There are many links for brands to go to sea, and the product force is the core and key link among them.
At the 2024 Hugo Conference, Deng Zhiqiang, General Manager of Lamicou Technology, Niu Yafeng, Founder of Dale Technology, Xie Senchu, Founder of ADO, Zheng Lu, Brand Director of HOTO Monkey Tools, and Li Zhixian, Vice President of Hugo Cross border, Chairman of the Round Table Forum, launched in-depth discussions on the brand going to sea story, insight into overseas consumer demand, and product strength building.
The following is a transcript of the dialogue, which has been sorted out:
Li Zhixian: First, let's share our respective brand stories.
Deng Zhiqiang: The company was founded in 2014 ， And established Lamicou （ Lamicall ） brand 。 at first ， What we do is Single port Bluetooth headset , mainly used to answer the phone while driving, and free hands ， So Lamicall means "Let me call you" 。 We have turned the action of freeing our hands into the source of products, and we also operate mobile holders, ergonomic laptop holders on the office table, etc ， Products range from 0 to 1. At present, production, research and marketing are integrated.
Initial stage of entrepreneurship ， The product is the simplest metal bracket. Once we find that the angle of the product is wrong, we will break it to the angle we want one by one. Making products is actually a tough path.
Niu Yafeng: The brand of Dyle Technology is called Aeroband. What Dyle does is to redefine traditional musical instruments with technological innovation, so that the public can enjoy the happiness brought by music.
Why do you want to do this? From my university, I started my business in my junior year in 2016. I was very interested in music and bought guitars and other instruments, but my fingers were worn out after two or three months of use, which made it difficult to play my favorite songs easily 。 At that time, I thought about whether it was possible to invent a product so that the public could play their favorite musical instruments or songs in three minutes, and then start to form a team to do the product. About It took three years to bring the product to the market ， More than 50 million sets were sold on overseas platforms in one month. Last year, the traffic coverage has achieved a single month traffic of more than one million independent stations, and the sales volume has rapidly tripled 。
From product definition to cross technology innovation, to achieve such a product, and then to low-cost marketing, after all the three links are completed, we find that we are basically equal to the category of intelligent musical instruments on this track.
Xie Senchu: ADO is named Oasis in the Desert, inspired by Crescent Spring on the ancient Silk Road. as everyone knows ， Crescent Spring is a bridge connecting eastern and western civilizations. It is a difficult challenge for ancient business travelers to cross the desert. Crescent Spring gives them hope and motivation. 2021 ， Apply the trademark LOGO to electric bicycle ； It will be put into research and development in 2022. At the same time, it has established a relatively luxurious R&D team in the industry ； two thousand and twenty-three Focus on overseas localization in 。 It launched the first generation of smart products developed by itself, which are positioned as ADece Oasis series. Like air, it not only looks light, but also rides light. R&D and overseas localization are our core competitiveness in the future.
Zheng Lu: Monkey Tools is a tool making company, which is different from the traditional tool industry. We hope to integrate the two points of extreme industrial design and intelligent technology into the tool industry, so as to create a truly high-tech consumer level tool in the new era. In 2019, we established our own brand HOTO Monkey Tools, which will go to sea in the second half of 2020. So far ， We have served nearly 10 million users in nearly 60 countries and regions ， Existing company one hundred A number of patents, including 56 international design awards.
Tool industry, whether from design and quality ， In terms of function ， Slow innovation and breakthrough ， As a result, many tool brands do not update and iterate as quickly as our other FMCG categories, and new elements often pour in. Because of this, we have found such opportunities through our own advantages ， Make good tool products that really meet the requirements of consumers.
The boss of Monkey Tools is an industrial designer. The composition of the company's research and development includes not only engineers from the traditional tool industry, but also many research and development personnel from other fields of consumer electronics 。 meanwhile ， It also accumulates a lot of consumer electronics supply chains. When we integrate these, we can really turn the clumsy tools hidden in the storage room or among tools into a high-tech accessory to show people.
Li Zhixian: How to integrate consumption demand with product definition ？
Deng Zhiqiang: When we enter a category, we will gradually adjust according to the feedback given to me in the category 。 Amazon, for example, may analyze its positive and negative comments ， I think the products made under such conditions are called reverse development 。
If this category is newly operated, I will use reverse development ideas 。 Once you have a foothold in this category, the next step of research and development will find that you have no reference objects ， This is the time when we just started to build product strength ； In the case of positive research and development, the product needs to solve a user's to-do task, and the user has an upcoming task. What is worth thinking about ， What the user will do before the task occurs, or how it results in the task, what is the most likely next step after the task is completed, or other tasks will be sent. This is the value point of returning to users.
