Niche products have achieved an annual revenue of 1 billion yuan. They make a lot of money in this field

If you ask which industry has been the most popular in the past few years, many people will probably mention new energy or outdoor activities.

Linked to these two is E-Bike, one of the most popular overseas brands today. Its popularity can be seen from the financing market. Nearly 30 E-Bike overseas brands have successfully raised funds, often hundreds of millions of yuan. Major companies such as Tencent have placed bets, and venture capital firms such as Sequoia and Gaoling are chasing after it .

This has also nurtured a number of wealth-making myths in the small accessories market.

Started in Yiwu, they sell 1 billion yuan a year with niche products

Because of his passion for cycling, after graduating from Zhejiang University in 2005, Zhang Xingang did not work in his major. Instead, he opened a physical bicycle store selling bicycles and outdoor equipment , and also formed a cycling club .

Two years later ( 2007 ), Zhang Xingang's cycling club began to make a profit, and it was at this time that he smelled the trend of cross-border e-commerce. However, due to funding and other problems, it was not until 2010 that he officially started his cross-border journey on eBay . Since then , the world-famous brand ROCKBROS was born at this time .

Since 2012, cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress have become increasingly popular. ROCKBROS began to focus on all platforms, and AliExpress, Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, Coupang, Rakuten and other mainstream e-commerce companies in various countries have become its sales channels .

What exactly does ROCKBROS sell?

Through its flagship store on Amazon, we can see that ROCKBROS has bicycle bags, glasses, pedals, and a series of bicycle parts such as handlebars, seats, lights, bells, fenders, etc., as well as bicycle accessories such as brackets, locks, and pumps .

In addition, ROCKBROS has divided the categories into two categories: winter cycling equipment and summer cycling equipment according to the season, including gloves, arm sleeves, windproof masks, cycling caps and other products.

With the dividends of outdoor cycling in Europe and the United States for many years, ROCKBROS has created many popular products overseas in the past decade. As for Amazon, many of its products have been ranked in the top 5 of the Amazon BS list in their respective subcategories for many years .

Take the following cycling phone bag as an example. It is priced at only US$23.99. Since it was put on the shelves as of the date of publication, it has accumulated 17,558 reviews and a rating of 4.5 stars. In January of this year, it sold more than 2,000 pieces in a single month. This product listing has also been firmly ranked No. 1 in the Amazon bicycle phone bag category for many years .

Not only this product, in the Best Sellers list of Amazon's " Bike Handlebar Bags " category , ROCKBROS has 13 products on the TOP50 list, of which 5 products are ranked in the top ten. In the TOP10 list, ROCKBROS accounts for half .

Another product of ROCKBROS , cycling glasses, also performed very well on Amazon. Since its launch, a cycling glasses under ROCKBROS has accumulated 5,576 reviews and ranked ninth in the BS list of Amazon's "Cycling Glasses & Goggles" category . ROCKBROS also has other listings on this list.

Nylon pedals are also a relatively good-selling product of ROCKBROS . After a certain pedal was put on the shelves, 6,477 reviews have been left. In the TOP20 BS list of the " Bike Pedals " category on Amazon, ROCKBROS has two products on the list, with the highest ranking being eighth .

In addition, ROCKBROS has many products marked as "Amazon Choice" by Amazon, and different products are listed in the BS list of Amazon's subcategories. For example, its bicycle water bottle rack ranks TOP1 in the BS list of Amazon's " Bike Water Bottle Cages " category ; windproof masks rank fourth in the BS list of the " Men's Balaclavas " category , with monthly sales exceeding 4,000 pieces .

Founded 13 years ago, ROCKBROS established an overseas operation team as early as 2015 to carry out promotion and distribution work, and also established overseas warehouses in Japan, Germany, the United States, Australia and other places. According to data , ROCKBROS's annual sales have exceeded 1 billion yuan , making it a well-deserved leader among overseas brands of cycling accessories .

A cycling phone holder sold for $80 million in one year

It’s not just ROCKBROS , there are a number of domestic and overseas brands targeting the outdoor cycling accessories market.

