From near bankruptcy to annual sales of tens of millions of dollars, a niche brand successfully turned around

As we all know, professional equipment such as fill lights, mobile phone holders and microphones are used in live broadcasting. As more and more people enter the live broadcasting industry, the demand for related equipment has also risen, and there are even some big sellers with annual sales of tens of millions in the sub-sector.

Starting from crowdfunding, it now sells tens of millions of dollars a year

Among the live broadcast equipment segments, fill light products are the most eye-catching. Data shows that the global ring fill light market is valued at US$900 million in 2023 and is expected to reach US$3.6013 billion by 2030.

The booming industry has spawned a large number of sellers. Among them, Lume Cube, a brand specializing in selling fill lights, is one of the leading sellers in this field.

According to information, Lume Cube was founded in 2014. At that time, its founder keenly realized the potential of the smartphone and camera accessories market and decisively chose to layout in related tracks.

In the early days, Lume Cube launched lighting for iPhone and GoPro users, and made its first fortune through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. In just one month, it received thousands of orders with an order value of over 200,000 US dollars.

Although Lume Cube had a smooth start, it soon encountered the first hurdle. At that time, Lume Cube still adopted the traditional multi-channel distribution model. One of the main characteristics of this model is that the collection period is relatively long, which leads to great cash flow pressure on the company, especially for startups.

During the most difficult times, Lume Cube even had to sell its own booth at a low price in order to pay its employees, and at one point it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In order to solve the problem of heavy cash flow pressure, the company’s management discussed and decisively decided to transform and start adopting the DTC (direct to consumer) model.

In the early stages of the transformation, Lume Cube’s new product, the “video conferencing fill light,” still failed to make much of a splash until the outbreak of the epidemic brought a turning point.

At that time, due to the surge in the number of people working from home, the demand for online meetings, online teaching, and online live broadcasts also increased. It was at this time that people realized how important a fill light that could be attached to the back of a computer was.

After analyzing the current market conditions, Lume Cube decided to reintroduce the previously unsaleable fill lights to the market. Sure enough, the market feedback was completely different from the first time, and sales also skyrocketed.

Data shows that Lume Cube's sales increased by more than 400% in 2020. In 2021, the brand's annual revenue reached 16 million US dollars, of which 90% of the orders came from independent sites, and the distributor channel business accounted for only 10%. In 2023, Lume Cube's annual revenue exceeded 12 million US dollars, and many products were listed in the top 10 of Amazon's BS list.

Taking advantage of the traffic brought by the epidemic, Lume Cube has expanded its product line and continued to deepen its presence in channels such as Amazon and brand independent sites, further consolidating its market position.

Many products are listed on Amazon BS list, and the monthly traffic of the independent station exceeds 60,000

After years of development, Lume Cube has accumulated a large number of loyal users and achieved certain results in channels such as Amazon and independent websites.

After searching on Amazon, I found that Lume Cube has currently launched a number of derivative products including selfie lights, tattoo lights and live broadcast lights, many of which have ranked at the top of the BS list in related categories.

Among them, a video conference fill light kit stood out from the crowd. Information shows that this fill light is priced at $69 after discount, with sales of more than 100 units in the past month and nearly 8,000 reviews, making it a leader among similar products.

Of course, as a DTC brand, Lume Cube seems to have put more effort into its independent website.

Similarweb data shows that from April to June 2024, the total number of visits to Lume Cube's official independent website lumecube.com reached 201,000, with an average monthly visit of approximately 67,000 .

After entering the website, you can see some clever ideas in its layout. In the homepage navigation bar, the first category Lume Cube places is the Creator category, which is further divided into products such as ring lights, smartphone lights, camera lights and background lights.

Later, Lume Cube divided the app into multiple sections based on functions and usage scenarios. It is worth noting that Lume Cube also put the two sections of Deals and About in the navigation bar.

In the Deals section, it is further divided into combination discounts, clearance discounts and unboxing. This section specializes in selling discounted products, which can effectively clear inventory products and alleviate inventory pressure. At the same time, it can provide certain support for the company's cash flow and ensure the long-term healthy development of the brand.

In the About section, Lume Cube is also divided into five secondary categories, namely "Our Story", "Behind the Lighting", "Artists", "Tips for Use" and "Lume Warranty".

Among them, the "Behind the Lights" section shares many short stories between users and products. These heartwarming stories can invisibly narrow the distance between the brand and consumers, and indirectly achieve the purpose of planting grass.

In addition to its own independent website, Lume Cube has also put a lot of effort into off-site marketing. Lume Cube has registered official brand accounts on platforms such as TikTok, Youtube and Facebook.

Taking TikTok as an example, Lume Cube's official account has accumulated 18,000 followers so far, and its videos have received over 100,000 likes. In terms of video content, Lume Cube will quickly show the features of a product through sophisticated storyboards, and let the audience experience the role of the product in actual use.

In addition to operating the main account, Lume Cube has also reached out to a large number of experts in various fields and created a lot of light-hearted and interesting video content for itself.

After searching on TikTok, we can find that Lume Cube has also actively participated in activities on TikTok related to topics such as photography and shooting techniques, which can be said to have increased brand exposure from all aspects.

Through multi-channel marketing outside the site, Lume Cube has gained a lot of exposure and helped the brand directly reach precise target users, which is the key to Lume Cube's brand presence.

From a bird's eye view, there is indeed a certain element of luck in the success of Lume Cube, but the various decisions it made at multiple critical moments were, in retrospect, the key to its ability to stand out from its competitors, which is precisely the ability that many small and medium-sized sellers lack.

Amazon

Live broadcast equipment

Annual sales of 10 million