Anker's "Waterloo" track, a place where talents emerge in large numbers

" Everyone is discussing going overseas and discussing brands. From last year to this year, more and more people are trying to squeeze into the overseas brand circle ," a manager of an investment institution told Yien.com.

Recently, the National Business Daily and Shenzhen Yishi Technology jointly released the list of the top 100 Chinese cross-border e-commerce brands in the third quarter of this year. A number of old friends are still on the list, and some have already become famous in niche tracks.

Anker Innovations still dominates the list, taking three of the top five spots

In the third quarter of this year, Anker Innovations' quarterly revenue reached 6.8 billion yuan, and its net profit increased by 52.44 % year -on-year to nearly 600 million yuan. As of the end of September, Anker Innovations' revenue this year has reached nearly 16.5 billion yuan, and its net profit is nearly 1.5 billion yuan. Today, Anker Innovations' latest market value has reached 46.6 billion yuan.

And these are mainly based on its six main brands.

There is no doubt that Anker Innovations' ability to build a brand is at the top level in the overseas market. Many of its brands have always occupied the top of the corresponding category lists, such as Anker, eufy, and Soundcore.

Anker

As the main brand of Anker Innovations, Anker's brand search popularity reached 16599.77 in the third quarter, the monthly average of independent site natural traffic was 5542.05k, and the monthly average of Amazon search volume was 1056719.83, ranking second on the list.

Anker , a brand that focuses on charging and energy storage, has been overseas for many years and has long become a well-known brand in the global consumer electronics industry. In August this year, it became popular because of its appearance in Trump’s live interview, which in turn pushed the stock price of its parent company Anker Innovations to soar by nearly 3%.

As of this year, Anker has been included in the "China Global Brand List" released by Kantar BrandZ™ for eight consecutive years, and has ranked relatively high, even ranking first in the electronic accessories category.

Even before it was launched on the market, according to statistics from the "Charging Head Network", at the end of 2020, Anker's 20W charger ranked second in sales on Amazon in the United States, second only to Apple's official product; according to data on the Amazon page on December 31, 2020, Anker's data cable products ranked first in sales of single products in the consumer electronics category on Amazon Japan .

In 2021, authoritative organizations certified Anker as the world's number one digital charging brand. It has been a perennial winner in the consumer electronics category on the Amazon platform and has long become one of China's largest global consumer electronics brand companies in terms of revenue.

According to the financial data for the first half of this year, Anker Innovations achieved revenue of 4.975 billion yuan from charging and energy storage products, a year-on-year increase of 42.81%, accounting for 51.56% of total revenue. Although its charging and energy storage products are mainly Anker brand digital charging devices and related accessories, as well as Anker SOLIX series of home photovoltaic and energy storage products, Anker Innovations also pointed out that charging products are its earliest product category and have always been a revenue contributor, that is, the revenue brought by the Anker brand still accounts for the majority.

This year, Anker has continuously released new products:

In January, Anker launched the Qi2.0 certified MagGo ultra-fast magnetic wireless charging series, which includes 6 products, including the world's first Qi2.0 foldable three-in-one wireless charger.

In April, we co-designed 7 products with the classic IP "Tom and Jerry"; in May, Anker Zolo, a travel power bank with its own dual-wire cable, was launched; in August , we released new products in the Anker Prime series, focusing on ultra-100-watt fast charging performance ; in September , we released the new Anker MagGo series, integrating the latest Qi2 charging standard and magnetic suction technology.

As the earliest product category launched by Anker Innovations, Anker Innovations continues to break through and expand its brand influence.

eufy

As early as 2016, Anker Innovations realized that it could not just make charging products. After all, many companies such as PISEN also had strong capabilities in the charging category during the same period.

"We need to swim out of the 'shallow sea'", so in 2016, Anker Innovations set its sights on the home furnishing industry and incubated Nebula, eufy , etc. Over the years, eufy has become Anker Innovations' second revenue generator .

With eufy smart home and AnkerMake 3D printing as the main brands, Anker Innovations focuses on developing its smart innovation category. In the first half of this year, this category brought Anker Innovations 2.36 billion yuan in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 35.33%, accounting for 24.46% of total revenue.

Among them, the 3D printing track in which AnkerMake is located is relatively niche, its market share has not yet been fully opened up, it does not have many products, and no new products have been publicly released this year. The revenue it can bring may only account for a small part. Therefore, it is speculated that eufy accounts for the vast majority of the nearly 2.4 billion yuan in revenue.

eufy Security, which focuses on smart home security systems , and eufy Clean , which focuses on smart home deep cleaning solutions , are the two core product lines of eufy.