Take Shenzhen Lamicall Technology Co., Ltd. for example. Its brand Lamicall is very popular on Amazon.

A search on Amazon for "bike phone holder" shows 1,000 listings for sale, and sales of these products have been in the thousands over the past month.

Among them, Lamicall performed the best, and the first product displayed on the search results page was also Lamicall's product. The listing shows that since its launch, Lamicall's single mobile phone holder has accumulated 48,517 reviews and a rating of 4.6 stars. In January this year, the monthly sales of this product exceeded 10,000 units. In its category, Lamicall's cycling mobile phone holder firmly occupies the top 1 of Amazon's sub-category BS list .

In October last year , Yien.com conducted an in-depth report on this niche product. At that time, it was the traditional peak season overseas and also the peak period for outdoor cycling. The above-mentioned product by Lamicall achieved monthly sales of more than 20,000 with just a single listing.

Amazon's front desk shows that Lamicall's cycling phone holders have firmly occupied the TOP1 of the BS list in multiple categories, and some of them are also marked with Amazon Choice and Overall Pick.

Through its Amazon flagship store, we can see that Lamicall's products include mobile phone cases, mobile phone holders, mobile phone Bluetooth remote controls and other products suitable for cycling, and many of its products are listed on the Amazon BS list.

Domestic sellers are well aware of the great potential of the overseas cycling market, and naturally a number of cycling accessories brands have emerged in Europe and the United States, such as the DTC brand Quad Lock, which was established in 2011.

With the help of the favorable conditions, Quad Lock turned losses into profits within just one year of its establishment. During the period of 2013-2016, Quad Lock's growth rate reached 211%.

In 2020, Quad Lock's revenue reached $47.5 million, and a year later (2021), it doubled again to $88.6 million. In 2022, Quad Lock's revenue exceeded $100 million.

Compared with ROCKBROS and Lamicall, Quad Lock focuses on cycling mobile phone holders, and has repeatedly broken revenue records with this product alone, becoming a leader in the unpopular track.

It is understood that the 360° cycling stand is Quad Lock's best-selling product. In 2022, the revenue of the 360° cycling stand alone accounted for 80% of Quad Lock's total revenue, which means that the 360° cycling stand alone sold 80 million US dollars.

The demand for related accessories brought about by the cycling craze continues to grow and even reaches peaks repeatedly.

Google search trends show that since March 2020, the popularity of the keyword "bike phone holder" has continued to rise, even soaring to its peak at one point. Although it has declined since then, it still remains at a high level.

As the demand for accessories grows, the vehicle industry has also rapidly entered a development period. E-Bike has undoubtedly become a rising star. In overseas markets, the E-Bike brand from China is very popular and has a high market share, which has also attracted the favor of a number of capitals.

Not long ago, E-Bike leader Dayu Zhixing completed a RMB 100 million Series A financing . Founded in 2014, it shipped 18,000 units overseas in 2017 and became the first Chinese E - Bike company to enter the Costco channel .

In 2020, Dayu Intelligent Driving's sales volume exceeded 150,000 units, making it the first E-Bike company in China to export more than 100,000 units; data shows that Dayu Intelligent Driving's annual shipments have now exceeded 500,000 units.

At the beginning of last year, TENWAYS received another 300 million yuan in financing. In less than two years since its establishment , it has obtained three rounds of financing with only 7 products . The investors are all big names such as Huaying Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Tencent .

In 2020, Aventon's sales in many parts of the United States increased by more than 10 times . Since 2022 , it has raised tens of millions of dollars in total, and its brand valuation has climbed to US$590 million.

ANCHEER, a sports equipment brand under Savi Times, also sells E-Bike and other products . Earlier in its prospectus , it disclosed that the brand's revenue reached over 100 million yuan .

Whether it is a complete vehicle or cycling accessories, we can see that the outdoor cycling track is now releasing dividends, and seizing the opportunity may allow for great success.

Niche

Revenue