Smart door lock track: the forerunner Cadiz went to sea to make a living, and the latecomer Huawei took the lead

The illustrations are from Canva Paintable

With the advent of the era of whole house intelligence, the public has a new pursuit of home life, and at the same time, home safety issues are also increasingly valued. The previously broadcast movie "Door Lock" intuitively presented the safety of women living alone in front of the public, making the public wonder: Is my home really safe? There is no doubt that the first line of defense for home security must be a good lock.

Smart door locks are not only higher than ordinary mechanical locks in terms of safety, but also more convenient, because they successfully solve the pain of forgetting to bring the key, so they are loved by young consumers. From the perspective of industry conditions, the smart door lock track has also been quite lively recently, on the one hand, Cadiz has obtained a new round of financing, and on the other hand, Huawei has released self-developed smart door lock products. It is not difficult to predict that the smart door lock industry is ushering in a new period of development opportunities.

The industry ushered in new opportunities

According to Aowei Cloud Network (AVC) data, the sales volume of China's smart door lock market in 2021 was 4.58 million sets, an increase of 31.4% year-on-year; sales were 7.1 billion yuan, an increase of 35.5% year-on-year; and the average price was 1544 yuan, an increase of 3.1% year-on-year. Judging from the data, the smart door lock industry as a whole shows a good development trend, but the situation in this industry is more complicated and not as calm as it seems.

First, the technical barriers of the smart door lock industry are low, and a large number of players are pouring in, resulting in a mixed smart door lock industry. According to the data of the National Lock Information Center, there are only about 600 smart door lock enterprises in the country in 2015, and there are more than 3,000 smart door lock enterprises in the country in 2022. As far as the Taobao platform is concerned, there are well-known smart door lock brands such as Cadiz, and there are also many miscellaneous products.

The industry pattern of "miscellaneous brand + brand" and the oem production make the smart door lock products uneven and the quality problems frequent. According to the test results of some smart door lock products in 2022 by the Beijing Consumer Association, the smart door locks on the market have problems such as incomplete logo information, EASY to be copied, poor circuit reliability, no anti-demolition alarm function, poor image recognition function security, and poor information security.

In addition to quality issues, smart door lock products also lack innovation. Specifically, the technology involved in smart door locks is relatively basic, and the upstream parts manufacturers are more mature, lock manufacturers are mostly simple parts assembly, and do not improve the technology, so that the mainland's smart door lock industry innovation is weak, and the problem of industry homogenization is becoming increasingly serious. These industry issues are hurting the user experience, causing consumers to lose confidence in the smart door lock industry, thereby reducing their desire to buy.

Second, the market size of smart door locks continues to expand, but the domestic smart door lock market is not yet mature. According to Puhua Youce data, in terms of market size, the current market size of smart door locks in mainland China has reached 40 billion yuan, showing a development trend of supply and demand. However, from the perspective of market penetration, the market penetration rate of smart door locks in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States is 80%, 60% and 25% respectively, while the current market penetration rate in China is only 2%. Based on the above data, it can be seen that although the market size of smart door locks in the mainland is large, the industry penetration rate is low, and the consumer market still needs to be cultivated.

In general, there are still many shortcomings in the mainland smart door lock industry. But fortunately, new and old players such as Cadiz and Huawei are working together, or finding ways overseas, or innovating the industry, which is jointly driving the development of the smart door lock industry.

Forerunner Cadiz focused on globalization

With the latest round of financing coming to an end, the brand globalization strategy of the veteran door lock brand Cadiz has officially opened. As a traditional manufacturer, Cadiz's choice to go to sea is both unexpected and reasonable.

From the perspective of market competition, players from all walks of life have poured into the smart door lock track, and the "price war" set off by them has made traditional players such as Cadiz difficult to overcome, and it is a good way to find a way overseas. As mentioned above, home appliance manufacturers, security giants, technology manufacturers and other fields of players have been deployed on the smart door lock track, and the current access threshold of the smart door lock industry is low, and the players' rush to the smart door lock market is becoming increasingly fierce.

Technology manufacturers represented by Xiaomi and 360 have "fought" with traditional players such as Cadiz through "price wars". Technology manufacturers have their own chips, channels and other advantages, and have strong capital, traditional players are difficult to match. It is undeniable that although the price war reduces corporate profits, it can quickly seize the user's mind, so as to quickly open the user market to form a scale effect, go deep into the hinterland of traditional players, and suppress it.