In the early days, eufy Clean was very popular overseas and once became the second only to iRobot, the global smart home leader on the Amazon platform. At its peak, the growth rate of its smart sweeping robot products reached 102.6% .

According to Amazon's real-time ranking data on December 31, 2020, many eufy brand sweeping robot products ranked first in sales in the Amazon Japan category, and ranked second and third in sales in the Amazon United States category respectively .

Also in 2020, eufy's search index on Google platform increased by 700% year-on-year compared to 2019.

Although home furnishing giants such as Stone Technology, Dreame, and Ecovacs launched a fierce attack afterwards, and the growth rate of eufy products plummeted, Anker Innovations was not discouraged. With large-scale R&D and marketing investments, the brand's revenue has continued to increase over the years. From 2022 to 2023 , Anker's smart innovative product revenue was 3.825 billion yuan and 4.541 billion yuan respectively , and eufy is undoubtedly still the main contributor .

This year , eufy Security and eufy Clean have launched new products and received good market response.

For example , eufy Clean launched the eufy 4G LTE Cam S330 in the first half of this year; in July, eufy launched its first fingerprint handle lock, eufy Smart Lever Lock C33 ; in September, eufy   Cam S3 Pro is launched.

eufy Security launched the eufy X10 Pro Omni in February this year and the eufy S1 Pro all-purpose floor cleaning robot in March. Anker Innovations said that the eufy X10 Pro Omni had an outstanding sales performance during the Amazon Prime Day promotion in July.

Soundcore

In 2017 , Anker Innovations launched the wireless headset brand Soundcore. As soon as the brand was launched , its wireless headsets sold nearly 220 million yuan and sales volume reached nearly 1.55 million units.

From 2018 to 2019, the sales of Soundcore's wireless headphones reached 530 million yuan and 753 million yuan respectively, and the sales volume also increased to 2.9 million and 3.55 million respectively.

In Anker Innovations' total sales, the proportion of wireless headset products increased from 5.64% in 2017 to 10.14% in 2018 and 11.33% in 2019.

According to data from research firm Futuresource, in the second quarter of 2020, the Soundcore brand ranked 7th in global headphone brand market share; according to Amazon's real-time ranking data on December 31, 2020, Soundcore brand wireless headphones ranked first in sales in the Amazon Japan category .

After going public in 2020, Anker Innovations integrated wireless audio products such as wireless headphones and wireless speakers under the brand Soundcore . In the same year , Soundcore's revenue reached 2.121 billion yuan, accounting for 22.68% of Anker Innovations' total revenue .

From 2021 to 2023, Soundcore's revenue reached 2.852 billion yuan, 2.822 billion yuan and 3.778 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 22.68%, 19.80% and 21.58% of Anker Innovations' total revenue .

With the continuous enrichment of product categories, revenue and proportion continue to rise, and wireless audio products have become one of Anker Innovations ' important sources of income.

In 2021, after Anker Innovations launched the upgraded flagship wireless Bluetooth headset Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro, the peak Google search index of the " Soundcore " brand increased by 200% compared to the average .

This year, Soundcore has also released a number of innovative products. In March, the Soundcore C30i ear clip headphones were launched; in April, the Soundcore Sleep A20 started crowdfunding on Kickstarter; in September, the new generation of open-ear headphones Soundcore AeroFit 2 was launched for the first time; in the same month, the headphone Soundcore Space One Pro was officially launched . In terms of Bluetooth speakers, Soundcore launched the Soundcore Boom 2 and its plus version of outdoor portable Bluetooth speakers in March and May this year respectively .

Whether it is making charging products or entering the field of headphones and home furnishings , Anker Innovations can occupy a place in the market , but it seems that there are also products that it cannot handle .

Anker Innovations is struggling with 3D printing, but many talented people are emerging

Today, Anker Innovations has firmly established itself as a major overseas player with a number of consumer electronics products , but over the years it has still not achieved good results in the 3D printing field. Its smart 3D printing brand AnkerMake not only has relatively few products, but also has a low efficiency in new product iterations, and has not launched any new products in this field this year.

In April 2022, AnkerMake launched its first-generation 3D printing product, AnkerMake M5. It was not until August 2023 that it launched its second-generation product, AnkerMake M5C.

Whether looking at data from Amazon or its independent website, two and a half years have passed and AnkerMake's two products are still receiving mediocre responses in the market.

