant impact on purchase intention, but it
is indeed a negative impact. On the other hand，
sophistication (β = 0.181, p = 0.124) and competence
(β = 0.016, p = 0.887) do not exhibit significant
effects on purchase intention.
Based on these results, the hypotheses were tested
as follows. The first hypothesis (H1), which posited
that the five brand personality dimensions—
Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication,
and Ruggedness—would influence consumers'
purchase intention, was partially supported.
Specifically, H1a (Sincerity, β = 0.383, p = 0.001),
H1b (Ruggedness, β = 0.297, p < .001), and H1e
(Excitement, β = 0.251, p = 0.020) were supported. In
contrast, H1c (Competence, p = 0.887) and H1d
(Sophistication, p = 0.124) were not supported. The
second hypothesis (H2a), which posited that
Sociability has a significant impact on consumers'
willingness to purchase POP MART products, was
supported; however, the impact was negative (β = -
0.298, p = 0.006). Finally, H2b, which hypothesized
that Sociability has a greater influence than
Excitement, was supported, as the absolute value of
Sociability's standardized coefficient (|β| = 0.298)
was higher than that of Excitement (|β| = 0.251).
5 DISCUSSION
5.1 Result Interpretation
The research results show that in the brand
personality dimension of POPMART, sincerity,
excitement and ruggedness have a significant positive
impact on consumers' purchase intention. These
results are consistent with previous studies,
emphasizing the importance of emotion and
functionality for brand attribute building (Aaker,
1997; De La Paz Toldos-Romero & Orozco-Gómez,
2015). The data results show that Sincerity (β =
0.383) had the greatest positive impact on consumers'
willingness to purchase POPMAERT products
compared with the other two brand personalities,
Excitement (β = 0.251, p = 0.020) and Ruggedness (β
= 0.297). It indicates that when consumers purchase
POPMART products, they attach greater importance
to the brand characteristics of honesty and high
quality. On the other hand, this is also a manifestation
of emotional needs. Consumers will be more inclined
to purchase trendy toy brands like POPMART that
have a good brand image and can ensure the high-
quality generation of artistic toys. This is consistent
with the research findings of De La Paz Toldos-
Romero and Orozco-Gómez (2015). When
consumers are considering brands like POPMART
that have the two characteristics of "high
Involvement" and "Feeling", The stronger the
Sincerity dimension of brand personality is, the
higher the purchase intention of consumers will be.
The blind box products of POPMART essentially
have attributes such as "uncertainty", "Excitement"
and "gambling", which can be classified under the
"excitement" dimension. Although such uncertain
elements can give impetus to impulse shopping when
consumers have curiosity about the goods inside the
blind box, when the products do not meet consumers'
inner expectations in the later stage of purchase, they
will have a negative effect before the next possible
purchase. This is also defined as the pros and cons of
surprise marketing (Guo et al., 2024). This is also
why the data shows that the "Excitement" dimension
of brand personality has the least impact on purchase
The Impact of POPMART’s Brand Personality Dimensions on Consumer Purchase Intention
651

intention among the three positive personalities. It is
beyond expectations that the brand personality
dimension of "Ruggedness" will have a positive
impact on consumers' purchase intention. This may
not mean that the current products of POPMART can
bring consumers a reliable and durable cognitive
experience. More importantly, the brand dimension
of "Ruggedness" is recognized from the perspective
that trendy art toys have long-term value in the market
as collectibles. This also reflects that consumers have
a greater impulse to consume trendy toys with long-
term collection value (Mcintosh & Schmeichel,
2001). By contrast, "Competence" (β = 0.016) and
Sophistication (β = 0.181) had no significant effect on
purchase intention. This might be because the target
audience of POPMART is mainly Generation Z, who
tend to prioritize attributes such as fun, sociability and
emotional engagement rather than traits related to
professionalism or luxury. For "Sociability" (β = -
0.298), it shows a more significant impact on
purchase intention compared to "Excitement" (β =
0.251), but this impact is negative. This discovery
may indicate that consumers are dissatisfied with
POPMART's excessive emphasis on social traits and
its hope to drive consumption through community
connections. On the other hand, for POPMART
products with collectible attributes, once they are
overly promoted and purchased, the scarcity of the
collectibles also decreases. This might also be one of
the reasons why "Sociability" has a negative impact
on consumer willingness.
5.2 Theoretical Contribution
This study makes several theoretical contributions to
the literature on brand personality and purchase
intention. By applying Aaker's (1997) framework to
the experiential context of blind box consumption, the
research extends the understanding of how brand
personality dimensions influence purchase intention,
particularly in hedonic and youth-oriented markets.
