In recent years, the rapid rise of 3D printers has made more people see the possibility of consumer-grade hardware going overseas.
Under the competition of leading manufacturers and capital, the intelligent hardware track is becoming more and more popular. Under the tuyere, another niche category is also accumulating strength, which is the laser engraving machine track.
With the decline of production costs and technical barriers, laser equipment has flown into the homes of ordinary people from unreachable large-scale products to widely used consumer products.
In just a few years, this emerging track has not only seen a number of overseas manufacturers, but even formed a strong pattern of "one super and many strong". Among them, this "super player" is XTOOL, a laser equipment brand under MakerWorks.
Under the predicament of the industry in which domestic manufacturers are still confined to the first war, the overseas war of laser equipment has begun. From the main education and training products to the transformation of laser equipment to go overseas, as a cross-border player, how did XTOOL become the head of the industry in a short period of time?
In this article, the brand ark will take the head brand xtool as an example to take you closer to the laser cutting machine to go to sea.
The laser engraving track set off a sea fever
Brand Ark learned that China's laser processing equipment started late, and the technology was monopolized by developed countries in the early days. However, with the support of national policies and the iteration of technology, China's laser industry has developed rapidly in recent years and has become the world's largest laser processing equipment market.
According to the data, the global laser processing equipment market size will be about 21.6 billion US dollars in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 28%。Among them, China's market accounted for 614%。
In 2022, the market size of China's laser processing equipment industry will be about 83.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 61%。Among them, laser cutting equipment is the largest segment, accounting for about 3973%, followed by laser welding equipment and laser marking equipment, with a market share of about 1579% and 1109%。
Although the market is large, with the increase in the number of players pouring in, the involution of the industry is gradually intensifying. In the context of a sharp drop in costs, laser equipment manufacturers are facing fierce battles, and the disorderly competition pattern makes it difficult for domestic sellers, and then extends their tentacles to overseas markets.
It is reported that the biggest advantage of domestic laser equipment is that a 3kw domestic laser cutting equipment may be less than 200,000 yuan, while European equipment of the same power can reach more than one million yuan.
At the same time, the technical conditions of China's laser equipment products have been relatively mature, and their iteration speed and product quality can be comparable to overseas giants, with natural advantages in going to sea.
As one of the hottest subcategories in the industry, the market potential of laser cutting machine engraving machine in overseas can be seen:
On Kickstarter, there are 8 cases of crowdfunding more than $100w for laser cutting machines, with the highest fundraising of nearly $5.93 million.
According to the data, in 2023, the estimated sales of the engraving machine tool category on Amazon will be about 53.22 million US dollars, and the top 2 head brands Makeblock and XTOOL are all brands of Maker Factory.
At the same time, the number of Chinese sellers under this category ranks first, accounting for 6693%。
In the situation of involution in China, some manufacturers have taken the lead in joining the war of going overseas, and XTOOL is one of them.
The transformation of education and training went overseas and jumped to the head of the industry
Before entering the laser industry, the company mainly made education and training products, in order to reverse the business difficulties after the "double reduction" policyIn 2021, he founded XTOOL, a digital tool brand, to provide users with creative tools and software such as laser cutting and 3D printing.
In 2021, it developed and launched the world's first cutting machine with integrated blades and laser cutting, XTOOL M1It has raised more than $2.6 million on Kickstarter, ranking TOP1 in the platform laser category in 2021 and TOP7 in the technology category.
At present, XTOOL goes to sea in the way of DTC, the main sales channels are Amazon, independent stations, etc., the main products are laser cutting engraving machines, and has developed a number of product lines: D series, M series, P series, F series, S series, in the same type of brands in the head, and gradually enter the forefront of desktop laser brands.
It may be hard for you to imagine that it is such a "cross-border entrepreneurship" and newly established emerging brand that has become a super player with hundreds of millions of revenues. According to the public information of MakerFactory, in 2022, the XTOOL brand will be fully developed, and its business revenue will reach 1 billion.
Although it has not been in the market for a long time, xtool's journey to the sea has been fruitfulOn Amazon's US station, its desktop-level laser engraving cutting machine XTOOL D1 has topped the category sales list for many times; The desktop multi-functional CO2 laser cutting machine XTOOL P2 was pre-sold overseas for less than a month, and the deposit payment amount reached millions of US dollars, and the sales volume exceeded 200 units in one hour on the day of launch. The average monthly number of visits to its independent website is about 1.3 million, ranking at the top of the industry.
As a "latecomer", what supports XTOOL's rapid growth overseas?
XCoot writes on its official website: XCoow is committed to meeting people's creative needs and making it easier to create.
In the past few years, laser engraving machines have undergone a transformation from industrial, commercial to consumer, and xtool has just seized this trend, tested new products through overseas crowdfunding, and actively developed product lines to meet the creative needs of more people after accumulating the first batch of seed users.
