Already at the top of Amazon! Shenzhen's best sellers have tasted the sweetness of brand power

In the cross-border circle, we often pay attention to the news about the hot sales of Anker Innovations, Youkeshu, and Suntech Power. In fact, there are many low-key and powerful big sellers hidden in this circle. Shenzhen Qian'an Technology Co., Ltd. is one of them.

In 2010, Qian'an Technology was founded in Shenzhen by He Ding, a PhD who studied in the United States. More than ten years later, it has grown into a company with more than 400 employees (more than 10% have master's and doctoral degrees, and more than 80% have bachelor's degrees), with annual revenue exceeding 1 billion, and it started listing guidance in 2020.

Products are focused on three categories, and art brands are at the top of the categories

In the past, Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers made a lot of money by relying on the strong supply chain advantages and Internet traffic. Many people used the word "picking up money" to describe how easy it was to make money at that time. They bought goods for 10 yuan and sold them on the platform for 10 US dollars. After deducting the cost, they made a net profit of four or five times. This cross-border business did accumulate a lot of wealth for cross-border e-commerce sellers in a short period of time.

However, in recent years, more and more cross-border e-commerce sellers have clearly felt that the "grassroots bonus period" of cross-border e-commerce has passed, and it has become increasingly difficult to make money. In order not to be eliminated by the market, they have also joined the transformation army under the rising trend of "brand going global".

Unlike many companies that have only begun to transform into brand sellers in the past two years, Qian'an Technology's growth process has always been marked by the "brand".

Three years after its establishment (in 2013), Qian'an Technology established a product development and brand marketing department, officially transforming from Made in China to Chinese brands. In 2014, its own brand revenue accounted for more than 90%, and in 2020, the core brand's monthly revenue exceeded 40 million US dollars. At the same time, its four brand products were selected for the Amazon Global Excellent Product Exhibition in 2015.

Since its transformation, it has created a number of independent brands, including five core brands: Sportneer, Tribit, Ohuhu, iClever, and Elechomes. Its main products include audio products, home and kitchen appliances, consumer electronics, sports equipment, home improvement tools, musical instruments, beauty and personal care products, etc.

However, in recent years, the focus of Qian'an Technology's brand building has shifted from breadth to depth, with both brands and categories becoming more focused. After cutting two projects last year, its main products currently only include three categories: art supplies , audio equipment , and sports equipment , and the number of brands has also been reduced to three.

Revenue and net profit suffered setbacks in the performance of many cross-border e-commerce sellers in 2022, but Qian'an Technology, which has done "subtraction", remained stable. While the revenue of its peers generally declined, Qian'an Technology's sales not only maintained the same level as the previous year, but also increased its profits.

Judging from the performance of the three categories, art supplies, which have a better brand power foundation, will be slightly ahead of the other two categories in terms of growth rate. Currently, this category has made it to the top of Amazon, and ranks first in both the US and European market segments.

"Many companies that really make products only make one product, and we still have a gap." Although the product category is already very focused, He Ding knows that the company still has a long way to go before it can become a real brand. However, he said that brand expansion overseas is a long and arduous process that cannot be achieved overnight, especially for companies that have transformed from cross-border e-commerce by subtraction. It cannot be done in a hurry.

The best 0 to 1 carrier for brands going global : Amazon

As we all know, most Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers start their overseas expansion journey from Amazon. Amazon is not only a channel for them to open up overseas markets, but also an important carrier for brands to go overseas.

Although doing well on Amazon does not mean that the brand has achieved success, when sellers use Amazon to hone their supply chain or R&D capabilities in a category, when they move towards branding, they are no longer starting from scratch, but have a certain foundation.

He Ding agrees with this: " Amazon is the best 0 to 1 carrier for brands to go global. " He said frankly that if a seller has achieved annual sales of 3 billion on Amazon , then it must have a very deep accumulation in all aspects. It will be much easier to build a brand at this time than starting from scratch. "And success on Amazon itself is a strong endorsement for entering other channels."

He believes that branding is a perfect combination of strategy , tactics and campaigns , and is nonlinear. "If your product suddenly ranks first in the category on the platform one day, it means that your brand's dream of going global has achieved a staged victory to some extent."

However, a real brand should not only exist online, but should be successful in multiple channels. Omnichannel is the only way for brands to go global. "If a seller is only successful on Amazon, it may be because he has strong operational capabilities, but actually his brand power is not strong," said He Ding.

Based on this, Qian'an Technology, which has already achieved success on Amazon, has now moved from online to offline. Under the omni-channel, overseas consumers can be exposed to Qian'an Technology's brand through multiple channels. The brand is to occupy the minds of users, which is also to repeatedly deepen user cognition.

When it comes to brands going overseas, Qian'an Technology's attitude is very clear: "Do it resolutely" and "Do it with all our strength."

He Ding said that branding overseas can consolidate the brand, which is something that directly hits the minds of overseas consumers, but this is not the case for selling goods. After consumers have used the product, they may not even know who the seller is, so these sellers can only make profits by constantly improving operational efficiency. In this process, there is no accumulation at all, and except for price, there is nothing that can really impress consumers. When the product loses its price advantage, they will be abandoned without hesitation.

A brand must have a brand stance. In the automotive field, when you mention BMW, everyone knows that it is the car with the best handling, and Mercedes-Benz is the most luxurious and comfortable car. The same is true when sellers are making overseas brands. First, you must be clear about what you want to convey to consumers through this brand, and then conceive the product around this center.

After adjusting its brand and categories last year, Qian'an Technology has also begun to work on its brand stance this year, creating different impressions of its products in the minds of users from its three product lines. "For example, for art supplies, we hope that in the future, when consumers mention what Ohuhu's products are like, ten out of ten people will give the same answer."

However, there has always been a problem with Chinese brands going overseas, that is, the general impression of most Chinese brands in the minds of European and American consumers is "good value for money" and "cheap". This impression is not good for Chinese brands going overseas, because it means that sellers will not get too high profits, and at the same time, apart from the price advantage, there is no impression in the minds of consumers.

In this regard, He Ding suggested that sellers should give their brands a unique and differentiated proposition other than price when going overseas.

On April 11, Liu Zhi, co-founder of Shenzhen Qian'an Technology Co., Ltd., will deliver a keynote speech entitled "The Practice and Thinking of Amazon Sellers' Brand Going Overseas" at the "2023 Sixth Cross-border E-commerce Internet Marketing Conference" hosted by Enen.com and sponsored by Anjun Logistics. If you want to learn more about Qian'an Technology's practical experience in brand going overseas, please long press the QR code on the picture below to sign up.

Qian'an Technology