It became No.1 in its vertical category in 3 years, with annual sales of 50 million US dollars!

It took Zeelool three years to jump from the bottom of the list of social media influence of overseas brands to the top 10 .

Backed by Little World Digital Technology (Zhengzhou) Co., Ltd. and starting in the North American market, Zeelool has been growing at an annual rate of more than 100%, defeating a number of overseas brands and occupying its own place in the foreign eyewear market.

And behind all this, how did Zeelool successfully counterattack?

Becoming the first in the vertical category in 3 years, Zeelool started in North America

As one of the fashion accessories, glasses have always been a popular small category overseas with strong growth potential. Relevant data show that the revenue of the global glasses market will reach 141.5 billion US dollars in 2023, with an expected annual growth of 4.37%.

However, as the world's largest exporter of eyewear-related products, China exports a huge amount of products, but most of them are OEMs, and there are very few brands that can be presented.

In 2017, Zhengzhou Xiao Moshou E-Commerce Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiao Moshou"), which originally intended to seek opportunities in the less competitive customized products, also saw the prospects of this category, so it created its own brand Zeelool and launched it in the North American market with a dual-line operation model of independent station and Amazon.

With over 2,000 styles of glasses, various color designs, shapes and materials, Zeelool has captured the hearts of men and women of different ages as soon as it went online. Products such as myopia glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses, and glasses frames were once snapped up by overseas consumers.

Under such circumstances, Zeelool has achieved results that are not disappointing. Three years after its debut, its business scope covers 150 countries and regions. With more than 5 million fans and an annual growth rate of 100%, Zeelool has successfully entered the overseas market, becoming one of the largest online eyewear brands in China and the world, and also taking the No. 1 throne in the vertical category of cross-border e-commerce.

Among all the brands going overseas, Zeelool is far ahead.

In the "BrandOS 2023Q3 Overseas Brand Social Media Influence List" released by Onesight this year , Zeelool ranked 9th, far higher than a number of clothing unicorns such as Cider and Cupshe. In the Q4 list of 2022, Zeelool once surpassed Temu, which was in its heyday at the time.

From obscurity to becoming the top 9, what was Zeelool's road to fame like?

With annual sales exceeding US$50 million, it has created a niche in the low-price

Zeelool’s success overseas is not due to its high prices like other overseas eyewear brands, but rather its cost-effectiveness and product differentiation.

Since its establishment, Zeelool has operated through two channels: Amazon and its own website. On Amazon, Zeelool products are very popular. For example, a pair of oversized sunshade glasses won the title of "Overall Pick" on Amazon, with a rating of 1000+, and the comments section is full of praise from consumers.

On the independent website, most of Zeelool's glasses are priced between $15 and $30, which is not as high as the DTC brand Warby Parker. Sometimes there are even super promotions, and the price of some glasses can be as low as $7, and the product quality is very high.

Selling high-quality products at prices that most people can afford has made Zeelool stand out among many eyewear brands and become the choice of most families in North America.

Currently, users in the US market account for 78% of Zeelool's independent website, contributing most of the company's revenue. In order to attract more American consumers, Zeelool provides AI try-on functions, photo trial functions, environmentally friendly materials, classification of glasses styles, glasses fitting and fast delivery, and other services on its independent website.

At the same time, Zeelool is also promoting its overseas marketing strategy in a timely manner, reaching cooperation with a number of influencers, launching coupons and other activities on Facebook, establishing topic tags such as #zeelooleyewear on TikTok, and creating an exclusive influencer matrix to expand brand influence and visibility while increasing product sales.

Among all the brands going global, Zeelool's brand building can be said to be relatively successful, because 43.96% of the traffic on its independent website comes from direct URL input. And this traffic has been growing. The number of hits on its independent website in February was 1.8 million, a month-on-month increase of 9.89%. In April, the monthly visits to the independent website were 1.7 million.

Under the dual-channel operation, in 2022, Zeelool Optical's online orders were approximately between 10,000 and 50,000, with 47,000 monthly regular visitors and website sales of approximately US$25 million to US$50 million.

However, Zeelool, which has been in a rapid development stage, is not a pioneer in the DTC field of eyewear. Before it, Warby Parker had already seized most of the overseas DTC eyewear market, leaving more room for imagination and development in this field.

With a market size of over 6 billion US dollars, glasses export is a good business

When asked "What are the popular overseas categories in the current market?", many people may first think of hot categories such as clothing, 3C electronics, and outdoor furniture. Few people would take an inconspicuous product like glasses seriously, but this is not the case.

The category of glasses that are just in demand and small in size is actually a lucrative industry. As for Bosi, the first listed eyewear company in China, it sold more than 460,000 pairs of frames and more than one million lenses in 2022. The extremely high efficiency and gross profit margin of more than 60% brought it more than 600 million in revenue.

In 2022, the global eyewear industry will reach a market size of $6.07 billion, with Europe accounting for the largest market share at 35.5%, followed by Asia Pacific at 32.5% and North America at 22.5%. Industry insiders predict that by 2025, the global eyewear industry will reach a market size of $7.85 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2%.

Especially with the popularity of fast fashion styles, many people wear glasses not only to correct their strength, but more to match them with clothes and show their personality and fashion sense.

However, the huge market demand does not match the current production situation abroad. There is a disadvantage in getting glasses abroad, which is that the price of glasses is expensive and the procedures are complicated. It takes about 2 months from getting the glasses to receiving them.

This is basically the same as the time required to produce and ship after ordering from China.

Some Chinese glasses sellers took advantage of this phenomenon and exported Chinese glasses overseas.

In Shenzhen, there are a group of companies that are good at processing high-end eyeglass frames. Nearly 90% of the high-end eyeglass frames they produce, such as plastic frames, gold frames, and titanium frames, are exported overseas. Among them, there are many world brands such as LV, Armani, and Gucci. It can be said that 50% of the world's top eyeglass brands were born in Shenzhen.

It is understood that there are 16,762 related enterprises in the eyewear industry in Longgang District, Shenzhen , including 578 eyewear manufacturing enterprises. The industry is not only concentrated, but also highly specialized.

However, even in a city with a strong manufacturing industry chain, most of its eyewear products are exported in the form of OEM and OEM, which is a major weakness of Chinese companies going overseas. In the future, I hope that more independent brands like Zeelool can go abroad and gain a foothold overseas.

Little Monster

Glasses Brand

Zeelool