Consumer-grade hardware goes overseas to pay the most attention to product performance, a product must be tested and polished many times before it can come out, and under the premise of a long research and development process, the iteration speed of the product must also keep up with the rhythm.
Within one year after its establishment, XTOOL has completed the expansion of its four major product lines and maintained a certain frequency of new products. In 2023, XTOOL will successively release two new products, XTOOL P2 and XTOOL F1.
In November 2023, XCoow launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for the new XCotool Screen Printer. So far, the project has raised more than $1 million in funds and received the support of more than 2,600 users, becoming one of the multi-million dollar projects in the overseas technology category in 2023.
According to the data, XCtool Screen Printer is a home screen printing machine that is capable of completing an A4 size print in less than a minute.
Focusing on family scenes, education scenes, and manual DIY scenes, XTOOL has designed laser cutting equipment that can meet the needs of users from beginners to senior makers, realizing full coverage from desktop laser equipment to laser automotive machines.
Avoid the involution route and go to sea differently
1. Don't fight the best war and make a high premium
Wang Jianjun, founder of Maker Factory, said"Based on product differentiation and high investment in R&D, we choose to take the best strategy. The 3D printer industry has fallen into involution due to fierce competition, resulting in serious low products. To avoid similar situations, we have chosen high-grade materials and the latest technology to enhance the brand's premium power through high-quality products. "
It is understood that on Amazon, the average price of XTOOL's laser engraving machine series products is in the range of 1499-2699 US dollars, while the price of the desktop 55W multi-functional carbon dioxide laser cutting machine XTOOL P2 is as high as 4399 US dollars.
Such a pricing strategy has proven to be a match for overseas markets. The Gulu report shows that the goods** and sales under this category show a clear trend of high-end market tilt, the higher the price, the average sales are also significantly higher, and the profitability of a single product is strong.
Under this category, the sales of one store of xtoolofficial accounted for as much as 3455%, market dominance is high. From a brand perspective, MakeBlock and XTOOL also have the highest market share.
2. Establish contact with customers through DTC mode
For consumer-grade hardware with high technological attributes, it is also very important to gain insight and contact with users.
XCoove not only lays out the head e-commerce platform Amazon, but also focuses on the operation of its own independent station, using the DTC model to directly dialogue with users, and its independent station has reached the level of more than 1 million visits per month.
From the point of view of traffic channels,Direct traffic accounted for the largest proportion (44.).19%), followed by paid search and organic search, and the popular organic search terms include XTOOL, XTOOL S1, XTOOL P2 and other brands and product names, indicating that XTOOL has a certain popularity overseas.
On social media channels, YouTube provides the largest amount of traffic to independent stations** (609%), followed by Facebook (30.).94%）。
In addition, the brand ark also observed that the content construction of xtool's independent station is very rich and full of temperature. Whether it is a large-scale brand story introduction or a narration of product performance, it is to convey the brand concept and core values to users as a sharer.
"We are a team of creative and creative geeks who are passionate about creating," said xtool. That's why we hold a creative contest every month or two for xtool employees, who use xtool machines to make their own projects and present them at roadshows. ”
3. Social media marketing penetrates the user's mind
Overseas, consumer-grade laser cutting machines are a relatively niche market, and many users do not have the habit of using them for process creation. Therefore, brands are often required to make efforts in user education and awareness. XTOOL also invests heavily in advertising to educate the market and raise consumer awareness of the product.
It is understood that YouTube, as the most favored social media platform for technology brands, has attracted many overseas brands to conduct marketing arrangements. XCoow is no exception, it broadcasts live on YouTube once a week, listens to users and solves problems during the live broadcast, constantly shows potential customers the advantages and application possibilities of the product, and helps the brand expand its market voice.
At the same time,XCoove has also set up 7 "enthusiast" user groups on Facebook, with a total of more than 150,000 membersIt has also joined exclusive communities in different categories to create exclusive communication camps for users with different needs, and also strengthened users' trust and stickiness to the brand.
Brandark view brand
In the cross-border e-commerce circle in the past few years, "involution" is a common pain point for countless sellers.
From an unknown seed player to an industry boss who has successfully crossed the border to go to sea, XTOOL has fired a perfect "first shot" in the battle of laser cutting machines.
For start-up brands going overseas, it is very important to seize the bonus period of overseas markets. On the basis of the four major product lines, XTOOL continues to improve the speed of product iteration, and accelerates the pace of overseas user education, strengthens brand awareness while making good products, maximizes the brand effect, and successfully ranks among the top in the industry.
Looking overseas, the consumption space of the niche track of laser cutting machine is still increasing, and we look forward to more emerging forces joining in the future!