Playing the card of the lazy economy in Europe and the United States, China's clean household appliances have set off a wave of growth overseas in recent years. On December 20th, the ten popular categories of AliExpress in 2023 were announced, and home goods such as sweeping robots, mechanical keyboards and electric blankets have become "must-buy good things" for overseas consumers with the concentrated outbreak of overseas "lazy economy" and home attributes. On the other hand, in the Chinese market, the sales data of cleaning appliances such as sweeping robots have declined significantly, and the declining argument of "sweeping robots do not harvest the middle class" has also become a practical problem that the entire industry has to face. How to break the game?Going to sea seems to have become a must for enterprises in the entire field of clean household appliances. Affected by living habits and consumption environment, China's clean household appliances go overseas mainly targeting the market in Europe and the United States, including Ecovacs, Dreame, Anker and other head brands are the earliest enterprises to go to sea, and have laid the foundation in overseas markets. The head manufacturers have already found a way to go overseas, how can the latecomers keep up with the pace of their predecessors and continue to conquer the overseas market?For small and medium-sized clean household appliance brands, in addition to the European and American markets with high premiums and strong branding, Southeast Asia, which is closer to China's consumption characteristics, how to expand?
The volume does not move domestically and abroad.
The achievements and dilemmas of leading brands going overseas.
From the perspective of the domestic market, affected by the decline in the overall national consumption willingness, the durable consumer goods with a long service life of clean household appliances have been significantly weak in the consumer market this year. In the first quarter of 2023, the sales volume of the sweeping robot industry will be 6780,000 units, down 147%；Omnichannel sales were 19800 million yuan, down 114%。This also forces relevant enterprises to choose to go overseas and look for the second growth curve. In terms of overseas markets, GFK's overseas data monitoring shows thatIn 2020, the sales volume of overseas clean electrical appliances exceeded 70 million units, a year-on-year increase of 13%;Sales exceeded $13 billion, up 15% year-on-year. In 2021, overseas sales of clean appliances reached 77 million units, a year-on-year increase of 13%;Sales exceeded $14 billion, up 15% year-on-year. In terms of market penetration,The acceptance rate of sweeping robots in developed countries such as Europe and the United States can reach 14%, and in the United States, the penetration rate of sweeping robot products is higher, compared with the penetration rate of the Chinese market is only in single digits. Anker, Roborock, Dreame and other clean home appliance brands are enterprises with outstanding performance in overseas market expansion in recent years. 
The basic situation of China's main clean household appliances going to sea brands (summarizing and sorting out the sails).
The leading enterprises have accumulated obvious competitive advantages over the years. Ecovacs mainly adopts the independent production mode, and the "Ecovacs" service robot and "Tineco" smart life electrical appliances have formed a diversified sales system composed of online channels and offline channels at home and abroad, and the OEM ODM business of cleaning electrical appliances is mainly sold directly to overseas brands. Ecovacs' 2023 semi-annual report shows that the overseas business revenue of the Ecovacs brand increased by 26% year-on-year5%, Timco's overseas business revenue increased by 24% year-on-year2%, accounting for 34 percent of their respective revenues3% and 309%, an increase of 71 and 32 percentage points. In the field of intelligent cleaning, the EUFY brand sweeper has outstanding technical advantages in terms of cleaning power and suction, and its product part score is even higher than that of brands such as giant irobot. At the same time, with the help of Anker's channel and brand marketing advantages, EUFY won a higher market share in North America, once reaching 226%。In recent years, on the basis of stabilizing market share, EUFY's business focus has been more focused on gross profit margin, and Anker Innovations' 2023 interim report shows that the gross profit margin of its intelligent innovation products has reached 4307%, an increase of 79%。
In contrast, Dreame, which has a shorter time of self-reliance, has a stronger brand advantage. As a brand that started as a Xiaomi OEM, Dreame has accumulated certain technology and first-chain advantages in the process of growth.
With the blessing of the Xiaomi brand, Dreame has opened up the market overseas at a relatively fast speed. Although Dreame has been independent for a short time, it has expanded to 120 countries, and its products have obvious advantages in the scope of influence in overseas markets. A comprehensive analysis of the head brands of clean household appliances can find that the advantages of China's cleaning household appliances in going overseas are mainly manifested in several aspects. First of all, strong R&D capabilities and first-chain support are the foundation. For example, Dreame, which started as a Xiaomi OEM, has achieved perfect technical accumulation in products such as vacuum cleaners, sweeping robots, hair dryers and mite removers, and has a relatively solid ** chain to support, and its brand is easier to obtain capital blessing and stronger strength in the process of going to sea. In February 2022, Bisheng launched a "337 investigation" against three affiliated companies, including Timco Intelligence, to the International Committee of the United States (ITC). It accused Timco of infringing five of its U.S. patents and requested a general exclusion order against Timco and others. This dispute is a wake-up call for China's smart home appliances to go overseas, which is easy to trigger the encirclement and suppression of overseas giants, and intellectual property rights are the most favorable shield.
