The segmented market has reached its peak, and there are still experts in the 3C track!

In the eyes of most cross-border people, the 3C digital track has long been a red ocean that cannot be rolled back. Among them, sports wearable products have long been firmly occupied by major manufacturers.

However, there is a little-known domestic brand that has been able to stand out among many well-known brands and even break through the siege of overseas giants. What did it do right?

From "Made in China" to "Global Top Stream"

Is making sports watches a good business? Outdoor sports watch brand COROS gave a positive answer.

In 2014, COROS founder Niu Haotian decided to enter the field of smart wearable devices after an in-depth study of the market environment. However, Niu Haotian did not choose to make sports watches at the first time, but led the team to create a smart bracelet brand.

Although outsiders may not see much difference between smart bracelets and sports watches, experienced users see a world of difference between the two. After careful consideration, the team finally decided to shut down the smart bracelet project and turned their attention to the field of outdoor sports watches, and officially founded COROS.

When it comes to COROS, most ordinary consumers may be unfamiliar with it, but in the field of professional outdoor sports, COROS has long been the leader in the industry.

Before the rise of COROS, European and American brands such as Garmin and Suunto in the field of professional sports watches had already accumulated a considerable degree of brand moat, and it was very difficult for general technology brands to break through.

In order to achieve overtaking, COROS decided to focus on technology, continue to dig deeper into the segmented track, and launch a number of professional sports watches for different outdoor fields.

Through in-depth research, COROS found that outdoor sports enthusiasts such as trail running, marathon, and rock climbing have far from met their demands for equipment battery life, accuracy, and durability. For example, long-distance trail runners need their watches to work continuously for more than 40 hours in GPS mode, while mainstream products at the time could only last for 20 hours. Based on this, COROS launched the APEX series, which increased the battery life to 45 hours and optimized the body structure for extreme environments, quickly becoming a "must-have equipment" for this group .

It is understood that the COROS team once spent three consecutive days and nights debugging hardware and algorithms to optimize sensor data deviations; to improve GPS accuracy, the team developed patented metal ring antenna technology, which improved satellite search performance by 30%. These technological breakthroughs eventually resulted in 174 patents, covering core modules such as heart rate monitoring algorithms, EvoLab physical fitness systems, and PDR trajectory simulation algorithms.

This seemingly "stubborn" spirit eventually paid off. Data shows that since its establishment in 2014, COROS has grown at an average annual rate of 60%-70%. In 2021, its revenue exceeded 260 million yuan, with overseas markets accounting for more than 60%.

COROS’ multi-channel layout and influencer marketing strategy are crucial to its ability to quickly gain market share overseas .

Channel layout and off-site marketing in parallel

In terms of sales channels, COROS adopts a multi-channel model of independent website + e-commerce + offline retail.

Taking Amazon as an example, data shows that COROS occupies 5 of the top 10 "Running GPS Units" on Amazon , sharing the same position with Garmin. In terms of sales, COROS occupies half of the outdoor watch category on Amazon.

On the other hand, COROS has also entered well-known overseas e-commerce platforms such as Walmart and vertical platform TheFeed, which has expanded sales channels while reducing the risk of a single platform layout.

Of course, as a well-known vertical DCT brand, independent websites are also an important battlefield for COROS to achieve conversion. Data shows that COROS's official website coros.com has a monthly visit volume of over 1.15 million, of which natural traffic and direct traffic account for nearly 90%. This shows that COROS basically no longer needs to attract traffic through paid advertising.

In terms of offline channels, COROS has entered professional sports retailers such as Running to further penetrate the North American community market.

However, as the saying goes, even good wine needs to be hidden in a bush. After completing the channel layout, COROS also put a lot of effort into marketing.

First of all, in order to establish its image in the professional field, COROS signed a group of top athletes in their respective fields, including Kipchoge (marathon), K (cross-country running), Caldwell (rock climbing), etc., to endorse its products through their professional image.

On the other hand, COROS has also captured the traffic of major social media. On TikTok, COROS contacted major outdoor sports experts to launch a #coros topic activity in the name of its own brand, and some videos on related topics have been played as many as 2.5 million times. On Youtube, COROS prefers to publish product tutorial videos, while on Instagram, COROS focuses on visual display to form a differentiated content matrix.

Finally, by sponsoring top events such as UTMB and hosting enthusiast challenge events, COROS has deeply tied its brand story to the spirit of outdoor exploration. Now COROS has become a "spiritual totem" in the hearts of many outdoor enthusiasts, a realm that many brands dream of.

Still room for growth

In today's fierce competition in smart wearable devices, COROS has proved that Chinese brands are fully capable of conquering the global market with high-end positioning. Its experience shows that going overseas is not only about channel expansion, but also a systematic project of technology, positioning and cultural output.

However, despite its remarkable achievements, COROS still needs to face common challenges in the industry. In the high-end market above $800, its share is less than 5%, and users have limited recognition of the brand premium; software service revenue accounts for only 6%, far lower than Garmin's 21%, reflecting the shortcomings of ecosystem construction.

In addition, the insufficient density of the global after-sales network has resulted in maintenance cycles of up to 20 days in some areas , which is particularly fatal for outdoor equipment that emphasizes reliability.

Of course, COROS has also begun to take measures. There are signs that COROS is extending the Evolab system to the field of medical rehabilitation and cooperating with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland to develop a sports injury warning model. If professional sports data can be connected with health management scenarios, a new digital health battlefield with an annual scale of over US$100 billion may be opened up.

As the Wall Street Journal commented: "When algorithms begin to define sports experience, COROS's technological accumulation will become the fulcrum for leveraging the next growth pole."

Amazon

Sports Watches

COROS