After Anker, is it difficult to break through the 3C market? Shenzhen sellers have found a new way

Anker , Aoji , and Zebo are all big sellers in the 3C market. Times have changed, and the current 3C market is already a bloodbath. The top brands have divided the market, products are highly homogenized, and price wars are in full swing . In such an environment, the public generally believes that it is extremely difficult for latecomers to get a piece of the pie .

However, nothing is absolute. Gravastar has carved out a unique development path of its own in this seemingly lifeless track. It abandons traditional methods and cleverly integrates elements such as cyberpunk and mecha style into products such as headphones and speakers, opening up a new track: 3C+trendy play, becoming a dark horse in the industry.

3C+Fashionable Toys=New Track

The spider robot shape, hard metal shell, strong sense of technology and futuristic feeling ... Just looking at the appearance, it is hard to imagine that this "alien" is a Bluetooth speaker. This Bluetooth speaker comes from Gravastar, and in the past few years, it has "harvested" a large number of technology fans.

Founded in 2019, Gravastar is a creative new consumer brand under Shenzhen Zhuoye Creative Co., Ltd., focusing on futuristic sci-fi style.

A long time ago, the traditional 3C consumer electronics industry had reached a bottleneck in "technology" development, and many sellers began to compete on price, capital and channel capabilities. Many people began to think, after Anker, how can the 3C industry break through?

Huang Yong, the founder of Gravastar, who has more than 20 years of experience in industrial design, came up with an idea: to give 3C products a mecha-like shell. Unexpectedly, Gravastar's first product, the "Mars Bluetooth Speaker", was very popular when it was launched on the crowdfunding platform indiegogo, and eventually raised more than $440,000 in funds.

It is reported that in 2022, the sales volume of GravaStar products reached nearly 100,000 units, the GMV reached 200 million yuan, and the repurchase rate reached 20%.

From a product perspective, most trendy toys have poor functionality, and consumers often just put them aside after purchasing them, and don't use them frequently. But GravaStar is different. All of its products are not just trendy toys, but also have the functions of traditional speakers and headphones.

Because of this "difference", GravaStar successfully seized this still blank market.

Capital also keenly captured this wave of business opportunities and acted quickly. According to public information, GravaStar has completed two rounds of financing. In July 2021, it received an angel round investment from Qingsong Fund; in June 2022, it successfully completed a pre-A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Baojiehui Innovation Fund and followed by Shuxin Capital.

At present, GravaStar has established three product categories: one is gaming peripherals, such as keyboards and mice; the second is 3C peripherals, such as power banks, chargers, and power banks; the third is smart wearable devices, such as smart watches and smart headphones.

The characteristics of GravaStar products determine that its team has diverse attributes. It is reported that in addition to the founder Huang Yong, the team also includes outstanding talents from all walks of life, including industrial designers, electronic engineers, anime original artists and craftsmen.

Innovation is the strongest engine for traditional products to become more expensive

In other words, whether it is speakers, keyboards, or mice, these are not new products. Take the mouse for example, it was born as early as the 1960s, and the technology has been quite mature since then. In the current overseas market, many companies enter this track and most of them just directly apply templates, produce and sell under OEM, and the products lack innovation, so the price is not high.

But the same product, GravaStar, can be sold for hundreds of dollars. On the Amazon platform, a "Cocoon Mouse" launched last year was sold for $139. A consumer commented that if you like playing games like me, a lightweight and sensitive mouse can really improve your performance. In addition, the design is quite eye-catching , very stylish and futuristic.

Google Trends shows that the global search popularity of GravaStar has been rising since 2019. This proves that GravaStar's brand influence is growing day by day, and more and more consumers are beginning to pay attention to and try to buy its products.

When it comes to brand building, independent websites are an important part that cannot be avoided. GravaStar has made remarkable achievements in independent website operations. According to data from SimilarWeb, the average monthly visits to GravaStar's independent website exceed 340,000. Among the top five countries in terms of popular searches, the United States has the highest share, nearly 30%; Vietnam is closely behind, accounting for 8%; while Australia, Indonesia and Germany have similar shares, all in the range of 4% - 5%.

In terms of traffic sources, direct visits and natural searches account for nearly 80%, and the rest comes from paid searches and social media. It is worth noting that among social traffic, YouTube contributes the most. Although it has a small number of fans (10,800), it has 2.56 million views.

When users watch the videos, they often feel like they are watching a "science fiction" blockbuster. Moreover, GravaStar has also adopted a strategy of deeply binding the founder's IP with the brand. In YouTube videos, founder Huang Yong has appeared many times, introducing new products or telling brand stories. This not only further narrows the distance between the brand and consumers, but also strengthens the brand image.

There is still room on the track, seize these opportunities

Although the competition in the 3C market is fierce, the rise of GravaStar shows that there are still opportunities in this market. On the one hand, the market size is still growing; on the other hand, the rapid iteration of technologies such as 5G communications, the Internet of Things, chips, and artificial intelligence continues to inject new growth momentum into 3C products.

So, for sellers, what are the opportunities worth paying attention to?

Smart Wearable Devices

Elderly market: In developed markets such as the United States, it is estimated that by 2026, nearly one-third of smart wearable users will be over 55 years old. Smart wearable devices with functions such as health monitoring and disease relief for the elderly have great market potential.

Basic functional demand in emerging markets: Latin America, Southeast Asia and other markets with relatively weak consumption power have strong demand for basic functional smart wearable devices. Companies can launch relatively low-priced and practical products to meet the needs of this market.

Smart Home Devices

Smart security: With the development of technologies such as 5G and edge computing, traditional security is upgraded to intelligent ones. Smart security products can realize functions such as real-time information sharing and intelligent sensing, and the unit price is relatively high. Consumers in Europe and the United States attach great importance to home security, and the market demand is relatively large.

Smart small appliances: In mature markets such as North America, smart small appliances that can enhance life experience are popular. Companies can integrate artificial intelligence and automation technologies to innovate products around space expansion, such as launching smart small cleaning equipment and smart cooking appliances.

Photography Equipment

Sports cameras: With the rise of outdoor sports, more and more people like to record their sports process, and the market demand for sports cameras is growing. Companies can launch sports cameras with anti-shake, high-definition shooting, waterproof and other functions to meet consumers' shooting needs in different sports scenes.

Vlog camera: With the rise of social content such as short videos and Vlog, Vlog cameras that focus on selfies and anti-shake have attracted market attention. Companies can develop Vlog cameras with special features such as beauty, real-time focus, and good portability based on the needs of Vlog creators.

AI Smart Products

Smart headphones: AI smart headphones that can convert voice into text and have intelligent translation functions can meet consumers' needs for convenient communication in different scenarios and have great market potential.

Smart speakers: Smart speakers with functions such as intelligent voice interaction and smart home control can not only meet consumers' entertainment needs, but also provide more convenience for family life and have broad development space in overseas markets.

E-books: The global e-book market has huge potential, and the market size will reach US$72.3 billion in 2025. European and American consumers have good reading habits and have a large demand for e-books. Companies can launch e-book products with high-resolution screens, long battery life, and rich reading resources to compete with Amazon Kindle and others.

Gravastar

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