From 0 to annual sales of 30 million, Shopee sellers successfully broke through!

The world looks to China for fishing gear, and China looks to Weihai, Shandong for fishing gear. Weihai, known as the "fishing tackle capital of China", is home to a huge industrial cluster with an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan, and thousands of fishing gear production and trading companies have benefited from its booming growth.

Relying on the Weihai fishing gear industry cluster, these companies sell fishing gear abroad and overseas, and many local sellers have made a name for themselves overseas with fishing gear.

Backed by the fishing gear industry belt, it successfully went to sea

"Fishing rods should be made in Weihai, Shandong", this has become a regional complex for countless anglers. As the world's largest production base for fishing gear, Weihai has contracted nearly half of the world's fishing gear. Among every 10 fishing rods, 6 are from Weihai.

The highly advantageous industrial chain has also led many local companies to choose to enter the cross-border track, and Seasir is one of them.

"In 2021, I just entered the cross-border track, and platforms such as Shopee in Southeast Asia had just emerged," said Allen, head of Seasir. Considering the multiple potential factors such as the similar cultural habits between Southeast Asia and China and the large population base, combined with the synergy advantages of being located in the Weihai industrial chain, Seasir is determined to enter the fishing gear category products in the Southeast Asian market.

After more than two years of cross-border e-commerce, Seasir has grown its annual sales from 0 to 30 million, and its brand has also grown from being unknown to being well-known today. Currently, its team of 20 people operates stores on multiple platforms.

Shopee is one of its main operating platforms, which has greatly helped Seasir's store performance. In the early stage of entering the platform, Seasir focused on off-site traffic and word-of-mouth accumulation. After a year of brand building, it began to reap the fruits. Take 2023 as an example. This year, Seasir store won the honor of Pioneer Seller of the Year 2023 on the Shopee platform; the number of orders increased 5-6 times compared with the previous year; during the platform's 12.12 promotion, the company increased its marketing investment, and its Malaysian site store ranked first in single-store sales in the sports and outdoor category.

Popular fishing gear appears frequently in Southeast Asia, revealing the secret of sellers' success

The fact that Seasir can continuously achieve new achievements on one platform is enough to show the efforts it has made in the Southeast Asian market.

Understanding consumers' preferences is undoubtedly the key to opening up the market. Whenever talking about this, Allen always talks about it: "Southeast Asia is located in the tropics, and the locals are generally enthusiastic and like bright and cool colors; consumers are good at hands-on work and like DIY products; lures are the most popular products." Seasir positions its brand in the mid-to-high-end market, and has a price advantage over first-tier brands, and its performance is also excellent.

Due to the fact that fishing people tend to be younger and like new products, Seasir's stores mainly target young consumers between the ages of 20 and 30, and proactively cater to the pursuits of young people in terms of functions and designs.

To meet the needs of young people for individuality, Seasir has developed many products, including the reels and rods they excel in. The fishing reel with semi-ceramic bearing technology is one of the relatively successful products developed, which fits well with consumers' concepts and sells well in Southeast Asia.

Seasir has created many hits by focusing on consumers and developing products based on their preferences. Take the water drop wheel product as an example. It became a hit in the market soon after its launch and its sales volume is far ahead of other similar products.

If we trace the root of the problem, we can find that the main reason why this product has become a hit is its precise positioning: first, the price positioning is in the middle and high end between 100 and 200 yuan; second, at this price point, Seasir relies on the domestic industrial chain to achieve the ultimate in quality, and both the paint and the overall appearance have reached a high standard; most importantly, it has good performance, and the drop-shaped reel design allows users to experience both micro-fishing and general-purpose fishing at the same time, meeting the diverse needs of fishing enthusiasts and greatly improving the fishing experience.

Taking advantage of Shopee, we are steadily gaining market share in Southeast Asia

There will always be storms when going overseas, and Seasir is no exception: "In the past, we mainly carried out off-site promotion and were not good at using on-site resources." Allen shared: "But fortunately, with the help of the platform manager, he gave us a lot of guidance on on-site marketing, such as mining on-site traffic and suggestions on participating in major promotion activities."

With the help of Shopee account managers, the results are obvious. Seasir has made good use of the resources and tools on the platform, and the promotion effect and sales of its store are also on the rise. On the 12.12 promotion day in 2023, Seasir's ROI on the platform's in-site advertising was as high as 45.

After tasting the sweetness, Seasir plans to increase investment in platform resources in 2024. In addition to advertising, Seasir is also eager to try live broadcasting on the site, and plans to cooperate with the platform's account managers this year to seize this wave of traffic dividends.

In addition, Seasir also proposed to focus on Shopee's overseas warehouses this year. "Some countries have begun to increase taxes, and we are also trying to deploy goods overseas," Allen said frankly. This will not only save costs and make products more cost-effective, but also shorten the time it takes for buyers to get the goods and increase the product's praise rate, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Faced with more and more sellers and platforms entering this potential market, Seasir has already thought of a coping strategy. Relying on the advantages of Weihai's industrial chain, Seasir will launch lower-priced products to seize traffic entrances and gain first-mover advantage; at the same time, it will focus more on product differentiation, and continuously develop differentiated products by improving independent research and development capabilities to improve competitiveness.

Allen also has a blueprint for the company's future development: "We plan to bring the domestic new retail model to Southeast Asia, open flagship stores on the platform, and supplement our offline stores through the offline agent recruitment model." As of now, Seasir is doing well online, and may develop offline agents in the future to serve online customers.

During the interview, Allen has been emphasizing two aspects, namely products and brands, which are also the key for many sellers to stand out in the overseas market. In the future, Seasir will increase its research and development efforts while ensuring excellent product quality, and come up with more products with highlights, personality, and cost-effectiveness. At the same time, it will also deepen the brand's influence in the local area by holding offline competitions and charity activities, such as holding fishing competitions and sponsoring local orphanages, and go further and further in Southeast Asia.