Compared with the flourishing categories such as clothing and home decoration, 3D printing is very niche . Although it has a 40-year history and a global market size of 100 billion, data shows that its current manufacturing penetration rate is less than 1% . Even big companies like Anker Innovations that have gone global seem to have suffered a "Waterloo" in this field .

Does this mean that it is difficult to develop overseas brands due to its niche and high barriers to entry ?

CREALITY, Bambu Lab, Anycubic, Xtool, Elegoo, which were born and grew up in Shenzhen, and Flashforge and Qidi Tech from Zhejiang have all achieved outstanding results in this field. (Xtool mainly makes laser cutting machines, so this article will not go into details.)

CREALITY

The most famous in this field is CREALITY , an overseas brand under Shenzhen CREALITY 3D Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CREALITY") .

In a report by Ennet earlier this year, CREALITY had 21 products on Amazon’s BS TOP50 list of “3D Printers” category , accounting for nearly half.

Among them, the product of CREALITY ranked first in the list of this category , and the monthly sales of this listing could exceed 10,000 pieces at that time.

As of press time today, CREALITY still has 11 listings on sale in the latest BS TOP50 list of "3D Printers" category on Amazon.

Amazon's official data once showed that during Prime Day 2023, CREALITY 's sales on Amazon's US site increased by more than 1,000% compared to usual days.

In 2016, Creative 3D started to expand overseas with its product CR-10 ; in 2017, Creative 3D launched Ender-3, which sold 100,000 units in just a few months.

Seven years later, CREALITY Ender-3 has become a classic product in the 3D printer industry, with cumulative sales of over 3 million units, more than 3.5 million customers worldwide, and annual shipments of over 1 million units. It has also successfully pushed CREALITY to the top brand position in the 3D printer field , with 3D printer shipments under the brand exceeding 5.5 million units.

Antarctic Bear Data points out that in 2020, Chuangxiang 3D has firmly established itself as the number one consumer-grade 3D printing company in China with an annual revenue of more than 1 billion yuan .

In various lists of Chinese brands going overseas, CREALITY is almost always absent, and in the field of 3D printing, it is firmly ranked first.

Bambu Lab

Bambu Lab was born much later than CREALITY .

In 2020, a group of former employees from major companies such as DJI, Alibaba, and ByteDance formed a group to establish Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co., Ltd. ( hereinafter referred to as "Tuozhu Technology" ) and launched the brand Bambu Lab, determined to make a name for themselves in the desktop 3D printing track.

After its establishment, Bambu Lab did not release its products immediately, but instead focused on research and development. It spent nearly two years (22 months), continuously iterating the product design many times, and conducting uninterrupted performance tests (reportedly more than 700 tests). Finally, in April 2022, Bambu Lab officially released its first printer, the Bambu Lab X1 series.

After the release of its first product, Bambu Lab immediately launched a crowdfunding campaign on the well-known crowdfunding website Kickstarter. In just one month, the crowdfunding amount reached more than 47 million yuan, setting a new crowdfunding record for 3D printers on Kickstarter.

Seven months later (November 2022), Bambu Lab won the TIME Magazine's Best Invention of 2022 for this product.

Different from other overseas brands, Bambu Lab pays more attention to the construction of its own brand website, and Amazon and other online channels only account for a small part of its sales investment.

From the independent website, we can see that Bambu Lab's market covers global markets such as North America (the United States, Canada), Europe (EU countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy), Asia (Japan, South Korea, Mainland China), South America (Brazil, Mexico) and Australia. However, it is understood that sales in mainstream European and American countries account for a relatively high proportion.

In addition, similarweb data shows that Bambu Lab's independent site ranking has been rising in the past three months, whether it is the United States, global or category websites, and its monthly visits reached 8.2 million in October . The average monthly visits in the past three months have also exceeded 6.73 million times, making it the brand with the highest number of independent site visits in the 3D printer track.

Today, Bambu Lab has become a dark horse in the industry, and capital has repeatedly been optimistic about it and continuously supported it. From 2021 to 2023, its parent company Tuozhu Technology has completed three rounds of financing. Investors include Mingshi Investment, IDG Capital, Temasek, etc. In addition, there are reports that its valuation has become the highest among China's unlisted 3D printing companies.

Anycubic

In 2015, Shenzhen Zongwei Cube Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zongwei Cube") was established. It entered the 3D printing track at the same time as Chuangxiang 3D and became a leading competitor. Over the years, Zongwei Cube has been active overseas with its brand Anycubic and has become one of the leaders in the field of consumer-grade 3D printers.