I will see a lot of bad comments, divided into three categories:
The first is functionality For example, if you buy a pair of scissors, it must be used to cut things ；
The second type is adaptation point For example, the mobile phone bracket has a thickness of 11mm in the design specification to hold the mobile phone ， The reason for setting this standard is that we found that the mobile phone case of European and American people is much thicker than that of Asian people. The mobile phone case is really protective, so it will become very thick ；
The third type is experiential 。 These three types of problems need to be solved hierarchically. Functionality needs to be satisfied, adaptability needs to be more extensive, and there is also a sense of experience about it.
Niu Yafeng: We are a new product or a disruptive innovation, which means that there is no such product on the market that can be referred to in advance. What about this product? Without reference to new categories, especially hardware products, users have no perception, so there are two key aspects. The first is what users listen to and what they don't listen to ； The second is to see some places that users do not see.
First, let's talk about the first one. Everyone will do questionnaires and even interviews to analyze the needs of users. For example, the appearance, taking smart guitar products as an example, 80% of the overseas questionnaire survey results are male, and rock and roll are the main features ， It is relatively simple to design products according to user feedback ， But the most difficult thing is to dig out the places not seen behind 。
In the product force, it takes a certain time to get an insight into what is at the bottom The rest is to combine the most appropriate technical solutions to achieve a relatively low cost and a good experience. In addition, the appropriate communication path and the lowest traffic cost will be exposed before being communicated to users.
Xie Senchu: When I combine consumer insight and market insight in product planning, I like to go to three places most.
The first place, the technical side 。 I will look at some industries related to us, such as what new energy vehicles are doing and what upstream chip companies are planning. From the perspective of technology development, what will be done in the future.
The second place is the production side. If I am in the factory, I will leave the production line every day to see what are the difficulties or bottlenecks in the production line. I can consider how to optimize the production line from the design side.
The third place is the sales site. Before I do product planning every year, I will shut myself down for a period of time. On line, I will go directly to the private domain to chat with users, but in fact, I prefer to go to the store site, find some representative stores from all sales channels, and observe what consumers are like, what products consumers will buy, how many hours they stay in which products, and what are the final deals and what are not.
I always believe that all rational data analysis does not have much effect, because the decision-making moment is emotional, so I believe more in my understanding of the emotional moment when making decisions, and this understanding is more from the scene.
Zheng Lu: In the category of tools and even many products, when defining products, people often fall into a vortex of comparing parameters, functions and prices ， Or we do not investigate users' core needs, but directly investigate competing products. This is a relatively unhealthy behavior.
The product department, industrial design department and marketing department cooperate to carry out a product research when each product research or pre research of our company is launched. For example, we need to understand some detailed data of this category in the market as support, and what good functions and parameters are worth learning. Then, industrial designers and product managers will really go to users to understand what the core needs of this category are.
For a good product, the most important thing is to subtract ， No matter how many functions are added, the cost of this product will not increase because its hardware price is there. When we see a new product, we will not think about what the product should be, and we will not have established thinking. Instead, we will apply our experience in other fields to the tool scenarios, so that we can make a better and more innovative product.
Li Zhixian: 2024 ， Predict the changes of overseas consumption in their respective vertical fields ， Based on these changes ， What will the product do next ？
Deng Zhiqiang: No matter what target market business ， All suggested that we should go out and communicate more ， Never make a car behind closed doors 。 The current economic environment has led to the disappearance of the possible middle tier, and the two ends will be very large. High consumption is still high consumption, and extreme sports may be able to withstand high customer price products. on the other hand ， Low level competition is very difficult, but I think there is still a great opportunity.
Niu Yafeng: One of our plans for 2024 is that the shelf drum has opened overseas channels through short video content. There are also some phenomena. In our definition, young people, especially 20 - 30 years old should be the main buyer. However, 60% of the users who have purchased - 70% is 35 - 65 year old people are aging seriously overseas, and they have money and leisure 。
In terms of after-sales, community operation and communication with users, we have also done a lot of planning. In addition to selling, we can also see users' satisfaction with hardware, software and every detail, and even these can be digitized, buried, and tested. Finally, we can know what types of users are more effective for what functions in what scenarios, In fact, it is also a digital way to understand users. This is also a suggestion, As an enterprise going to sea, it should pay special attention to local users, and its culture and localization needs are also critical.
