The secret of the super-high-end home appliance brand Dyson in China, where there is no shortage of cheap items in the world.

It's not uncommon for a vacuum cleaner manufacturer to have its own community of fans, even if it's a country that always has unexpected and strange things like China. But that was the truth Dyson had created.

During last year's Single Singles shopping event, Dyson's newly released Airwrap curler was sold out in just three minutes on Alibaba's Tmall e-market and with JD.com in just 15 seconds. In the same event this year, Dyson was one of 84 brands that achieved sales of 100 million yuan (about US $ 14.25 million) within an hour.

Dyson head of engineering, Adriano Niro at a product launch in Hong Kong, 2014. (Image: SCMP)

Dyson entered the Chinese market in 2012. Three years later, the company's sales in the country increased by 244%. Dyson wireless vacuum cleaners are particularly popular and popular, with sales up 343% in 2016.

In 2018, Dyson had a 61% market share in China's vacuum cleaner market. China Market Monitor, a Beijing-based research firm specializing in home appliances, estimates that Dyson has 39.9% of the offline vacuum cleaner market and 18.8% online. Either way, Dyson has established itself as China's largest vacuum cleaner manufacturer, an extremely impressive feat for a premium brand.

However, keep in mind that Dyson vacuum cleaners are not cheap, of course comes with the best quality. The latest V11 Fluffy model sells for about $ 650. Past models are cheaper, but still cost hundreds of dollars. Although Chinese people are not afraid to spend money on high-end brands - such as Apple - home appliances rarely receive such great enthusiasm.

"Chinese consumers want to embrace new and fairly open technologies with groundbreaking products," said Dyson CEO Jim Rowan.

Jake Dyson, son of Dyson founder James Dyson, at a Dyson store in Hong Kong. (Photo: SCMP)

The company's founder, James Dyson, once shared that Dyson's development lies in the company having a great desire for new technology and good design. And obviously investing in technology is the key to Dyson's success. Although its products are more expensive than similar products from competing brands, they are affordable enough for many consumers, especially in China.

Not to mention, Dyson has found the right approach in sales strategy and communication in the past few years in this country. The company has turned its product into a luxury item, but it has an affordable price and can be easily purchased. Dyson also became adept at adapting to changing environments and markets in China, through learning to listen and speak to modern consumers.

Perhaps the true success of a brand in China is when counterfeit goods began to appear. In January, Chinese police shut down a company that manufactured and sold fake Dyson hair dryers, arresting 36 people. The fake products are sold at half the price of a real hair dryer and the company earned $ 1.5 million in sales before the police appeared.

As counterfeit products are the best evidence that Dyson hair-related products are very popular in China and they can be as expensive as some of the company's vacuum models. Last October, a $ 500 curler issued by Dyson sparked widespread debate on social media, whether or not the quality of the product was affordable. One of the first posts on WeChat to introduce this product went viral and gained 11 million views within 24 hours.

Dyson later said that the company did not fund the promotion of the WeChat post. But it worked with online influencers (KOL) in China.

In an online marketing campaign for Airwrap, Dyson worked with seven influential people on WeChat and Weibo before gaining over 8 million article views and over 4 million video views. According to experts, engaging consumers using influencers online has proven to be an effective marketing tool for Dyson. Dyson positioning alongside fashion content has proved particularly useful on modern content platforms.

Dyson products have a modern design with a fantasy style, but high quality, at an expensive price.

In an annual survey of Chinese consumers about brands they can't live without, this year Dyson was ranked 28. It ranks well above the well-known Chinese home appliance manufacturer. Midea, ecommerce site Taobao and smartphone maker Vivo.

Prophet, a marketing and branding consulting firm that publishes the reports, said this year Dyson has provided technology products with beautiful and impressive designs and effective use. targeted e-commerce strategies.

This strategy includes high pricing to cater to the middle class and the company rarely uses promotions because of concerns that it may hurt the image of the brand. Prophet also said that Dyson has also sought to attract tech-savvy male consumers on consumer electronics forums and target female consumers with "Generation Z" through packaging and limited editions. different.

It can be said that the popularity of Dyson in China shows that Chinese Z-generation consumers are looking for unique brands and products to express their own identity. But the middle class is still the main market for luxury brands, after all.

"The popularity of Dyson indicates that there is a rapidly growing group of Chinese consumers who are willing to trade in order to improve their quality of life and make them feel better," said a researcher from Euromonitor shared. "Consumers, especially in high-end cities, are pursuing aesthetics, quality of life and solutions to cope with a busy, stressful lifestyle."

According to Jim Rowan, CEO of Dyson, the company is also pursuing an aspiring new customer class, ready to spend more.

With the increasing popularity of Dyson in Asia, the company now plans to relocate its headquarters to Singapore. This will allow the company the ability to continue expanding and developing the market even faster. Dyson previously had an R&D laboratory in Shanghai, which was opened in 2017.

Refer to Abacus News