An obvious reality is that the Chinese market's acceptance of clean household appliances has yet to be explored, superimposed on the downturn of the entire market consumption environment, the opportunities for clean household appliances enterprises in the domestic market are relatively shrinking, for mature brands, grasp the opportunity to go to sea in the early stage, has a piece of the pie, then, for small and medium-sized brands, and even brands in the early stage of going to sea, outside the European and American markets, emerging opportunities are in the first place
Brands gather in Southeast Asia.
Grabbing the market and strong profits do not conflict.
While most people regard consumer goods such as clean appliances as "exclusive" to the European and American markets, the demand for such products in Southeast Asia is becoming more vigorous. Data shows that in 2022, the growth of Dreame Southeast Asia will reach 450%. Channels are the most critical step for Dreame to open up the Southeast Asian marketBorrowing the thinking of Chinese e-commerce, Dreame also tries its best to open up the market with the help of e-commerce platforms in the Southeast Asian marketThis platform is Shopee. The relevant person in charge of Dreame said in an interview: "99 Super Shopping Festival, Dreame and Shopee exclusively launched the new product L10S Ultra in the Singapore market, which became a hit when it was first released. Dreame drove a 60-fold increase in GMV on the day of the promotion through the launch of new products, becoming the second best-selling vacuum cleaner brand in the Singapore market. "Singapore is one of the most economically developed countries in Southeast Asia, with relatively high demand and acceptance of cleaning products, but the wider market in Southeast Asia is in other countries with larger populations. The data shows that Indonesia's top 10 sweeper products mainly come fromChina, the United States, Indonesia and South Korea。Among them, Chinese brands are the most, such as Xiaomi, Ecovacs, Yeedi, iLife, 360, Dreame and other brands are very popular among local consumers. According to the Beijing News, from January to July 2023, Dreame's overseas business increased by 110% year-on-year. On Double 11 this year, the total sales of its brand in the Southeast Asian market exceeded 100 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 10 times. On this year's Double 11, the total sales of Dreame omni-channel exceeded 2.1 billion. In contrast, it is enough to see the consumption power of the Southeast Asian market, as well as the high level of local attention to Chinese clean home appliance brands. Taking the Malaysian market as an example, the industry report "Insights on Marketing Trends of Clean Appliance Brands Going Overseas" previously released by OneSight shows thatIn the Malaysian market, where consumption growth is strong, there are only 2 local brands and 5 strong overseas brands, including Dyson, Phiips, iRobot and other established giants with both strength and accumulation, and at the same time, China's Dreame, Roborock, Xiaomi, Ecovacs, Timco and other brands are also the main force in the local market. 
The Malaysian market has a certain market demand for clean household appliances, and Chinese brands have relative advantages in terms of product cost performance, ** chain, and brand marketing compared with traditional old giants, although they are relatively new in terms of establishment time.
Chinese brands have different ways of opening up in the Southeast Asian market, such as Ecovacs, and there are similarities with Dreame brand expansionLeverage e-commerce platforms to work with platforms to increase the brand's reach to users, especially during local e-commerce promotions, actively place advertisements and enhance discountsEcovacs' Yeedi is more cost-effective. This is similar to Xiaomi, which not only has an advantage in terms of value for money, but also makes it easier to attract local consumers in terms of brand influence. ilife is a brand that entered the Southeast Asian market in 2019, and its brand pays more attention to intelligence in marketing, emphasizing the convenience of remote control. In 2021, iLife was launched on Shopee 11On the day of the 11 major promotions, the order volume increased to 65 times that of normal days. The leading manufacturers have advantages in both brand and technology, and the gap in emerging markets also opens the window to new brands, and the consumer demand for cleaning products in different countries is different, and brands that can better adapt to localization requirements need to explore from a more segmented market. For example, in the Vietnamese market, research data shows that consumers value products such as sweeping robots more seriouslyDrop sensing, floor detection, and voice-activated effectsProducts that simply play cost-effective or technological sense do not have stronger competitiveness.
Under the influence of the segmented needs of different markets, it not only puts forward requirements for Chinese overseas manufacturers, but also provides new ideas for the marketing of these brands. Accenture, the commercial manager of the official business department of Google AD Google Ads, once said that the transitional pursuit of "high-tech" packaging, especially the concept of "robot" as the core, makes the simple concept of "automatic sweeping appliances" unable to be popularized. After all, young people and geeks are a minority, and they like the cool and dazzling concept of robots. But as a "household appliance" with an automatic cleaning function, its larger audience is people at home.
Therefore, it is important to clarify the attribute behavior of consumers in different regions. After the epidemic, the performance of the Southeast Asian market in the world is outstanding, the local economy is limited by the impact of the epidemic, the recovery of consumption power is more prominent, and it has more advantages in the consumer appliance market. The structure of a large population and a young population is the main feature of the Southeast Asian consumer market. China's clean household appliances to cope with the characteristics of young people's "lazy economy", out of China, covering Europe, America and Southeast Asia, has become the biggest trend, but from the previous experience of Chinese brands in the European and American markets, in addition to giving full play to technical advantages, brand advantages, Chinese brands should also work intellectual property rights and brand protection The incident of chasing a claim of 2 billion yuan has taught a lesson to overseas enterprises, and Chinese enterprises have a long road to go to sea.