Defeating Anker, the seller topped the category BS in more than a month!

“If you are not entering the market with millions of dollars in capital, you must stay away from this category,” industry insiders advise sellers who want to enter the 3C category.

The 3C category has the recognized advantages of high average order value, fast new product updates, and rising consumer enthusiasm . But at the same time, it is also the category with the most intense competition and the highest operating costs. The "Lucky Three Treasures" and "Calabash Brothers" products that sellers avoid belong to this category.

Even in this category that sellers love and hate, sellers continue to pour in and launch hot products in a short period of time . After more than a month on the shelves, it surpassed Anker and rushed to the BS of the headphone category, with monthly sales exceeding one million US dollars. Products equipped with full-level equipment have reached new heights in the 3C category, and sellers directly said that the local tyrants can't afford it.

In addition to product strategies, malicious competition among 3C peers has always been a focus of controversy among sellers. Many sellers have accused themselves of being spoofed by their peers. After being maliciously attacked by sellers in the same category many times, a wireless charger seller in Shenzhen offered a reward of 300,000 yuan for clues about malicious attacks on the company's products. Similar examples are countless.

Some people believe that the 3C category is a bloody ocean, and that online competition is far more intense than offline competition. Throwing money into it will make no splash, so sellers are not recommended to test the waters. However, there are also sellers who believe that the 3C category is showing new trends, has huge market potential, and is a red ocean. What do you think?

Defeating Anker, sellers topped the category BS in more than a month

Generally speaking, when planning their product lines, cross-border sellers tend to choose niche categories with high demand and relatively low competition. This way, creating products will not be too difficult and the investment will not be too high. However, some sellers often go off the track and try their best to get into the bloody sea.

Recently, a link to Bluetooth headsets on Amazon has attracted the attention of many sellers.

The link was posted on February 20, 2023. In just over a month, it surpassed Anker and became BS #1 in the Over-Ear Headphones category. One store, one product, one brand, with a product rating of 4.8, and reviews grew rapidly to 1000+ linearly, and now have grown to 1700+, and there are no traditional words such as gift cards and postcards to reviews in the review content.

A seller used a third-party software to query the linked data and found that the sales volume of this product exceeded 40,000 orders in the past month, with monthly sales exceeding one million US dollars.

Killing Anker and delivering a brilliant report card, this link quickly attracted a large number of sellers to watch ↓

This is a great way to play. Use old links to find data, and after the new products are merged, the traffic will explode.

This link is a full-level equipment set that can be obtained by krypton gold in the Novice Village ;

After checking the advertising traffic, there really wasn't a particularly large increase, but the organic traffic exploded in one week ;

Many companies cannot operate this kind of rich people's strategy.

"He has money and plays it cool," is the first opinion of many sellers about this link. In the sellers' view, to be able to push the link to such a high level in a short period of time, it must be necessary to spend a lot of money and some "sexy operations" are also necessary, which ordinary sellers cannot do. At the same time, many sellers are more concerned about: how did the seller build the link?

Some sellers conducted analysis from the perspectives of reviews and advertisements.

From the perspective of reviews, although the front-end listing time is February 2023, in fact, the seller has already laid out this link. One seller pointed out that the same link was first listed in July 2022, and it received 96 5-star reviews in just 3 months.

The new links started to be reviewed in large numbers in March, and the number of reviews also skyrocketed day by day, reaching over 1,000 reviews within a month. It is very likely that there was human control, but some sellers have objections to the creation of reviews.

Some sellers believe that half of the 1,000+ links are reviews because many of the combined links have been removed by Amazon. However, some sellers disagree with this view. They believe that on February 22, when the link was put on sale, there were already 161 reviews, all of which were five-star reviews. They speculated that it should be a seed link. Multiple reviews and a high conversion rate are good proof. The product price has also increased from the original $25.99 to the current $34.99.

Like the above sellers, there are many sellers who initially sold their products through small stores, and after getting some reviews, they began to spend money to promote their products in the main store. One seller pointed out that he had seen a wireless charger link that was created in a similar way, but the ranking began to drop two months later.

From the advertising perspective, this product and its variants have 18 advertising campaigns and 18 advertising groups, and also have keyword placement. Multiple keywords are ranked relatively high, and the BSR ranking has been rising. However, if you click in, you will find that the rankings of the advertising keywords are relatively low, and the key words only start to appear in the first three pages in the 5th day of natural search. At the same time, the score has also increased from 96 at the beginning to 200. It took only 5 days to enter the top 100 of the best-selling list.

After March 7, the product participated in weekly flash sales at a price of US$25.99 (original price was US$89.99), and was also equipped with a 20% discount coupon. This directly led to a surge in the conversion rate and order volume of the link, and the product ranking directly jumped into the top ten. Seven days later, through some "sassy operations", the category was added to 6 sub-categories, and the product also directly jumped to the first place in the small category.

