Fun, affordable retail never looked so good! Lifestyle brand Miniso is set for an exciting 12 months as it opens flagship stores, adds 20 more shops and transitions to a purely licensed merchandise range.

The retailer, which has made a name for itself selling plush toys, accessories and homeware products, both branded and white label, is ready to ramp up its Australian presence. 

And it’s got a great offer to help new franchisees cement the deal as it continues to bring affordable fun products to even more Australian consumers.

“This year we’ve done pretty well. We will have opened 15 new stores in total by the end of the year, bringing us 40 shops across Australia,” says Jason Yong, Miniso’s franchise business development manager.

“Next year we are planning another 20 stores. The plan is to open five every quarter.”

Flagship stores lead the way at Miniso

Miniso is elevating its brand presence by investing in corporate-owned flagship stores too. There is one in the pipeline for every Australian state.

“We aim to establish flagship stores in prominent city centre locations in 2024,” Jason says. 

This exciting project starts in Sydney with a store in George Street to open in early 2024. Next in line are key stores in Rundle Mall in Adelaide, and in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, scheduled for the second quarter.

“All our focus early in 2024 will be on Sydney to make sure everything is built and operating to our high standards before we move on to the next location,” he says.

Jason says Miniso is now on the hunt for the ideal Melbourne and Perth locations.

While standard stores are typically shopping centre sites, these two-storey flagships will all sit in strip shopping locations for more visibility and greater brand exposure.

Indirectly, the corporate-owned flagships help add brand value, which benefits the franchise network, he says.

Special offer for new franchisees

Fifty per cent of the current 40 stores across Australia are franchised but this percentage is set to increase. The retailer is in the process of signing up franchisees to purchase some of the corporate outlets.

Miniso is also eyeing up a number of new or greenfield shopping centre sites ideal for franchisees.

For franchisees looking to open one of the 20 new sites in the pipeline, there’s a significant incentive.

Miniso has a limited time offer (until 31 May 2024) for new franchisees: complimentary display racks to the value of $50,000. This deal can provide almost all the display racking required in a fitout. 

It’s also 10 per cent of the $500,000 turnkey cost of a Miniso store.

“Franchisees order cabinets and racks from China, through Miniso. It takes about six weeks to build and fit out a store,” says Jason.

The complimentary rack offer is a great stepping stone to help new franchisees launch their business.

Franchisees signing up to a new retail store over the next year will see the transformation of the brand from a lifestyle store with a mix of branded and unbranded products to a fully licensed merchandise store.

Miniso will focus on licensed merchandise

The retailer is gradually reducing its imported smaller non-licensed items and expects to fully transition to licensed stock over the next year, optimising its existing licenses with big global names like Disney, Barbie, Marvel.

“Licensed product is already a success in the market. We have the licenses so focusing on this area utilises the brand’s strength and delivers more for our target customer. We believe we will see a boost in sales turnover,” Jason says.

“Right now in our shops we are selling the Minions range,” he says.

“We want to get customers used to our new merchandise profile,” says Jason. “We predict bigger transactions as a result of our refined offer,” he says.

“Miniso has 6000 stores globally, so based on our buying power, we have really strong negotiations with suppliers. We can deliver a really competitive price on the supply chain.”

It’s going to be an exciting, transformational year for this global success story.