Even if Cook comes, we have to buy goods. Huaqiangbei's "new specialty" is popular on Xiaohongshu

This article delves into how Huaqiangbei’s innovative product, screen headphones, became a hit on the social media platform Xiaohongshu and became a “new specialty”, revealing the market dynamics and consumer trends behind this phenomenon. Hopefully, reading this article will provide you with a deep understanding of electronics market trends and social media marketing.

"I heard that you are very strong-willed. You don't have to be so strong anymore, because your strength is coming." This cheesy love talk that was once circulated in the blind date market was attributed to Huaqiangbei by "nosy" netizens.

Huaqiangbei is known as "China's No. 1 Electronics Street". It is located in Futian District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province. It stretches from Shangbu Middle Road in the east to Huafu Road in the west, from Hongli Road in the north to Shennan Road in the south. It is said that if Huaqiangbei sneezes, all electronics markets in the country will catch a cold.

How strong is Huaqiangbei? Here, two hundred-yuan bills can buy a replica Dyson hair dryer that costs 3,499 yuan. The money for a pair of Uniqlo socks can be exchanged for an electronic watch and a charger. New headphones are unveiled at a press conference one second and can be seen on a one-meter counter the next.

(The picture comes from Xiaohongshu blogger "105789086")

In addition to "high cost-effectiveness", "fast update speed" and "wide selection", Huaqiangbei sometimes even stands at the forefront of the consumer market earlier than some large companies.

"Do you have screen headphones?" Feng Xu is a backpacker who travels around the major electronic malls in Huaqiangbei, commonly known as "Huaqiangbei purchasing agent". In Huaqiangbei, most of the customers of merchants with storefronts are distributors, and they are burdened with rent and inventory pressure. Backpackers are more flexible, and most of their customers are buyers for their own use, and they can also feel the slightest movement in the market at the first time.

Feng Xu's original main product was mobile phones, but recently more and more buyers have been asking him about screen earphones, so he simply posted a post about screen earphones on his Xiaohongshu account. "The earphone market is a bloody market. High-end earphones are dominated by Apple, and mid-range earphones pursue the ultimate cost-effectiveness. The profit margin of manufacturers is less than 5%." The screen earphones he sells are priced at around 150 yuan, which belongs to the low-end category. In his words, he can't make much money.

But even so, the post he published still attracted a lot of attention, attracting more than 50 new customers in less than a day. On Xiaohongshu, the highest number of likes for tweets related to "screen headphones" exceeded 200,000, and even topped the hot list.

As the new "traffic code" of the electronics market, the screen earphones look ordinary from the back, but you can find something special when you turn them over. A thumb-sized screen can not only be used to change songs and adjust the volume, but also to read lyrics. A patent drawing of Apple AirPods is circulating online, showing that a touch screen like the Apple Watch is added to the charging case.

Apple's patent application circulated online

Apple's finished product appeared in Huaqiangbei before the launch event. "Even when Cook comes, he has to carry sacks to buy goods," a consumer joked. Although there is a lot of discussion about this screen headset, stores are still very cautious about purchasing goods. "It's not clear how long this headset will be popular," said Feng Xu. This screen headset is also like a mirror, reflecting a corner of the electronics industry around Huaqiangbei.

1. Screen headphones, born in the red ocean

Xu Hui has been dealing with headphones for 10 years. In his opinion, the domestic headphone market has long been a red ocean. Manufacturers have a very subtle mentality towards screen headphones. On the one hand, after the popularity of self-hanging headphones has passed, there are few new innovations in the market, and everyone has expectations for this product. But on the other hand, headphones are not a high-frequency consumer product, and it is difficult to convince consumers to pay for them with just a screen.

Xu Hui was originally a dealer. When he first entered the industry in 2014, wired earphones and Bluetooth earphones were still the dominant force.

By then, Huaqiangbei's heyday had faded. The rapid rise of domestic electronic digital brands and the government's strengthening of intellectual property protection have greatly squeezed the market for assembled and copycat phones. This year, Alibaba and JD.com, two e-commerce platforms, were listed in the United States. The expansion of online channels also had a significant impact on Huaqiangbei, which was originally mainly engaged in offline operations. But even so, Xu Hui still got a share of the headphone market. In 2016, he invested the first pot of gold he earned from the second batch into a factory and decided to build his own supply chain and brand.

It was precisely in this year that Apple did something big and launched the wireless earphones AirPods. With a white shell and minimalist style, this product quickly became the darling of electronic product enthusiasts. Feng Xu told E-commerce Online that in the earphone market, almost no brand can compete with Apple. In this regard, Xu Hui also gave a default answer.

In addition to the obvious Matthew effect, Shenzhen brands are also facing serious internal competition. Compared with chargers, data cables, and power banks, earphones are electronic accessories with the most parts and the most complicated assembly process. But compared with mobile phones and cameras, its entry threshold is not too high.

"In Shenzhen, there are no secrets in the headphone industry." For a new product to go from "wanting to make" to "going to the counter in Huaqiangbei", the core must solve two key problems. One problem is the design solution, which is solved by the chip manufacturer, and the other problem is the processing solution, which is solved by the manufacturer. Feng Xu said: "Solving the chip can solve 70% of the technical problems and 40% of the cost problems." When the chip manufacturer completes the design, mass production and external sales, the manufacturers who lack self-research capabilities are equivalent to standing on the same starting line. In order to compete for a piece of land, they usually can only reduce costs again and again. To what extent has Huaqiangbei's chip capabilities reached? Xu Hui gave an example. In 2018, the battery life of AirPods was about 2-3 hours, and the battery life of the imitation AirPods sold in Huaqiangbei could reach 6 hours.

