introduction
In today's wave of globalization, China's cross-border e-commerce is gradually emerging in the international market with its unique advantages and potential. However, in the face of fierce international competition and a complex and changeable market environment, how to achieve a breakthrough in single products and then lead the brand to go overseas has become the focus of attention of many Chinese enterprises. In this sharing, Ebang Power is honored to invite Ms. Ren Chaoqian, the founder and managing partner of Miss Ren's overseas strategy consulting, to explain in detail the support strategy for domestic products to go overseas. With her deep accumulation and rich experience in the field of cross-border retail, Ms. Ren Chaoqian will reveal the mystery of single product breakthrough and brand leadership through ten selected cases.
As a technology-driven strategic consulting company focusing on global cross-border retail enterprises, Ms. Ren provides enterprises with in-depth overseas market insights and customized strategic solutions with its unique "big data + AI + business analysis" model. The company uses advanced data analysis technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, combined with rich industry experience and talent advantages, to tailor cross-border business growth strategies with Chinese characteristics for customers.
The following is a summary of the content of this sharing——
1. Opportunities of the times in the next 10 years, structural overseas market growth opportunities
Since 2018, China's cross-border e-commerce industry has continued to maintain a rapid growth trend, with annual growth rates of more than double digits, and even as high as 40% in some years. This figure not only highlights the vigorous vitality of the cross-border e-commerce industry, but also indicates its huge potential as a new growth point of China's economy. In the next decade, with the in-depth development of global economic integration and the continuous rise of China's economy, building cross-border brands and realizing the layout of global consumer brands will become an inevitable trend of China's economic development and a structural growth dividend given by the times.
When the per capita GDP exceeds 10,000 US dollars, a region will enter a period of rapid growth of local brands; And when the per capita GDP moves from $10,000 to $30,000, it will be the golden time for a country to achieve a global layout - a process that is likely to be completed in the next 5-10 years. Cross-border e-commerce enterprises will usher in unprecedented development opportunities.
However, in this process, we also need to be soberly aware of the natural advantages and inherent shortcomings of Chinese enterprises.
Chinese enterprises have unique advantages in the field of cross-border e-commerce: a complete supply chain system, a strong manufacturing base, an efficient logistics network, and flexible and diverse production capacity. These advantages give Chinese enterprises significant advantages in cost control, product iteration and rapid response to market demand. At the same time, however, we must also face up to our own shortcomings: the shortage of global business talent, the perception of overseas markets, the disadvantage of exchange rate costs, and the pressure of political opinion.
Especially in terms of brand building and marketing, Chinese companies often lack the ability and experience to deeply understand overseas markets, which makes it difficult to accurately position themselves in brand building and marketing strategies. Therefore, how to make up for these deficiencies through market insight and strategic planning has become the key for Chinese enterprises to achieve single product breakthroughs and brand leadership.
2. Examples of successful paths for overseas brands
In order to more intuitively demonstrate the strategic practice of single product breakthrough and brand leadership, let's take a look at 2 typical cases of overseas brands:
1、PetSafe的狗牵引绳
This seemingly ordinary pet product, under the careful planning of the brand, successfully broke out of the Red Sea market and drove the brand to reach annual sales of 500 million US dollars. How does TA do it?
1) Product innovation and differentiated positioning
The most distinctive feature of the PetSafe dog leash is its unique design that shifts the leash point from the dog's neck to the chest. This innovative design not only solves the problem of neck injuries that can be caused by traditional leashes, but also gives the product greater safety and comfort. By focusing on the core philosophy of "safety", the brand has successfully attracted veterinarians, a key user group – as professionals and opinion leaders in the pet industry, their recognition and recommendation have brought high trust and word-of-mouth effect to the brand.
2) Construction of product matrix
After the successful launch of the dog leash, PetSafe didn't stop there. They have further expanded their product line and launched a number of high-cost smart products, including smart water feeders, smart litter boxes and smart dog fences. These products not only enrich the brand's product matrix, but also improve the overall profit level of the brand.
3) Precise implementation of marketing strategies
PetSafe continues to strengthen the brand's safety mindset through extensive advertising and content marketing on pet websites, veterinary websites, and safety websites. At the same time, they also actively participate in various public welfare activities of pet care and safety to enhance brand image and popularity. In addition, PetSafe has also established a professional pet care team and a team of veterinary consultants to provide users with professional consultation and service support. These initiatives not only strengthened users' trust and loyalty to the brand, but also further strengthened the brand's leading position in the pet products market.