During this period, the seller also did a lot of off-site advertising. If you search the title of the link on Google, you can find promotions on many websites, with discounts as high as 80%.

In general, the link was able to reach such a high level in a short period of time. In addition to using artificial control of sales, activities to increase weight, multiple small category traffic technology, and drastic price cuts for products to divert traffic, the coordination of price and activities is also an indispensable part.

Spending money on stocking up, losing money on early benefits, using various means to increase sales and control comments, many people said that this was definitely not done by one person, there must be a team eyeing this link.

A seller revealed that the company had supplied goods to a similar seller, but it was a small company, one store, one product, two configurations, and the link cost hundreds of thousands. The order volume alone has reached millions, and millions of sets are in it in one cycle. However, this kind of game has gone beyond the scope of selling goods, and the element of gambling is too large. The rapid rise also means higher risks. If Amazon bans the account, it is basically over.

In fact, the fierce competition in the 3C category is not only reflected in the product marketing. The malicious competition among peers also causes headaches for sellers.

3C sellers spend 300,000 yuan to track down their spoof rivals, and they are inconsolable

Many sellers have encountered the same thing: their stores that have been painstakingly run for many years have been maliciously attacked by competitors. In this year's more severe international political and economic environment, when most sellers are struggling to survive, some "bad apples" have not focused on how to improve product quality, optimize operating methods, improve labor efficiency and their own competitiveness, but instead have focused on how to maliciously attack sellers in the same category.

A seller of multi-function wireless charging products issued a reward announcement, the content of which is roughly as follows: calling on peers to find out the black sheep who maliciously undermine industry rules and severely punish them. Now a reward is offered for relevant clues about people who attack the company's product multi-function wireless charging. After verification, a thank you fee of RMB 300,000 will be paid.

It is reported that the seller mainly sells 3C products on Amazon , and its products have good sales, especially power bank products, which are among the best-selling on the platform and have a considerable reputation in the circle. The product that was spoofed by the competitor this time was a multi-functional wireless charging product of the company. Due to repeated malicious attacks by peers, which has affected the operation of the store, the reward announcement was issued.

At the same time, the seller also stated that he has always adhered to the principle of integrity first, strictly abided by market rules, and never had any thoughts or actions of attacking fellow sellers.

This is not the first 3C seller in the industry to issue a bounty order. Many sellers have previously offered rewards of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands for clues about the pranksters. Not long ago, a fascia gun seller was maliciously attacked by a competitor many times, resulting in the removal of the product link and heavy losses for the company. The seller could no longer bear it and decided to offer a reward of 500,000 for information about the malicious attacker, but in the end it was nothing. Therefore, some sellers suspect that the seller may just want to warn the pranksters and make them turn back in time.

Industry insiders speculated that the seller who was maliciously attacked should have worked with Anker to develop charging products in the early years. After a long period of precipitation and polishing, he has accumulated wireless assets such as brand and store weight in the wireless charging category and is a top seller in the 3C category. However, he did not expect to be attacked by his peers while making a fortune in silence, and the loss caused by this attack was huge.

As we all know, the 3C category industry on Amazon is very large. Relevant data show that in 2021, the scale of the global wireless charging subcategory alone reached US$11 billion, and it is expected that the scale of this category will reach US$31.7 billion by 2028.

With advantages such as high average order value, fast new product updates, and rising consumer enthusiasm, a large number of sellers have flocked to the 3C market, and it is common for peers to fight each other. One seller sorted out the more well-known "blood sea" categories on Amazon, with the 3C category ranking first.

"70% of Amazon's sales are generated from the first page of search results. If you want to get sales, you have to beat tens of thousands of competitors," said a seller. At this time, many sellers will think about how to get on the front page through some means, but there are also some "special sellers" who will study some "sexy operations" and think about how to "pull down" competitors from the front page so that they can smoothly rise to the front page.

Many sellers’ products are spoofed as soon as they are released. The methods include maliciously posting bad reviews, adding sensitive banned words to follow-up sales, and complaining about copyright infringement. The sellers may suffer a sharp drop in sales and finally sell redundant inventory at a low price, resulting in heavy losses. In serious cases, the products may be removed from the shelves and the store may be closed. Some time ago, the editor wrote an article titled "A big seller in the category spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to attack his peers and was caught. The seller in question has reported the case" which is a case of a big seller in the category maliciously attacking a fellow seller.

Malicious competition incidents occur frequently, and everyone in the industry is in danger. As a result, sellers will first check the categories when planning some product lines to ask whether there is any artificial monopoly. Big sellers may still have the power to fight back after being attacked, but many small and medium-sized sellers can only swallow their anger after being maliciously attacked. Even if they know who is behind the scenes, they are reluctant to spend a lot of money to spoof others.

Behind the pranks and revenges between competitors is the emergence of a gray industrial chain. The main business of some service providers is to post positive reviews, and they can also post negative reviews for the sellers' competitors. The price of these reviews ranges from tens of yuan to hundreds of yuan. Some big sellers in some categories even cooperate specifically with service providers and offer monthly negative review services.

