Overseas sales of domestic electric toothbrushes surged 10 times, with orders scheduled for three months later

Electric toothbrushes, once an imported product, have become rapidly popular in recent years and have entered thousands of households in China. Recently, there have been news reports that electric toothbrushes are becoming a strong product for Chinese-made products "going global."

According to platform data from AliExpress, in mid-2020, domestic electric toothbrushes experienced explosive growth in many overseas markets such as Europe and the Middle East, with annual sales surging 10 times. Among them, France's year-on-year growth rate exceeded 140%, Germany grew by 160%, Poland grew by more than 90%, and Saudi Arabia grew by more than 420%.

The domestic company Oclean only started selling electric toothbrushes in 2018, but now has sold its products to 110 countries. In 2020, the company's overseas sales through cross-border e-commerce increased nearly 9 times, and sales on AliExpress alone increased more than 10 times.

There is a reason why domestic electric toothbrushes are so popular overseas: the epidemic has further strengthened consumers' attention to oral hygiene and cultivated the habit of using electric toothbrushes. The rapid development of overseas e-commerce in 2020 has also provided an excellent opportunity for cross-border e-commerce and domestic products to go overseas. Overseas warehouses can deliver goods within 3-5 days, and overseas consumers' concerns about transportation time have also been resolved.

At the same time, as a manufacturing powerhouse, China has productivity advantages that are difficult to achieve abroad. In recent years, domestic production has made great progress, achieving technological overtaking in many fields, and its products are of high quality and low price, with a very high cost-effectiveness, making it the most powerful competitor in the overseas market.

One netizen commented: "There is no other way. The domestic electric toothbrush industry is too competitive. We have to compete overseas and take advantage of China's low-cost industrial chain. Similar products from other countries have no competition at all. The same goes for lithium batteries and photovoltaics. If we go abroad, we can beat them to a pulp."

The head of cross-border e-commerce of Seago , the largest electric toothbrush manufacturer in China , said that domestic electric toothbrushes achieved very impressive results in the overseas market last year, and the sales volume of products on e-commerce platforms increased nearly three times. At present, orders are still pouring in, and production is scheduled for two to three months later. Seago's previous production capacity in the three major bases in China was 35 million pieces. Now it is further expanding its production capacity and building a fourth production base. It has also been recruiting a large number of workers since the beginning of this year.

However, cost-effectiveness is only a stepping stone for domestic manufacturers to enter the international market. Compared with the years of layout and massive patents of traditional European and American brands such as Philips, if domestic electric toothbrushes want to carve out a niche, they must create their own brands, take the path of independent scientific research, and build the core competitiveness of their products.

According to the seller, foreign electric toothbrush giants have a relatively stable share in the international market, hold many patents, and are relatively conservative in the development of new products and functions. Their legal departments often use patents to suppress competitors and maintain their position in the industry. Domestic brands that are even slightly similar to their products will be accused of infringement, and many domestic products have been removed from the shelves as a result.

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