In summary, the success of PetSafe is closely related to the following points:
1) The brand strategy is upgraded and competes with competing products at different levels - for example, launching products with unique selling points and competitive advantages to achieve differentiation and breakthrough.
2) Construct a product matrix to form a moat effect - attract traffic and attention through drainage products; and then through the profit products to achieve profit transformation and brand value enhancement; At the same time, a certain number of spare products are prepared to respond to market changes and changes in consumer demand.
3) Multi-channel layout, for example, independent stations, Amazon, TikTok and other multi-platform collaboration to optimize traffic; Another example is the integration and synergy of online and offline channels, as well as the expansion of brand influence and communication through social media and other channels.
2. Nugget toy sofa
For the seriously homogeneous category of sofas, Nugget has become an Internet celebrity toy sofa in the United States by adjusting its brand positioning + user base, with annual sales of more than 100 million US dollars. Let's take a look at how Nugget does it:
1) Adjust user positioning + product positioning: Nugget initially created dormitory cushion products for college students, but the poor spending power of college students (a large number of students even need to apply for student loans) has led to a mess of Nugget's sales; After that, Nugget re-oriented to the children's group and created a sofa with "children's toys and creative teaching aids", so it successfully broke the circle.
2) Multi-channel marketing: For example, the evaluation of multi-child mothers on Instagram, the old user photos of FB groups + new users planting grass, the sofa "building" guide of the official blog, and the spontaneous communication of social media users have all driven the growth of sales.
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Finally, it should be emphasized that United States companies tend to build valuable brands and monetize them through the capital market; Chinese companies, on the other hand, pay more attention to supply chain and profitability, and build a solid foundation by increasing products and sales before expanding their brands and channels. Therefore, Chinese enterprises need to choose a suitable strategic framework according to their own advantages, including four types of commodities going overseas, products going overseas, brands going overseas and enterprises going overseas, and clarifying the development goals of each stage.
3. Strategic framework for cross-border enterprises + phased strategic points
Chinese enterprises have gone overseas from simple commodities to products going overseas, brands going overseas and even enterprises going overseas, and finally achieving global operation and industry dominance. The key to this process is to have pricing power, build an independent brand perception, and leverage a multi-platform collaboration strategy to meet the complex challenges of the international market.
Specifically, the current Chinese enterprises going overseas can be divided into the following three major models:
1) Large single product model: Represented by Huawei and DJI, there is a strong technological driving force behind this model. When technology continues to expand the market, it will attract new people, new markets and new needs, and then achieve market expansion through the power of technology inclusion. However, with the increasing barriers to science and technology, this model has gradually faced challenges after 2015, requiring a larger scientific research team and capital investment.
2) Matrix model: including product matrix and brand matrix, taking Procter & Gamble and other enterprises as examples. Through in-depth analysis of the industry's strategic locations, strategic groups and strategic categories, this model lays out brands or products in each ecological niche, provides a full range of services, and forms industrial advantages.
3) Ecological platform model: representative enterprises such as Alibaba, etc. This model goes beyond the logic of traditional commodity brands and transforms into a business model of traffic distribution, acquisition, and back-end supply chain coordination. It requires enterprises to have highly complex management capabilities and talent pools to achieve a virtuous cycle of ecosystems.
For Chinese enterprises, from product to brand and enterprise to sea, from the large single product model to the matrix model and ecological platform model, it usually needs to go through the following five stages:
1) Zero to 20 million: the setting off stage
Key points of business strategy: creating explosive products. Achieve market breakthroughs through single-point breakthroughs or matrix innovations. Single-point breakouts rely on core technologies, while matrix innovation engages consumers through innovations in materials, packaging, flavors, or styles.
Example: For example, Zoot, a triathlon apparel brand, builds a product matrix around the core user group to achieve precision marketing.
2) 20 million to 100 million: expansion stage
Key points of business strategy: marketing volume. Seize the core industry capabilities and marketing institutions, look for market increment opportunities, and achieve large-scale volume.
Example: For example, Karma and Luck, a spiritual accessories brand, attracts users through cold traffic channels such as SEO, and then increases the repurchase rate through warm traffic channels such as FB and display advertising, so as to achieve rapid volume.
3) 100 million to 300 million: foundation building stage
Business strategy essentials: brand building. In the process of continuous volume, clarify the core points of brand users, convey brand mentality, and accumulate brand potential energy.
Case in point: For example, Shinesty, a men's underwear brand, attracts and retains a large number of male users and enhances brand awareness through humorous email marketing and product design.
