Five doctors have spent 15 years developing domestic air purifiers and are using Alibaba International Station to open up the German and Japanese markets

Five PhD students who studied in the United States originally wanted to develop a silent cooling fan for Apple laptops. Unexpectedly, the "disadvantage" of the technology in attracting dust created a brand new air purifier that is silent and does not require filter replacement. With new technology, how to open up the overseas market? At this time, Alibaba International Station helped, overcoming numerous difficulties and dangers to help domestic new technologies open up the German and Japanese markets.

The entrepreneurial story of Dr. Zhang Yan, co -founder of Suzhou Beiang Intelligent Technology , can be said to be a microcosm of a large number of innovative companies finding their way to go overseas and running at new speeds on Alibaba International Station.

Photo: Dr. Zhang Yan communicating with customers

Zhang Yan actually started out in the United States with her team to design silent cooling fans for Apple laptops. Unexpectedly, she eventually lost out on Apple orders because the ionized air technology she used was prone to dust absorption. But new technology will eventually shine. The tendency to absorb dust is a disadvantage in the notebook field, but it has become an advantage in the air purifier field.

The technical direction of the entire team quickly changed from making ion wind fans to developing ion wind technology air purifiers. In 2013, the first generation of Beon air purifiers was launched on the market. With its many advantages such as quietness and no need to change filters, it quickly became popular among domestic consumers.

After achieving success in China, Zhang Yan set her sights on the international market. In 2019, Beon Intelligent Technology entered Alibaba International Station. At that time, the average price of air purifiers exported from China was around US$50. Using traditional HEPA filter technology, it had no bargaining power in terms of technology or brand, and only made a meager profit in manufacturing. However, the average export price of Beon's air purifiers was as high as US$250, far exceeding the average price at the time . Can such a high price open up the market overseas?

However, Beon Technology has successfully "broken into" the markets of Germany and Japan, two developed countries with strict technical requirements, and has established sales networks in more than 70 countries and regions around the world. It has also established Airdog in the United States, starting the road to operating Chinese brands in North America.

Photo: Japanese clinics use Suzhou Beiang's air purifiers

In Japan alone, nearly 10,000 hospitals and clinics use Beon Technology's air purifiers to ensure the safety and stability of indoor air. "In Germany, tens of thousands of schools have also adopted our air purification and disinfection solutions. Therefore, Beon Technology's popularity overseas may be higher than in the domestic market," said Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan also said, "Traditional air purifiers have two major drawbacks. On the one hand, the filter replacement frequency of traditional purifiers is relatively high, and the continuous cost expenditure discourages many ordinary residents. On the other hand, traditional air purifiers have large internal wind resistance and often generate loud noise when running at high speed, which can easily affect people's rest."

In comparison, Zhang Yan has used technological innovation and ion wind technology to make Beon's air purifiers free of consumables and filter replacement. If the filter is dirty, just take it out, clean it, and then install it back. At the same time, the ion wind technology has very low wind resistance, which reduces the noise of the machine when it is working to 1/4 of that of traditional air purifiers . The new experience brought by these new technologies is the reason why Beon Technology sells at a high brand premium overseas.

Beang used new technologies to open up overseas markets, and Alibaba International Station used new technologies to help Beang Technology efficiently expand overseas markets and achieve new speeds in digital foreign trade. This made Zhang Yan begin to strengthen her determination to use Alibaba International Station as her overseas base.

Figure: Suzhou Beiang's production line

At the same time, the service has also narrowed the gap between Beon Technology and Alibaba International Station. "It is no exaggeration to say that Alibaba International Station's service is the best we think so far." Zhang Yan mentioned that not only can Alibaba International Station's comprehensive foreign trade services such as logistics, capital, and customs affairs help foreign trade companies, but joining Alibaba International Station feels like joining a big family. Alibaba International Station provides cross-border e-commerce training for foreign trade companies, helps recruit talents, and also has a community circle that allows everyone to exchange experiences instead of fighting alone.

Zhang Yan still remembers that when the company first entered the foreign trade field, it lacked foreign trade talents. "The staff of the international station even sacrificed their weekends to help us interview and select suitable talents, and helped us formulate corresponding internal norms and management systems so that we can go overseas digitally more efficiently."

Zhang Yan also feels heart-warming about the help provided by Alibaba International Station in logistics. Cross-border logistics has always been one of the most troublesome issues for foreign trade merchants. In April last year, due to the epidemic, more than 5,000 air purifiers ordered by Japanese customers through Alibaba International Station were originally scheduled to be delivered to Tokyo, Japan on April 10. As a result, the goods were still stuck on the road on April 9, and finally arrived at the port 2 hours later than the scheduled time, facing the risk of abnormal customs declaration. If this batch of air purifiers worth more than one million US dollars cannot be fulfilled on time, it will not only face a serious risk of breach of contract, but may also affect sales in the entire Japanese market.

Photo: Goods ready for shipment at Suzhou Beiang Warehouse

When the foreign trade staff of Beang Technology was in trouble, the staff of Alibaba International Station took the initiative to contact Beang Technology and find an experienced customs declaration company to coordinate and solve the problem. After coordination with customs in many places, the abnormal customs declaration problem was finally solved at 11 o'clock in the evening of April 9. The batch of air purifiers was loaded into high cabinet containers and shipped to Japan the next day, and was delivered smoothly as agreed.

The timely arrival of this batch of goods from Beang Technology is largely due to the integrated logistics solution of "trailer + customs declaration + full container" launched by Alibaba International Station last year . Using new technologies to drive foreign trade services, Beang Technology is racing against time to achieve a new speed in digital foreign trade fulfillment with the help of Alibaba International Station.

Today, under the leadership of Zhang Yan, Beion Technology has explored a mature overseas model. It uses technological innovation to consolidate the hard power of Chinese-made products going overseas, uses new digital foreign trade technologies to efficiently open up overseas markets, and allows Chinese brands to run at a new speed overseas.

Alibaba International Station

Domestic air purifier