Luwang, January 17 (Reporter Liu Liangliang Photographer Liu Xiaowei) Entrepreneurs in emerging industries are valuable assets for Laoshan District to achieve high-quality development, and their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit is the internal driving force to promote the transformation and reconstruction of the industry. In 2022, Laoshan District will take the opportunity of building a high-level "four new" economic agglomeration area, launch 7 industrial chains around the four leading industries, and emerge a group of outstanding entrepreneurs in emerging industries. In order to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship and create a good atmosphere for the development of the real economy, the Laoshan District Federation of Industry and Commerce (General Chamber of Commerce), together with the Propaganda Department of the Laoshan District Committee of the Communist Party of China and the United Front Work Department of the District Committee, jointly planned and launched the 2023 Emerging Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Series Interview Column "Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit and Witnessing the New Forces of Laoshan Entrepreneurship", focusing on the interactive relationship between entrepreneurship and high-quality industrial development, further promoting the spirit of "doers", and boosting the high-quality development of the real economy in Laoshan District.
From simple electric toothbrushes to high-end smart speakers, small household appliances occupy an increasingly important position in our daily lives. According to the use, small household appliances are mainly divided into three categories: small kitchen appliances, small household appliances, and small household appliances. Although the controversy over whether many small household appliances are "IQ tax" has never stopped, the vigorous development of the small household appliance industry has still given birth to nearly 30 listed companies, with an industrial scale of more than 400 billion yuan.
From the perspective of the regional competition pattern of small household appliance industry enterprises in the mainland, the industrial chain of Guangdong Province and the eastern coastal areas is relatively perfect, and the competitive advantage of small household appliance industry belt in the north is not obvious due to the lack of enterprise clusters. In August 2020, Suyue, who was still working in a major domestic Internet company at that time, came up with an entrepreneurial plan and gathered two "technical veterans" to establish Qingdao Meiyi Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Meiyi") in Laoshan District, focusing on the personal care small household appliances track in the small household appliance industry. In less than 3 years, the sales of Meiyi's products have reached 80 million yuan/year, and the company's valuation has exceeded 100 million yuan.
In the "Red Sea" competitive market, where the technical threshold and capital threshold are at a low level, how does Meiyi stand out and become a rising "rising star" enterprise in the small household appliance industry in the north? Today, let's listen to Suyue's entrepreneurial story.
The home appliance industry has been deeply cultivated for 15 years and turned around to start a business
Race the track of personal care small household appliances
Su Yue, who was born in 1985, applied for Hisense to work for 7 years after graduating from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, and then worked in Qingdao Yilai Intelligent Technology, a science and technology enterprise, for 5 years. In 2019, Suyue came to Ant Financial's headquarters in Hangzhou by chance to engage in the payment equipment business for electrical products.
"These few work experiences are related to electrical appliances, which may be the reason why I am destined to start a business in this industry. Su Yue talked about the original intention of starting a business, saying that in 2020, affected by the epidemic, the sales channels of small household appliances continued to tilt online, and the rise of live broadcasts, e-commerce sales and other models ushered in an explosive period for the small household appliances industry. In particular, small personal care appliances belong to a track that has been rear-ended, and the competition was not fierce at that time.
With the gradual optimization of Qingdao's business environment, Suyue's entrepreneurial plan has also received attention and support from various government departments. The most important thing is that her two partners have been waiting for her in Qingdao, these two partners are good at the software and hardware aspects of electrical appliances, and if you add her supply chain and sales resources, it is undoubtedly the best "people" factor for entrepreneurship.
The first product of Meiyi is the "Seemagic Awakening Electric Nail Clippers", which sold 30,000 units in 11 days after it was put on the shelves of "Xiaomi Youpin", with sales reaching more than 2 million. Worried that the order would not be produced in time, this product was taken off the shelves 3 days in advance, creating a sales success story of similar products. Since then, this electric nail clipper has repeatedly occupied the first place in the sales of the same category on Tmall, Jingdong, Douyin and other head e-commerce platforms, and has been favored by many domestic live broadcast anchors and brought into their own live broadcast rooms for Amway promotion.
