It then expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia before opening several stores in Sydney, Australia[16] The company was co-founded by Japanese designer Miyake Junya who met Ye Guofu in 2013 through a friend’s introduction according to himself.

[23] 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 U.S. Dollar, Chinese Yuan, and Euro as payment.

[7] 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.

[24] 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".

[35] As of June 2024, MINISO has established collaborations with over 100 intellectual properties such as Disney, Sanrio, Barbie, Sesame Street, Minions, Pokémon, Harry Potter, Care Bears, Snoopy, and Beijing Palace Museum.

Even so, it has pursued an aggressive expansion plan in countries connected with China's One Belt One Road economic policy, alongside other similar international retailers like Mumuso,[37][38][39] XIMIVOGUE,[40][41] YOYOSO,[42][43][44] USUPSO[45][46] and LÄTT LIV,[47][48] with shopping malls sometimes having several rival stores.

[53][54] On August 6, 2016, MINISO signed a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement with an American partner to expand its retail operations to the United States.

[60] In Europe, MINISO operates retail outlets in Spain, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Serbia,[61] Armenia,[62] Russia, United Kingdom, France and Iceland among others.

[75] In December 2023, MINISO opened its first Sanrio co-branded pop-up store, located in Margo City, a shopping mall in Indonesia.

[86] In June 2024, MINISO opened a flagship store on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, positioning the store as a global IP co-branded collection hub, launching more than 2,400 IP co-branded products, including Disney, Sanrio, BT21, Barbie, Harry Potter, Plants vs Zombies, Minions, Pokémon and Snoopy.

However, MINISO replied that its "industry-finance integration model" is not self-financing, and believes that doubters do not understand the operating nature of its P2P financing.

At the same time, according to the official announcement, the main assets of Fenlibao, an online loan investment docking platform, come from MINISO, and investors can get an annual interest rate of 6-11%, which is relatively "stable."

This financing method allows MINISO to "transfuse blood" for franchisees and circulate assets internally to realize its business empire.

[1] MINISO's marketing strategy has been compared to Japanese retailers such as Muji and Uniqlo due to similarities in both store aesthetics, brand design, and inventory.

[3] It has also been criticized for affixing grammatically incorrect Japanese-language labels to many products, a consequence of using Baidu Translate to produce Japanese language copy, as admitted by MINISO's management.

[21] IP collaborations, word-of-mouth, celebrity endorsements and the ability to launch viral products are the basis of MINISO's success in China.

[104] Apart from collaborating with international brands, its store designs that attract customers and encourage social media engagement, it also uses blind boxes to increase sales, especially among young consumers.

[105] In February 2022, MINISO entered into partnership with Peruvian NGO ECOAN to plant a tree in the Andes mountains for each certain number of items it sold.

[107] In September 2022, MINISO and the China Green Foundation jointly launched the #PlantForPanda# campaign to raise awareness for panda conservation and bamboo planting.

[108] MINISO’s 2023 ESG Report indicated that it supports women through its marriage and childbirth incentive programs and has established a fund of US$1.38 million.

[115] MINISO won the “2024 Best Managed Companies” award by Deloitte China[116] and received the title of “Most Intellectual Property Rights Merchandise” in The Malaysia Book of Records, in featuring 4,616 new products of 86 IPs.

[117] According to 2023 ESG report, MINISO is turning ““Waste” into Treasure by Using Recycled PET Bottles to Make Plush Toys".