Only seven years after its establishment, Zongwei Cube's annual revenue has exceeded 1 billion yuan, and both revenue and profit have continued to grow, making it one of the few billion-level manufacturers . Its market currently covers more than 100 countries and regions around the world.

On Amazon, Anycubic's products perform well. Its main 3D printing devices, which cost hundreds of dollars, can sell hundreds of units per month, and its accessories can sell more than 3,000 units per month .

According to Amazon’s BS TOP50 list of “ 3D Printers ” category , Anycubic has 10 listings on the list, with the highest ranking being sixth.

As early as 2020, Anycubic's annual shipments of 3D printers exceeded 500,000 units, with annual revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan.

In 2022, Anycubic's annual revenue will exceed 1.3 billion yuan. In the first half of 2023, Anycubic will occupy more than 34% of the market share of Amazon's overseas full-site 3D printer category .

Although Anycubic 's product sales network covers Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, Lazada , and self-operated independent stations, Amazon and independent stations are the main revenue platforms, accounting for 55% of the total revenue . For example, in 2022 alone , Anycubic achieved a revenue of 500 million yuan on Amazon and sold more than 100,000 3D printers annually.

Currently, more than 90% of Anycubic 's products are sold to overseas markets such as North America, five European countries, Russia and Australia .

Elegoo

Although Elegoo's parent company, Shenzhen Smart Pai Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Smart Pai Technology"), was established as early as 2015, it initially made programming circuit kits such as circuit boards and sensors .

It was not until 2018 that Elegoo, which has many years of advantages in the components industry, entered the 3D printer track due to the slowdown in the performance growth of its original products on Amazon and the fact that the potential of the 3D printing industry was being discovered by more and more people .

Who can help but marvel at the success of Elegoo's transformation?

Just five years after its transformation in a niche track , Elegoo has become the world's number one brand in terms of LCD consumer 3D printer shipments, with revenue increasing sixfold and annual sales now reaching 1.2 billion yuan.

Relying on online platforms such as Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and independent websites, Elegoo's market currently covers more than 70 countries and regions around the world, with North America and Europe accounting for nearly 70%-80% of the revenue share.

On Amazon, Elegoo's products are selling well, with accessories priced at $44.99 selling over 2,000 units per month. In terms of complete equipment , Elegoo has 6 listings on Amazon's BS TOP50 list of " 3D Printers " category, with the highest ranking being fifth .

Since its transformation, Elegoo has had multiple projects that have exceeded one million yuan on the overseas crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, and has sold over one million products worldwide to date.

Flashforge

As one of the first professional 3D printing equipment and consumables R&D and production companies in China, Flashforge's parent company Zhejiang FlashForge Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "FlashForge 3D") was established as early as 2012.

In the same year, Flashforge, a brand under Flashforge, launched a desktop 3D printer, which received a warm response from domestic and foreign markets. It is reported that in 2012, Flashforge's overseas sales accounted for as much as two-thirds of its total sales.

In September 2015, Flashforge's home 3D printing device Finder received more than 1,000 orders within just two weeks of its launch.

Overseas, Flashforge also relies on Amazon and its own independent brand website. It is worth noting that Flashforge is facing fierce competition from Amazon, CREALITY and other 3D printers.

Although Flashforge has “only” 5 listings on sale in Amazon’s “ 3D Printers ” category BS TOP50 list, the first on the list is Flashforge’s new product. The new product, Adventurer 5M, quickly topped the Amazon BS list after it was launched in August.

Today, Flashforge has established a complete industrial chain covering 3D design software, 3D printers, 3D printing consumables and 3D printing services. Its products include three levels: industrial, commercial and civilian grades. It has 1,000 global brand distributors and serves more than 200 markets .

Qidi Tech

In 2014, Zhejiang Qidi Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qidi Technology") was established. It used 3D printing products as its spearhead and penetrated into the heart of the track with the brand Qidi Tech.

As the first Chinese 3D printer supplier to cooperate directly with Amazon , although Qidi Tech is not as well developed as the above-mentioned brands, it also has 3 listings on the BS TOP50 list of the platform 's " 3D Printers " category.

Its brand website shows that QIDI Technology can produce 50,000 3D printers a year and sells them in markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Canada .

Whether it is printers, home furnishings, clothing, or beauty products, more and more Chinese brands are going abroad and winning an increasing share in the international market. In the future, overseas markets may become a battleground for Chinese brands.

Anker

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