At that time, their brand also used this chip to produce a pair of headphones that featured "long battery life", with annual sales reaching millions. "However, this does not mean that the chip of this pair of headphones is better than Apple's. The design plan is an overall plan that only focuses on battery life, and the sound quality, functions, etc. may be weaker.

2. Sell 30,000 orders in one go

"When I use them, many friends ask me where I bought them." Li Shu is a junior student. The main reason she bought the screen headphones was the novelty. Feng Xu said that the current buyers of screen headphones are mainly young people, mainly students, and the popular price range is around 150 yuan.

Xu Hui said that Huaqiangbei is not the birthplace of screen headphones. According to his recollection, as early as 2022, an American audio brand JBL launched a pair of headphones with a 1.45-inch touch screen. The brand's official price is 249 euros, and the slogan is: This is the world's first smart headphone charging case. But many netizens do not agree with Xu Hui's statement. When the product was first released, many people complained for Huaqiangbei. Many people said that Huaqiangbei already had it, even with a color screen.

After JBL launched its new headphones, the domestic market did not respond much. For counterfeiters, the brand's market recognition was not as good as Apple's, and it did not have a stable and mature ecosystem. For brand merchants, the domestic headphone market was not prosperous at the time, and investing in the production of a new product that had not yet been educated by the market required careful consideration.

At the beginning of 2023, the screen earphones unexpectedly gained a lot of attention on overseas social platforms such as TikTok and Facebook. Xu Hui clearly felt the attention of cross-border foreign trade traders to this product. "A colleague who opened a factory received an order for 30,000 units at once." In October 2023, Xu Hui also started to produce screen earphones.

(Picture from Xiaohongshu blogger Lu Liu)

"At the beginning, most of the screen earphones on the market were basically imitations of JBL's public model earphones," said Yao Huina, sales manager of WEKOME, an electronic accessories fashion brand. At the beginning of this year, they cooperated with a digital blogger and moved the screen earphones into the live broadcast room. It was originally predicted that 1,000 units would be sold on the spot, but 3,000 units were sold in the end. "The market feedback was better than we expected, and we opened a private model specifically for this product."

But the popularity of screen earphones is like a firework, with limited volume and unknown benefits. On Taobao, there are only a few merchants with single product sales exceeding 10,000. In Xu Hui's view, screen earphones are not like bone conduction earphones, which can bring earth-shaking changes in physical sensation to consumers. The chip factory he is familiar with has accelerated its research and development, hoping to launch a screen earphone with song storage function like MP3.

3. Huaqiangbei, the air is filled with the smell of "business"

From the moment he first walked into the SEG Communications Building in Huaqiangbei, Feng Xu understood that buying electronic products here would not be a problem if you didn't find a good choice, but if you had too many choices.

The blue plastic baskets and sealed cartons made the already narrow passage even narrower, and in some places one could only walk sideways. On both sides were densely packed shops, selling everything from headphones, phone cases, and phone chains to computers, phones, and cameras, all trying to squeeze into these small cubicles like vegetables in a market.

As a bellwether of the domestic electronics industry, Huaqiangbei has fulfilled many dreams of wealth and freedom. It is said that at least 50 billionaires have come out of here, including Ma Huateng, the founder of Tencent, Wu Haijun, the founder of Computerworld, and Zhao Jianjun, the founder of TP-LINK routers.

There is a joke that goes around that if you walk from downstairs to upstairs in Huaqiang North Electronics City, you can build an iPhone. Here, few people care whether the business is big or small. If you ask the boss: Do you have screen earphones? The boss can quickly pull out a foam box from the seemingly messy and stacked goods, and the earphones inside are neatly arranged like a guard of honor.

Without connections, it is difficult to buy top-notch products. For this reason, backpackers have even compiled a set of tips on how to get products in Huaqiangbei. Remember to carry a black bag, the bigger the better; when you see a woman, regardless of her age, call her "sister", calling her "pretty girl" will show your shyness; if you buy a mobile phone, don't just hold one in your hand when asking for the price, grab a stack of them...

In addition to having a keen eye, doing business also requires the courage to "gamble". Feng Xu once heard a rumor that when the iPhone 12 was first launched, merchants in Huaqiangbei thought that the next Apple Watch would change the frame to a right-angle frame like the 12. Before the new product was released, they started to make molds and produce it. As a result, the new product released in the end still continued the original rounded frame, which caused a large number of people to lose money. As for the screen mobile phone that accidentally went viral this time, merchants have already launched a pure white, minimalist "Apple version".

Here is the most primitive logic of making money: find the price difference. The "price power" that has been regarded as a treasure by major Internet companies in the past two years is the most basic business principle of Huaqiangbei. The one-meter counter has witnessed the myth of getting rich overnight, and also witnessed the collapse of the building in an instant. Behind the screen headphones are merchants who are still eager to try and waiting for the next new opportunity.

Author: Liu Yiqi Siwen

Source: E-commerce Online (ID: 1089127)