Miniso

MINISO opened its first pilot store in Guangzhou, China in 2013, near its factory. It then expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia before opening several stores in Sydney, Australia. The company was co-founded by Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu in 2013. According to Ye, the brand's early product designs were developed in collaboration with a Japanese designer. However, some media outlets have questioned the authenticity or existence of this designer, suggesting a lack of verifiable information or public records regarding their identity.

The company initially employed a Japanese-influenced branding strategy, despite previously operating under Chinese company Aiyaya. MINISO's first overseas store was opened in Singapore in 2015, two years since its debut in Guangzhou. MINISO has since expanded outside of the Chinese market and operates 6,868 in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa, North America, and South America.

In January 2017, MINISO announced that they were seeking to enter the North Korean market, opening their first store in Pyongyang four months later. According to The Economist, the store was popular among the country's wealthy but only accepted foreign currency, including the US dollar, Chinese yuan, and euro as payment. Soon after opening, the company's Japanese branch came under pressure for violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 2321 prohibiting trade with North Korea, distanced themselves from the move, and blamed the Chinese offices for the decision. As a result of the controversy, MINISO promised not to ship any more products to North Korea and the Pyongyang store was rebranded as "Evolution".

In September 2018, MINISO received its first external strategic investment funding of one billion RMB from Tencent and Hillhouse Funding Group. On December 18, 2018, MINISO Canada filed for bankruptcy. In March 2019, MINISO China took over the operations of MINISO Canada. On March 13, 2019, MINISO partnered with Marvel to introduce a range of themed products. MINISO went public on the NYSE in October 2020 under the name MNSO.

In December 2020, MINISO launched a toy brand called TOP TOY, with its first global flagship store located in Guangzhou, Guangdong. In August 2022, MINISO apologized for "wrong brand positioning and marketing", admitting that the company was a "proud Chinese brand through and through", and said it would remove its Japanese inspired elements (including their katakana logo, メイソウ MEISOU) by March 2023. In 2023, MINISO released new brand strategies including launching different store types such as IP-themed stores, "super stores" and national flagship stores and changed the font on the logo. Their stores have been revamped, removing most Japanese references, and are much larger in size for more products. In May 2024, MINISO ceased operations in the Republic of Ireland and went into administration in Australia for the second time in four years.

As of June 2024, MINISO has established collaborations with over 100 intellectual properties, including Disney, Sanrio, Barbie, Sesame Street, Minions, Pokémon, Harry Potter, Care Bears, Peanuts, Tom and Jerry, Teletubbies, Strawberry Shortcake, We Bare Bears, My Little Pony, Chiikawa, The Powerpuff Girls and the Beijing Palace Museum. The company currently operates four design centers in China, the United States, Japan, and South Korea. It has launched over 10,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) related to intellectual properties. After partnering with Mattel Inc. since 2022 and releasing Barbie-themed products since 2023, MINISO acquired several percent of Mattel's shares. The acquisition was officially announced at the Barbie 65th anniversary celebrations in April 2024. Also in 2024, MINISO opened its largest Barbie-themed store in Malaysia and Vietnam, attended by both Mattel and MINISO's directors and staff.

On 9 December 2024, Mirage Retail Group, the operator of MINISO Netherlands stores, was declared bankrupt. In February 2025, Mirage Retail Group put MINISO Netherlands up for sale.

According to company co-founder Ye Guofu, the brand was initially registered in Japan and operates some stores there, contributing to its positioning as a "Japanese brand." However, this identity has been widely questioned, particularly due to its corporate headquarters and main operations being based in China.

In response to accusations of imitation, MINISO's Hong Kong general manager stated that the similarities with other Japanese-inspired brands were the result of employing a design team with diverse nationalities and a shared minimalist style. Critics have debated whether MINISO's branding is misleading or simply a strategic decision aligned with consumer preferences.

Legal experts interviewed by the South China Morning Post have argued that creating a brand name that sounds Japanese or Korean is not legally prohibited. Laura Wen-Yu Young, a managing partner at the U.S.-based law firm Wang & Wang, noted that market success is ultimately determined by consumer response rather than brand origin. Likewise, Simon Collins, founder of the Fashion Culture Design Unconference and former dean of Parsons School of Design, remarked that criticism toward MINISO may be overstated, emphasizing that even well-known Japanese-origin brands like Muji and Uniqlo are, in essence, globalized companies.

Nevertheless, because of MINISO's success in expanding its number of retail stores, AllianceBernstein, a global asset management company.

Copycat controversy

Since its opening, MINISO has focused on "Japanese style." Its logo, store image, and products are similar to those of Uniqlo, Muji, Daiso and even caused controversy over plagiarism due to being too similar. Their business methods are also known as "cottage-style" business methods. This is part of a trend that includes other chinese companies such as MUMUSO, Ximiso, and other Chinese brands designed to evoke South Korean and Japanese trends.

Laura Wen-Yu Young, a managing partner at San Francisco-based law firm Wang and Wang believes that there are no restrictions on creating a brand that simply sounds Japanese or Korean. She ultimately thinks that it will be up to the customers to decide whether such businesses "will succeed or fail based on normal market principle".

Simon Collins, founder of Fashion Culture Design Unconference and former Dean of Parsons School of Design, suggests that the criticism MINISO has been facing does not stand to a certain extent. He does not think that "Muji or Uniqlo represent Japanese cultural brand", given that they are "100% international".

MINISO allegedly started to remove Japanese elements from its stores and shopping bags in late 2019 across its 3,100 shops in China. MINISO's "de-Japanisation" process has allegedly been completed in March 2023.