The same malicious competition situation is more common in the 3C category, so many sellers who are deeply involved in this category not only have to focus on store operations, product updates, and improving their own competitiveness, but also have to do everything they can to resist external spoofs.

Bloody Sea or Red Sea? Do you recommend sellers to do 3C category?

You can always see 3C products in the most prominent position on the front page of Amazon . Click in and you will find that the products and types under the 3C category are huge, but most of the best sellers are experienced big sellers such as Anker.

When talking about the 3C category, many sellers’ first reaction is that it is a bloody ocean with fierce competition and high operating costs. If you cannot enter the market with millions of funds, then you must stay away from this category.

A seller who has been deeply involved in the 3C category said frankly that he had been struggling to survive for the whole year last year. The old products had no profit, many products were in a low-price spiral, and new products could not be promoted. The factory did not give credit period, and the funds could not be turned around at all. He wanted to withdraw from this category. There are many sellers who have the same idea, and some sellers have already made a decision. "I no longer work for Amazon, and there is only one person left in the team to look after it," said a 3C seller.

In general, it is not recommended for sellers in the 3C category to have the following considerations↓

To do 3C category, you need financial support. If you don’t have it, it’s just like throwing money into Amazon.

It is impossible to succeed in this category without some gray means.

In the early stages, both off-site and on-site advertising require a lot of money, which is basically only inflow and no outflow.

Products are updated quickly, and to work in the 3C category, you need to have strong R&D capabilities.

Compared with other categories, it is more difficult to produce 3C products.

With low costs and low profits, the top ten sellers monopolize 90% of the orders in the category.

The high return rate creates hidden costs.

In their view, the 3C category is a super large category, but it is also a double-edged sword. The market is fierce and competitive. Should we do it? Can we succeed? We need to weigh many factors, from product design, supply chain, to operations and marketing planning. Whether the 3C category is good or not, we still need to define it based on our own actual situation.

Some small sellers who have been deeply involved in the 3C category said that this category is indeed large in scale, but it is difficult to grow bigger. It is okay to survive in the cracks and make a living.

Some sellers have set their sights on the 3C industry, simply hoping to gain a foothold in the industry by relying on the low-cost advantage of products from suppliers in Shenzhen. However, the landscape of the 3C industry has changed today, with rapid product updates, constantly upgrading consumer demand, and an increasing number of sellers. Competition among peers is no longer a single price competition, but a technology game based on price, such as research and development.

Many sellers do not recommend that start-ups follow the trend and enter the red ocean categories like 3C. They believe that such fiercely competitive categories require mature operation methods and differentiated products . Start-ups can look for niche categories with large demand and low competition, low CPC and high conversion rates . It is not so difficult to create products and it is easier to do it in a short period of time . But if it is an innovative start-up company, it is another matter.

Most sellers do not recommend working in the 3C category, but a small number of sellers believe that although the 3C category is an industry that has been mature for many years, it is still far from the "ceiling" and has great development potential, and it has also shown some new trends.

In recent years, the international situation has changed a lot. Some brands have gradually declined due to changes in the industry, but the popularity of 3C products has not diminished. Instead, it has soared with the changes in the market. Especially during the epidemic, the demand for remote work and home entertainment has surged, and the 3C category has penetrated deeper into consumers' life scenes.

Data released by Meta shows that the global 3C market size reached US$1.36 trillion in 2021 , and its proportion of global GDP has been increasing year by year.

At the same time, some new trends are also emerging. "Wearable", "remote control" and "smart" are the hot keywords for 3C products. Smart entertainment, smart wearables, smart travel and other products are gradually becoming new potential brands. Many consumers not only use these products themselves, but also give them as gifts.

In addition, as live streaming and video creation have become new trends in the consumer market, people's demand for photography has soared, driving the rapid growth of the entire photographic equipment industry. In addition to sophisticated photographic products, they also need photographic accessories to assist in shooting, such as selfie sticks, tripods, handheld anti-shake stabilizers, etc. At present, this category is growing rapidly and has attracted many players to bet on this track.

After years of development, many Chinese 3C brands have gained a foothold overseas. In the 2022 "BRANDZ China Top 50 Global Brands" jointly released by Google and Kantar, 3C brands occupy 18 seats, and 6 of them are in the TOP10 list. Well-known 3C brands such as Anker, DJI, Xiaomi, and Transsion have already made a name for themselves overseas.

Take Tribit , an audio brand under Qian'an Technology , which we are familiar with. It has also risen from an unknown new brand to the top of the Amazon category. Since its establishment, it has won awards such as the German Red Dot Design Award and the Japanese VGP Gold Award. In 2022, Tribit's annual growth rate reached 20%, and it ranked around 10th in the same category on Amazon.

Overall, sellers have different opinions on the question of "whether the 3C category is worth doing". What do you think?

Anker

earphone

BS