For example, before Xiaomi ecological chain enterprises, 360 and other enterprises entered the smart door lock market, the industry price bottom line of smart door locks was generally around 2,000 yuan, but 360 hit the price of smart door locks to 700 yuan, and the price of explosive products of Xiaomi ecological chain brands was also around 1,000 yuan. In contrast, the entry of technology manufacturers has made the price of smart door locks almost waist-cut, which not only lowers the price of the industry, but also directly affects the operating profits of traditional manufacturers such as Cadiz.

From the perspective of the enterprise itself, as an old player in the smart door lock industry, Kaidishi has already accumulated advantages in terms of brand, technology, service and other aspects, and going to sea is also following the trend. First, the product characteristics of smart door locks determine the low-frequency consumption attributes of smart door locks, which means that it is difficult for Cadiz to tap new increments in the existing customer groups. Second, as mentioned above, the penetration rate of the smart door lock industry in the mainland is much lower than that of foreign countries, and it is still in the market cultivation period, and Cadiz can save an investment in the overseas market by virtue of its first-mover advantage.

In short, whether it is due to the consideration of industry competition or the consideration of enterprise development, going to sea may not be a good choice for Cadiz.

Latecomers Huawei took the lead

Compared with Cadiz, Huawei is an uncompromising latecomer in the smart door lock track, but its smart door lock products have made the industry excited.

Internally, smart door locks serve as an important entrance to the whole house's intelligence, further complementing Huawei's smart home ecology. Huawei Smart Door Lock is designed based on HarmonyOS, Hongmeng operating system, and can be integrated with other Huawei smart home devices to provide its connected experience at home. It can be said that Huawei's smart door lock not only completes the security defense line in its smart home, but also truly incorporates the smart door lock into the smart home terminal collaboration system.

Externally, Huawei smart door locks have become a new standard leading the development of the smart door lock industry. Overall, the smart door lock industry is still in the development period, and problems such as quality and homogenization are restricting the development of the industry. Huawei as a national brand, its test standards have always been the industry benchmark, trusted by consumers, this time into the smart door lock track, both innovative, but also attach great importance to safety issues, will inevitably lead the development of the smart door lock industry.

In terms of innovation, Huawei can comprehensively apply technologies such as smart phones, smart terminals, and cloud computing to smart door locks based on its own technical advantages. Specifically, Huawei's smart door lock is equipped with many "black technologies" such as 1TOPS algorithm chip, AI fingerprint unlocking technology, AI 3D face recognition, reverse charging, etc., and the distributed technology of HarmonyOS is applied to visual cat's eye, and supports 7 days of cloud storage. Huawei's smart door lock is almost a raw material barrel, which integrates the advantages of multiple parties and changes the lack of technical strength and innovation in the smart door lock industry.

In terms of security, Huawei's smart door lock adopts a financial-grade security architecture, obtains security certification from software, hardware to the whole machine system, and adopts a built-in motor lock body, which has a strong resistance to physical damage. Whether it is innovation or security, Huawei's smart door locks are likely to form a dimensionality reduction blow to other smart door lock players, and can force the industry to progress and lead the development of the industry.

How do locksmiths find the future?

With the increase in user demand for smart door locks, more players will enter the smart door lock track in the future. However, both old players and new entrants must return to the essence of smart door locks.

As a security product, smart door locks should pay attention to the product itself and implement safety issues. In the black cat complaint, the complaints about the quality of smart door locks are not only on the list of big brands such as Xiaomi and Cadiz, but also the product complaints of small and medium-sized enterprises. The biggest use of locks is security protection, but many companies ignore the public's demand for security protection of door locks, and instead use marketing to confuse consumers, making the family safety defense line a rout. Therefore, manufacturers should improve product quality and keep the user's home safety as the first line of defense.

As a smart product, the smart door lock should be connected to the home ecology to bring users a better experience. Smart door locks are not only security products, but also scientific and technological products under the wave of the Internet, which should be developed in synergy with the smart home ecology. However, the barriers between home furnishing brands are relatively deep, which once split the smart home ecology, and it is difficult for users to feel the intelligence of smart door lock products. In the long run, manufacturers can only truly provide users with a smart home experience by integrating their own products with the smart home ecology.

At present, the smart door lock industry has moved towards the trend of concentrated oligopoly, but the two states of chaos and disorder and hundreds of schools of contention still coexist in the smart door lock industry. It can be seen that there is still a lot of incremental space behind the smart door lock industry that is worth mining by players.

In the future, the smart door lock track is bound to accelerate the industry reshuffle, and a group of brands that can provide consumers with high-quality products will rise with the trend. Therefore, whether it is a traditional manufacturer or a new player, it is necessary to continuously enhance its own product strength and service capabilities, on the basis of ensuring family safety, to provide users with a more convenient and efficient home experience, and to seize the user's mind and win market recognition.