With annual sales exceeding 4 million US dollars, it successfully counterattacked Amazon!

A long-established domestic brand has successfully transformed into Amazon.

Cross-border e-commerce is gaining momentum, and "traditional foreign trade factories seeking new transformation paths" has become a hot topic at the moment, but how to transform and expand brands overseas may be able to "replicate" the powerful cross-border business practices.

From being heavily in debt in the domestic market to achieving annual sales of 3.5 billion after switching to cross-border business, the old domestic brand Weili has successfully turned around. It has not only successfully built its own brand on Amazon, achieving sales of 4 million US dollars a year, but also become the top seller on the platform.

Traditional domestic brands transform into cross-border brands, with annual sales of 3.5 billion

"This washing machine I bought 26 years ago is still usable. I guess the manufacturer has gone bankrupt," a netizen posted a video at the beginning of this year, which successfully made the manufacturer of this washing machine, Donlim Weili, a hot topic.

The Donlim Weili brand even responded that it had not gone bankrupt, and provided netizens with new washing machines for free, successfully making this durable, old domestic product known to more people.

Yien.com learned that Weili is affiliated to Zhongshan Dongling Weili Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., which mainly deals in home appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens. It was once known as the "King of Washing Machines in China."

From 1989 to 1996, Weili washing machines ranked first in production and sales for many consecutive years thanks to their excellent quality, and even set a sales record of more than 1.6 million units in 1994.

However, this brilliant record was disrupted by technological changes in the washing machine industry. At that time, new products such as fully automatic washing machines and drum washing machines began to appear on the market, while Weili was still sticking to the traditional twin-tub washing machines.

By missing out on market changes and technological innovations, Weili naturally lost its voice as a leader. Afterwards, the company's performance was in a state of decline. Not only did its performance decline from the beginning to a debt of over 1.6 billion, but it also laid off more than 60% of its employees.

In the end, the company had to sell off Wei Li in 2005, when Guangdong Dongling Kaiqin Group took over Wei Li, which became the turning point for Wei Li's rebirth.

After Dongling Kaiqin Group took over Weili, it started a series of reorganizations and brought new vitality to Weili.

First, the company streamlined its corporate structure and divested its air-conditioning business, which had little advantage. Then, the company concentrated its resources on small household products, developing and producing ice makers, ice cream machines, and yogurt machines. For this purpose, it also established the brand Kumio in 2021, focusing on the overseas online market.

At the same time, in order to balance the household appliance structure, the company added the kitchen appliance business. Since then, Weili has formed a situation where washing machines, microwave ovens, and kitchen refrigeration appliances are three major industries. Later, according to Weili's official website, it also expanded the smart toilet seat industry.

Facts have proved that Weili's path of transformation and overseas expansion is correct. In 2021 alone, Weili's annual export revenue reached 3.5 billion yuan, with the main contributions coming from the European and American markets.

The product was listed on Amazon for one year and it achieved sales of $4 million

In the overseas online market, Weili’s most popular products are not washing machines and microwave ovens, but kitchen refrigeration appliances, which are the main products produced by the Kumio brand we mentioned earlier.

The brand's products were officially launched on Amazon in March 2022, and the first batch of products were put on the shelves in July, just in time for the online shopping boom during the epidemic. The ice maker products became a hit 10 months after their launch. Later, Kumio launched new products such as yogurt machines, ice cream machines, beer machines, and car refrigerators based on user preferences, and successfully fought a beautiful transformation battle.

In this way, in less than a year, the company's sales reached 4 million US dollars.

On Amazon, Kumio's home ice makers and ice cream machines have sold more than 20,000 units in total. One of its ice cream machines, priced at $144, has even made it to Amazon's bestseller list and has been sought after by countless consumers.

Unlike Chinese consumers who prefer hot water, European and American consumers prefer iced drinks all year round, even in the cold winter. Local consumers have a huge demand for ice cubes, and the small fast ice machine market is not monopolized by leading brands, which also made Weili realize the opportunity for its overseas transformation.

In 2021, Weili will use ice making machines as an entry point to attack the European and American online markets. It is understood that this ice making machine is not only small and convenient, but also has a high-speed compression and rapid cooling system, which can quickly produce ice within 10 minutes.

In addition, Kumio is constantly upgrading its products and has developed a "bullet ice" product with higher density and harder texture, which is extremely cost-effective.

When it first went online overseas, Kumio did not open an official account on platforms such as TikTok. However, due to its popularity on Amazon, related videos were sought after by many consumers, and some bloggers even spontaneously shot videos to review products and recommend good things.

But after all, the B-end and the C-end are two different things. The president of Donlim Weili's export business once said: "When we first launched the ice cream machine, we still followed the B-end habits and did not equip it with accessories such as measuring cups and spoons." Later, based on repeated feedback from consumers, the company brought these products online.

Domestic leaders are engaged in cross-border branding and are popular overseas

In fact, it is not just Weili. More domestic big sellers are going overseas. They are turning to cross-border branding in order to seek breakthroughs and explore broader markets.

JisuLife, founded in Shenzhen in 2016, chose to expand overseas after winning the first place in the portable fan category in China. In 2019, it started its overseas business from Amazon North America. Its first product, the classic bear folding fan, ranked first in the category in just one year. Soon after, it entered platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, and won the first place in the USB fan category in Southeast Asia.

In the five years since its launch overseas , JisuLife has shipped more than 30 million units. Even in the mid-to-high range of US$20-90, JisuLife still occupies a considerable position in the hearts of European and American consumers.

Douhe Technology, a company that transformed itself into a brand, was founded in Foshan, Guangdong in 2014. It mainly produces small household appliances, and its products include air purifiers, dehumidifiers, heaters, ice makers, etc.

In the early days of the company, it focused on OEM business, and later added its own brand, with most of its revenue coming from Amazon.

In the first year of sales of its core product category, air purifiers achieved nearly 100 million yuan in revenue on the Amazon platform, and its ranking on Amazon jumped to second place; subsequently, its semiconductor dehumidifier became the number one on Amazon’s BS list.

It is not difficult to see from the above cases that in recent years, domestic small household appliances have ushered in a warming trend overseas. Many domestic small household appliances have begun to transform, from OEM to branding, from domestic to foreign, and have successfully occupied a considerable market size overseas.

These small home appliance companies have considerable strength and innovation capabilities. Most of them dig deep into the less-noticed segments of the traditional home appliance market, quickly upgrade their products according to local conditions, and thus gain a head start in overseas markets and usher in a conversion in sales volume.

In the future, as the small home appliance market continues to grow, I believe that more outstanding domestic companies will expand overseas through brand models.

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