Xie Senchu: The electric bicycle industry is undergoing great changes. There are only two types of people who ride bicycles. One is to use it as a means of transportation for students to go to school by bike, and the other is to play in sports. Now the industry is changing, more and more like consumer goods, so the social attribute is becoming stronger and stronger. Consumers' demand for the electric bicycle is also changing more, and more demands for some cross scenarios have simply changed from a single product to a lifestyle. Our brand is also focusing on building the ADO brand into a lifestyle brand for local travel, rather than a simple brand of a certain product. We have made a plan for 2024 to 2026. We are building a "1+2+N" product strategy, hoping to achieve cross scenario links within a certain radius through the ADO local digital service platform 。
Zheng Lu: We also received many comments from users overseas that we are "The Apple of Tools" 。 In the post epidemic era, we have also observed that people have undergone many changes in their lifestyle, housing and travel modes, especially for young people. Everyone's use of a room space at home is completely different from the original, Nowadays, many young people are more interested in cultivating hobbies at home in the era of epidemic. Maybe the proportion of doing handwork or comparing maker type behaviors is much higher than before, so the desk has instead become a high-frequency space for using tools , tools are no longer used in garages or work scenes as before. This scene just hit the concept of our brand tool. Take it from the storage room to the living space, so that you can use it every day.
besides ， We found that the use scenarios of tools are far from limited to home. Many times, from home to car or outdoor, there are many tool scenarios. We believe that the current lithium battery technology is developing better and better. All lithium cars have raised the lithium battery industry to a higher level, and the motor capacity is also getting better and better. As a result, high-performance lithium electric tools can be very lightweight and miniaturized, and people no longer rely on a single wire as a relatively high-power tool to complete.
Li Zhixian: What must be done and what must not be done to build product strength?
Xie Senchu: The so-called product power is to achieve differentiation ， We only need to make consumers remember us at certain points. The best product power is to insist on doing a good job in a certain point, to achieve the utmost in a certain point, so that everyone who has used your product can remember you.
Niu Yafeng: At the product level, my suggestion is to create differentiated and subversive original products. In the next ten years, there may be a huge bonus for engineers. Now is no longer the time for copying or copying. It is possible to use the advantages of Chinese engineers to redefine different industries, different products, make products with differentiated innovation experience, and add the advantages of going to sea.
I think the next ten years ， It must be that Shenzhen will gradually come out with many new brands in vertical fields, such as Dajiang and sweeper, which will serve a specific segment overseas, including the existing supply chain advantages, plus the advantages of innovation, to influence the world and even become the top segment brands in the world 。 Originality, cross technology innovation, brand marketing, of course, the leader is still the product force. It must be a huge opportunity to do a good job of the product first.
Deng Zhiqiang: If you want to improve the product strength, the most important thing is the degree of strategic attention, which will determine how much your resources are devoted. If you are determined to improve product strength, first, resources should be solved; Second, from R&D to launch, unless the efficiency is improved, the length should be increased to make the consideration cycle longer; Third If you must not do anything, you must not do too many SKUs 。 Open the financial report and you may find that you spend a lot of time in invalid products. The product force must be the combined force of all product SKUs. If some categories or products are your weak points, it will reduce the competitiveness of the whole company.
Zheng Lu: No matter what an unpopular field, such as tools, people may think it is boring and not sexy, but as long as it is in this field, it must be meaningful for you to dig deeply in this field. We have to believe ， All products and product lines are worth doing again, and there will always be better room for improvement. As long as we persist in doing it, we can certainly achieve a good result 。 more importantly ， We should firmly believe that as long as we pay attention to respect and like our users, they will also respect and like our products with good products.
(Cover source: Tu Chong's creativity)
(Source: Hugo Cross border Editorial Department)
The above content is derived from the on-site shorthand of the conference, which is compiled and summarized by the background editor of Hugo Cross Border. Its purpose is to collect and disseminate industry news information. Hugo Cross Border does not assume any legal responsibility for its authenticity and reliability, and hereby declares!
