As intelligent security has become a new outlet in the consumer industry, the entire security camera category has ushered in explosive growth.
According to GrandviewResearch data, the global smart home security camera market size will be 73 in 2022$700 million, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 192%。
In the face of the surging security dark horse track, Chinese sellers with first-class chain, technology, and labor cost advantages have been eager to try. From Anker's EUFY to Zhiling Technology's AOSU and DEKCO, the home security track is ushering in more overseas players.
Among them, Reolink, founded by the former product manager of Huawei HiSilicon Semiconductor, has achieved particularly outstanding results, and its parent company, Ruilian Technology, has completed the first jump from the company's scale to performance from a registered capital of 100,000 yuan to an annual revenue of more than 1.3 billion yuan, and then embarked on the road of IPO.
With a single vertical category of security monitoring equipment to win 1.3 billion yuan in revenue, how did Reolink do it?
OEM to brand, Amazon is the battlefield
It can be seen from the prospectus of Ruilian Technology that the REOLINK brand has developed rapidly, and it was officially established in 2015, and its operating income will be as high as 5 in 20192.3 billion yuan, but 4 years. The success of REOLINK can be attributed to two key points: wind outlet and experience.
Founded in 2009, Ruilian Technology has been serving overseas companies with home security camera business as an ODM manufacturer for the next 6 years. As an electronic consumer goods category with certain technical barriers, security cameras have their own entry thresholds, and Ruilian Technology has gradually accumulated its qualifications to build its own brand independently through its familiarity with product technology production and ** chain in the six years of serving overseas brands.
In 2015, Ruilian Technology officially decided to transform and launched its own home security brand - REOLINK. During this period, Ruilian Technology also happened to catch up with the dividend period of the take-off of the home security market.
According to the Grandview Research report, after 2015, the surge in the use of smart home security cameras is mainly due to three main points: the surge in thefts in various regions of the world, and the anti-theft ability of cameras has gradually been proven;The integration of surveillance cameras with the expanding smart home ecosystem has further boosted the adoption of smart security;The introduction of AI technology into smart security, as well as the research and development of wireless camera categories, has increased the demand for new smart cameras in families.
From the perspective of the market as a whole, although there are old giants such as ADT in the home security camera market, it does not show a complete monopoly situation, but because of the emergence of the new wireless camera player ARLO, it has given a new incremental point to the home security market. Among them, the United States is the most important market in the world, and these mainstream players only account for 30% of the entire market.
With long-term OEM market experience, Ruilian Technology judged that as a new brand without background at that time, Amazon would become the most suitable brand to enter the platform, so it entered Amazon with its own brand Reolink, mainly engaged in camera stand-alone and camera sets, of which the main products are two wireless cameras, **fluctuating between $39-159.
Today, Ruilian Technology has a number of products based on the best sellers rank of Amazon's camera category, selling more than 10,000 camera products every month, and more than 60% of Reolink's revenue is still on Amazon.
Technology + product matrix + scenario
According to the prospectus of Ruilian Technology, Ruilian Technology's revenue in 2019 was 52.3 billion yuan, with a revenue of 9 in 2020600 million yuan, revenue in 2021 136.1 billion yuan, of which the single camera has always accounted for about 60% of the revenue. It can be seen that the product matrix of Ruilian Technology is relatively vertical and specific, and the brand has achieved more than one billion revenue by achieving the ultimate in a single category.
From the perspective of technology R&D, as a consumer category with a certain technical threshold, Reolink's R&D personnel account for a quarter of the total employees, and basically develop a new product every quarter. To date, Reolink has developed four of the most important trump cards in its product matrix:
Wireless Security Camera:100% wireless battery-powered camera with flexible placement and choice of WiFi or 4G modeSmart Home Camera:355° pan and rotate 105° tilt, suitable for all angles in the home 24 7 monitoring without blind spots, with 4MP ultra HD, dual-band wifi, 2-way audio, etc. Security Camera System:The WiFi or PoE Monitoring** system provides 24/7 monitoring and uninterrupted recording and supports round-the-clock recording and monitoring without having to access the router network. WiFi PoE Camera & NVR:With 4MP 5MP Ultra HD high resolution, the WiFi PoE camera can keep an eye on what's important;Network Video Recorders (NVRs) work perfectly with all camera equipment for storage. At the same time, Reolink has also developed a "plug and play" technology that brings great convenience to DIY users, without any reconfiguration or adjustment, and the network video recorder (NVR) that integrates the latest 4K technology can provide users with a great ** experience.
In addition to increasing R&D investment, meeting the scenario-based needs of consumers is also a crucial step in Reolink's product strategy. Through the restoration of the imagination of the family scene, Reolink has developed a variety of ** surveillance cameras for different scenes through 3D modeling: courtyard care, garage monitoring, baby care and other scenes required in daily life, all of which have been developed by Reolink with corresponding products.
In the independent station and Reolink Amazon official website, there are 3D drawings that guide users to buy independent scenes, and guide consumers to shop through concrete interactive effects.
At the same time,Reolink has also launched a subscription service called "Reolink Cloud"., from 3$49 per month for Standard Edition to $6The $99 per month Premium Edition is different** to meet consumers' requirements for the number of cameras supported, the size of the cloud space, and more. Although the monthly fee of "reolink cloud" is not high, the profit margin is very large, and the gross profit can reach more than 40%. Through the subscription model, it not only creates a stable monthly subscription revenue for the brand, but also makes it easier to improve the user stickiness of consumers.
Focus on real evaluation and do a good job in vertical marketing
In addition to building a brand, establishing a product matrix, and selecting stable channels, OEM also needs social media publicity that matches the brand. For overseas sellers, the most cost-effective way to promote their brand is to combine advertising with social media marketing to reach consumers and make transactions.
SimilarWeb data shows that the average monthly traffic of Reolink's independent stations is about 3.8 million. 39% of the traffic came from the search channel, and 41% of the direct traffic.
Judging from the data of social **, the three channels that provide the most traffic to the official website of Reolink are YouTube (46.).15%）、reddit（29.26%) and Facebook (1595%), and one of the most effective marketing strategies is to work with YouTube vertical influencers to launch real review content to achieve the effect of recommending products.
Reolink places a strong emphasis on authentic product reviewsOn the YouTube search page, most of Reolink** are comparative evaluations published by tech vertical influencers**, which will compare the visual effects of different products in several environments to give ratings and suggestions for products.
This is especially true on Reolink's own official website account, which has set up several major columns, among them,“you ask, we answer”The column will develop a whole evaluation according to the user's message**, answer questions, and decide the content of the next evaluation by the message below.
For technology brands, evaluation is always one of the most effective means of user communication, which can shorten the social distance between brands and users through social media, and substitute the brand's concept and product life scenes into the user's mind, so as to achieve "organic combination and interactive resonance".
Brandark view brand
Overall, REOLINK's growth path is a typical case of vertical brands breaking through to the sea.
In specific vertical categories, REOLINK has accumulated category experience for a long time through the OEM model, and then used professional accumulation to create a product matrix that fits the market at that time, successfully snatched the track dividend, and built the differentiated competitiveness of the brand to form technical barriersThen promote the brand with categories, and finally successfully break through in the European and American markets, and become the leading player in the security overseas track.