With the "explosion" of electric nail clippers, Su Yue and his team have successively developed small household appliances such as beauty instruments and facial mask instruments, and the company's sales have reached nearly 80 million in 2023, doubling compared with 2022.
Create corporate value with brand logic
Use product power to go through the industrial cycle
Compared with the major appliances and consumer electronics industries, the small household appliances industry is known as a "double low" industry, that is, the technical threshold is low and the capital threshold is low. Such a low industry threshold obviously means that there will be a lot of "red sea" competition in the industry, and price wars may emerge one after another. "When you develop a new product and put it on the market, it will soon be imitated by other manufacturers, and the price may be cheaper than yours, so we have always insisted on using brand logic to do this market. Suyue believes that products with long-term vitality must first fundamentally solve the needs of users, and secondly, they must have stable quality, reasonable price, and product power that can achieve innovation and iteration. "Be a brand with heart, rather than having the mentality of 'shooting a shot to change a place' and let consumers pay for nothing. Su Yue said.
The underlying foundation of the brand logic is technology and teamwork. For this reason, Su Yue is very willing to "burn money" on team training. "Every year, we have to go to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and other places to learn about the forefront of industry development, grasp the latest technological trends, and expand our supply chain in a timely manner. Su Yue mentioned that consumer electronics companies are not competing with enterprises in a certain region, but with enterprises in China in the "volume", especially in the era of online sales, platform traffic is "running" 24 hours a day, and enterprises dare not slack off for a moment.
The development and upgrading of the brand is inseparable from the building of core competitiveness. When Su Yue talked about this issue, she gave an example. "There was a safety accident with electric nail clippers when a child pinched his mouth while playing. In order to completely solve this safety hazard, our partner in charge of R&D repeatedly experimented with his own tongue, and finally succeeded in developing a safety protection device, at the cost of cutting off a piece of his tongue. Su Yue believes that this kind of team spirit makes her deeply realize that the core competitiveness of Meiyi at this stage is people, and it is the values and cohesion of the team.
Driven by this brand logic, the safety protection technology of Meiyi has not only applied for intellectual property patents, but also participated in the formulation of the group standard and industry standard of electric nail clippers, making corporate contributions to the healthy development of this product track.
Anchor the target market of "going global".
Do global business in Laoshan
As an important growth pole for China's home appliance enterprises, "going to sea" is the inevitable way for the brand development of the small household appliance industry. In the second half of 2023, Midea will begin to lay out overseas markets. "At present, it has begun to ship in Russia, the United States, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other places, and the Amazon platform is our own, and we will consider selling through some traders, agents and other channels in other places. Su Yue firmly believes that consumer electronics companies should be positioned to do global business, and her initial layout of the United States is that the headquarters and R&D center are located in Laoshan, Qingdao, and the operation center, supply chain center and overseas marketing center can be located in other cities.
Sticking to Laoshan is also a core part of Suyue's entrepreneurship plan. "First of all, the home is in Qingdao, in addition, the business environment in Qingdao has changed a lot in recent years, and the policy is also very good, which is a good place for home appliance companies to start a business. "Regarding the business environment, I have already felt it as early as the beginning of Suyue's business. "We began to enter the actual operation stage in August 2021, when the company had the need for financing, and Jufeng Science and Technology Innovation in Laoshan started due diligence in September after understanding our needs, and completed the first round of investment in October. Su Yue was surprised by this efficiency, and the government platform fund was able to invest in a start-up like Meiyi, which made her and her team more confident and strengthened their confidence to stay in Laoshan.
At present, the competitive landscape of the small household appliance industry has tended to be diversified and internationalized. As a "rising star" in the small household appliance industry belt in the north, Meiyi not only undertakes the development mission of the enterprise, but also finds its own positioning in the industrial chain, constantly replenishes the chain and strengthens the chain, and accumulates momentum. "We live in an era full of uncertainty, and only by insisting on innovation and quality can we continue to pass through the industrial cycle and achieve long-term vitality. Su Yue said.