Additionally, the findings highlight the dual nature of
Sociability within brand personality, revealing that
while it fosters community connections, it may also
have unintended negative effects on purchase
intention. This insight enriches the discussion of
Excitement and its subset Sociability within Aaker's
framework. Furthermore, the study focuses on the
brand personality preferences of Generation Z
consumers, a demographic that has been
underexplored in previous research. By doing so, it
provides valuable insights into their unique
consumption behaviors and expectations, offering a
deeper understanding of how brand personality
resonates with this influential consumer group.
5.3 Practical Significance
The research results provide actionable insights for
brand managers and marketers in the trendy toy
industry, enabling them to enhance consumers'
purchasing intentions by deeply understanding their
own brands and developing brand personalities in a
personalized way. First, POPMART and similar
brands should prioritize the dimensions of Sincerity,
Excitement, and Ruggedness in their branding and
marketing strategies. Emphasizing honesty, fun, and
uniqueness can help strengthen emotional
connections with consumers and drive purchase
intention. Second, while Sociability remains an
important aspect of brand personality,
overemphasizing community-driven elements may
alienate some consumers. Brands should focus on
creating inclusive and pressure-free environments
that foster positive social interactions without
overwhelming their audience. Finally, marketing
efforts should resonate with Generation Z by aligning
with their preferences for playful, relatable, and
emotionally engaging brand traits. Also, brands
should avoid overemphasizing attributes associated
with excessive luxury or professionalism, as these
may not align with the expectations of this younger
demographic.
5.4 Research Limitations
This study is not without limitations. First, the sample
primarily consists of Generation Z consumers from
Macau, which may limit the generalizability of the
findings to other regions or demographics.
Additionally, due to time and resource constraints, the
sample size was relatively small, with only 142 valid
responses, which may affect the reliability and
representativeness of the results. Future research
could expand the sample size and include participants
from more diverse cultural and demographic
backgrounds to better understand the broader
implications of brand personality on purchase
intention. Second, the reliance on self-reported data
collected through questionnaires may introduce
social desirability bias, as participants might provide
responses that align with societal expectations rather
than their true opinions. Using experimental or
longitudinal designs in future studies could help
establish causal relationships and reduce bias.
Furthermore, the use of a five-point Likert scale,
while widely validated, has limitations, such as
assigning relatively high weight to neutral responses
(e.g., a score of 3), which could exaggerate non-users'
neutrality and distort the relationship between brand
personality and purchase intention (Romaniuk,
2008). This scale may also reduce brand
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652

differentiation, as strong positive and negative
responses can cancel each other out, and it may fail to
capture the reasons behind low scores. Lastly, this
study focused on six brand personality dimensions,
which may not fully reflect all aspects of brand
personality. Future research could explore additional
dimensions or alternative frameworks to provide a
more comprehensive understanding of the impact of
brand personality on consumer behavior. Despite
these limitations, the study offers valuable insights
into how brand personality influences purchase
intention and provides a foundation for further
research.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This study explores the influence of POPMART's
brand personality dimensions on consumers' purchase
intention, revealing several key findings. Sincerity,
Excitement, and Ruggedness are identified as
significant positive drivers of purchase intention,
indicating that consumers value honesty, fun, and
uniqueness in POPMART's brand identity. In
contrast, Sociability demonstrates a significant
negative impact, highlighting potential concerns over
excessive emphasis on community-driven traits that
may alienate consumers or diminish the perceived
exclusivity of collectible products. Competence and
Sophistication are not found to influence purchase
intention significantly, suggesting that POPMART's
target audience, primarily Generation Z, prioritizes
playful, emotionally engaging traits over
professionalism or luxury.
The study contributes to the literature by applying
Aaker’s (1997) brand personality framework to the
experiential and youth-oriented context of blind box
consumption, offering insights into how specific
brand personality traits resonate with Generation Z
consumers. It also emphasizes the dual nature of
Sociability, enriching discussions around its role
within the Excitement dimension.
For practitioners, the findings underscore the
importance of focusing on honesty, excitement, and
uniqueness when developing branding strategies.
However, brands should balance Sociability
carefully, fostering positive social interactions
without overwhelming consumers. Moreover,
aligning marketing strategies with the preferences of
Generation Z is crucial for enhancing emotional
connections and driving purchase intention.
Despite its contributions, the study is not without
limitations. The sample was limited to Generation Z
consumers in Macau, and the small sample size may
restrict the generalizability of the findings. Future
research could expand the sample size, explore
diverse cultural contexts, and incorporate
experimental or longitudinal designs to establish
causal relationships. Additionally, further studies
could investigate alternative brand personality
dimensions to provide a more comprehensive
understanding of their influence on consumer
behavior. Nonetheless, this study lays a foundation
for future research and offers valuable insights for
brands seeking to enhance consumer engagement
through strategic brand personality development.
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