Anker also hit a wall! High product return rate and many people leaving its sub-brand

Anke's ambition and anxiety ...

The best-selling Anker has always been regarded by its peers as an excellent example of a brand going overseas. In fact, even a model student of cross-border business can sometimes "stumble".

Anker recently sent a letter to all employees stating that the Mach team, which mainly produces household cleaning products, has been merged into other teams for integrated operation, and some members have left due to personal wishes. In addition, the Mach cordless steam floor scrubber has not met commercial expectations due to high repair rates and other reasons.

As we all know, Anker Innovations made its fortune by relying on power banks, data cables, etc. These products "live and die quickly", which poses a hidden danger to the company's sustainable development. Anker has obviously discovered this problem a long time ago and tried its best to find other growth points. In recent years, whether it is investing in home furnishings and selling Zhiou, or entering the home cleaning category with a longer investment cycle and higher market barriers, it has to some extent reflected that Anker has huge ambitions and uneasy anxiety.

High product return rate! Anker sub-brand Mach merged into other teams for integrated operation

If Mach is mentioned alone, many people who cross the border may not know it. But if the prefix Anker is added, I believe most people will suddenly realize: this is a brand under Anker.

Public information shows that Anker's Mach team was officially established in March 2021 and has invested nearly 300 million yuan in three years , focusing on the research and development of three household cleaning products, including cordless steam floor scrubber, mopping robot (Big Raccoon), and vacuum and sweeping robot (Little Raccoon) .

The Mach cordless steam floor scrubber was launched in 2022. In 2023, this floor scrubber won two international design awards in succession - the German iF Award and the German Red Dot Award for Product Design.

Now, Mach floor scrubber products are sold in 53 countries around the world and rank second in the sweeper category in the North American market.

In the cross-border circle where there are numerous products and fierce competition, product quality problems and unstable teams are the norm, so even Anker will face these troubles.

At the beginning of 2023, some core members of the Mach team expressed to Anker their desire to develop independently and take away some of the business. Anker said it was willing to support and agreed that the Mach team would complete the spin-off and operate independently from January 2024. Unfortunately, in the past few months of communication and negotiation, the two sides have never reached an agreement on the company's proposal that is in line with business practices and can guarantee the company's long-term interests.

After communication between the two parties , the original Mach team will integrate with other teams within the Anker Appliances BG organization to continue to make breakthroughs in the cleaning field . Some members of the original Mach team will leave the company and start independent entrepreneurial careers.

Yienjun learned that among the three products that the Mach team is mainly responsible for, two robot products are still in the research and development stage, and their commercial value remains to be verified . The cordless steam floor scrubber was launched in August 2022, but due to high repair rates and other reasons, it did not meet commercial expectations.

Anker’s new attempt in the field of household cleaning has hit a wall.

The editor searched for reviews of this product on Taobao in China and found many positive feedbacks as well as quite a few negative feedbacks. For example: the whole machine is relatively heavy for girls and requires skills to use; the cleanliness is not good enough and the corners are not cleaned well enough; the cost performance of the product did not meet expectations. If your budget is not enough, there is no need to choose this product.

Compared with these complaints, the high number of returns for repair is the most serious point among consumers. One consumer said: This is a very bad experience. After receiving it, I fiddled with it for several hours but couldn't use it. In the end, the customer service said that I had to take it back for repair because there was something wrong with the new product ...

If problems arise with a new product before it is even used, this will undoubtedly greatly reduce consumers' favorability towards this product.

In addition to the fact that its own technology still has room for improvement, Anker also faces fierce external competition in the field of household cleaning.

The prospect of household cleaning products is undoubtedly very promising. Household cleaning has always been a necessary part of housework. In recent years, the "lazy economy" has become popular, giving rise to the birth and hot sales of products such as sweepers and sweeping robots. Taking advantage of this trend, a number of brands such as Ecovacs, Roborock, and Dreame Technology have risen strongly and grown into leading companies.

At present, my country's sweeping robots have occupied most of the overseas market.

Public data shows that Stone Technology has ranked among the top three in market share in 14 countries including Germany, Australia, and Japan; Tineco floor washing machine under Ecovacs entered the best-selling list during Amazon's Autumn Prime Day promotion in 2023, and ranked first in market share in North America and Europe; from January to July 2023, Dreame Technology's overseas business revenue increased by 110% year-on-year.

In comparison, the market share of Anker's sweeping robots is still far lower than that of brands such as Ecovacs and Roborock.

Consumer electronics are born and die quickly , and Anker is also worried

Anker Innovations' enthusiasm for household cleaning products has not diminished. As we all know, the investment cycle of household cleaning products is relatively long. Anker said that it will combine the experience of its cordless steam floor cleaning products, be prepared for continuous investment, and look forward to the team's long-term achievements.

Yienjun learned that Anker established the brand eufy as early as 2016 to enter the household cleaning category, among which the sweeping robot is the star product of the eufy brand.

The eufy brand is mainly promoted in markets such as Europe, the United States, and Japan. Its sweeping robots have stood out among a number of competitors, and many of its products rank first in sales in the Amazon category in Japan, and second and third in sales in the Amazon category in the United States.

Anker, which became famous for consumer electronics, has been continuously exploring other fields in recent years.

From data cables to home photovoltaics and energy storage, Anker has continuously enriched its product matrix, forming a global brand matrix consisting of Anker, soundcore, eufy, Nebula, AnkerWork, AnkerMake, etc.

In addition to building its own brand, Anker is also constantly investing in potential brands, such as :

1. Keyi Technology. In 2022, Keyi Technology's keyirobot completed tens of millions of dollars in strategic financing, led by Anker Innovations. In September 2022, Keyi Technology went online on an overseas crowdfunding platform and raised 3 million U.S. dollars within a month, becoming the number one in Kickstarter's consumer robot crowdfunding history.

2. Zhiou Technology, a major home furnishing brand in Henan. During the period when Zhiou Technology launched its IPO, Anker participated in the investment several times and now holds 9.15% of the shares of Zhiou Technology . It is the only institutional shareholder holding more than 5% of the shares, second only to the founder Song Chuan.

3. Zhiyan Technology. In 2021, Anker Innovations invested RMB 40 million of its own funds to increase the investment in home furnishing seller Zhiyan Technology. Govee, a smart hardware brand under Zhiyan Technology, continued to maintain an extremely high market share on the Amazon platform, with a compound growth rate of more than 300% for three consecutive years.

Behind this series of actions, Anker's ambition and anxiety are reflected.

Industry insiders analyzed that the 3C electronic products that Anker initially entered the market can be classified as shallow-sea products. The advantages of this type of product are obvious: low entry barriers, short R&D cycles, large market development space, and fast profits. The disadvantages are also obvious: consumer electronics are born and die quickly , and the life cycle of related products is not long. If Anker wants to continue to maintain a certain competitive position, it needs to keep up with the market rhythm and continuously develop new products.

Ambition and anxiety coexist. It is an inevitable choice for Anker to move into the deep-sea category, which is the opposite of the shallow-sea category.