4) 300 million to 1 billion: synergy stage
Business strategy highlights: Build industrial advantages. Find the core growth muscles, build a middle and back office system, and form an industrial advantage of industrial supply and marketing integration.
Case: For example, the FIGS brand not only creates a rich product matrix, covering brush clothes, coats, lab coats, base shirts and other categories, but also carries out diversified marketing through film advertising, online cooperation, social media and other channels. It is worth mentioning that it has set up a medical advisory board and hired industry experts to conduct interviews and sharing, which not only enhances the brand image, but also strengthens the connection with medical students and newcomers to the industry. In addition, the brand also actively participated in charity activities, donating hand brushing clothes to medical staff in Africa and other regions, further strengthening the brand's sense of social responsibility.
5) More than 1 billion: re-start stage
Key points of business strategy: business model wins. Based on industrial advantages, seize the highest interests of the industry value chain, reshape the business model, and build industry barriers.
Goal: To realize the re-entrepreneurship logic of the enterprise, and maintain long-term competitiveness through continuous innovation and optimization.
(Editor's note: Cases of climbing shoes, teeth whiteners, and coffee for military fans were also shared at the scene; Each case details product positioning, user targeting, traffic model, and product promotion strategy. Due to space limitations, this article will not be expanded. ）
4. How to break through the bottleneck of growth through market insight + strategic planning?
Ms. Ren has a leading cross-border retail strategy research system, and can provide customized solutions for domestic enterprises to go overseas, including a rigorous market analysis process, advanced analysis tools and multiple internal audit mechanisms, as well as two core modules: the global cross-border market strategy sand table system and the AI efficient work energy efficiency support system. These systems ensure that our clients are supported in an in-depth, reliable and highly customized strategy study and planning.
In order to help you understand, let's take a look at a case - hair removal device products, through in-depth user insight, to help customers find a way out from confusion, and finally realize the gorgeous turn of the product from no one to sales exceeding 20 million.
First of all, the core question we face is: why don't consumers buy it when customers invest a lot of money but the product market is mediocre? The answer lies deep in the needs of the user.
Step 1: Build user personas and gain insight into deep needs
We are not in a hurry to launch a product, but first dig deep into the needs of users. Through the design of three preliminary programs - home laser hair removal device, laser hair removal and pulse hair removal, and captured 140,000 related articles across the network, covering seven major data sources and more than 4,000 sites in the North American market. This process resulted in more than 2.1 million tags, covering multiple dimensions such as user demographics, needs, body parts, and more.
In terms of crowd labels, we carefully selected 60 representative labels for in-depth analysis (there are actually more than 200 of them), which are divided into two categories: self-use and guidance for others, and further refined into 13 subcategories. Several typical cases vividly illustrate the diversity of the hair removal device market:
l Cyclists: In pursuit of speed and fluidity, calves and groin have become the key areas for hair removal, and smooth calves are symbols of cycling culture.
l Swimmers: In order to reduce resistance in the water, the chest, back and legs become the focus of hair removal.
l Marathon runners: The nipple area is easily injured due to friction, and hair removal becomes necessary.
l Bodybuilders: In order to show off muscle lines, hair removal of the whole body has become a daily routine.
l LGTQ group: The need for identity drives them to undergo full-body hair removal, especially for transgender people.
l Delicate women: represented by ballet dancers and pole dancers, hair removal for performance needs, emphasizing the balance between beauty and functionality.
Step 2: Precise positioning and optimization of products and services
Through detailed user persona building, we identified multiple potential high-value user groups. For example, there are more than 54 million cycling enthusiasts in the United States, who are predominantly male, with a high proportion of whites and a high annual income. This analysis not only gives us an understanding of the basic characteristics of the target users, but also provides insight into their specific needs: the pursuit of speed and safety, the preference for black and white products, and the preference for long-wavelength power hair removal devices.
Based on these insights, we adjusted our product design thinking, developed customized products for different user groups, and emphasized the matching of specific functional points of the product with user needs in our marketing. For example, for sports enthusiasts, we have created a brand positioning of "Born for Sports", emphasizing the safety and professionalism of our products to meet their urgent needs to improve their performance.
Through the success story of the hair removal device project, we show how we can uncover hidden market opportunities for our customers through in-depth market research and user insights. This process requires not only strong data analysis capabilities and keen market insight, but also customer-centric service concepts and flexible service models. In the future, we will continue to uphold this concept and provide customers with more professional, efficient and flexible strategic consulting services to help them achieve greater success in the cross-border market.