What is the future of smart wearable devices?

As one of the most widely used products launched under the wave of smart hardware, smart bracelets have more and more start-up companies breaking into this field in the past two years. However, behind the excitement is the high homogeneity of products ; Under the low threshold, there are a lot of products of mixed quality...

It is in such an industry background that Misfit has firmly captured a large number of loyal users with its stylish appearance. Misfit is a smart wearable device startup that pays great attention to design. It was founded in 2011 by former Apple CEO John Sculley and Vietnamese-American Vu Xuan Shan.

The day Misfit was founded, Jobs died. The two founders chose the word "Misfit" in a previous Apple advertisement as the company name to honor Jobs. The word itself has the meaning of "unfit", which also fits Misfit's unique view of the market: smart hardware must find its own direction.

Start-ups' judgment on direction is the key

In 2012, Misfit put the design prototype of its first product "Shine" on Indiegogo, a famous American fundraising platform. The crowdfunding goal of $120,000 was completed in less than 12 hours after launching, and the final amount reached $846,000 within two months of crowdfunding. A start-up company in the field of smart wearables has attracted public attention.

In the communication with "CEConline", Liu Kai, Vice President of Misfit and E-commerce China, did not overemphasize the excitement brought by data, but saw something more long-term from success: Misfit has determined the fashion direction of its products through the first batch of user recognition obtained in this crowdfunding. He found that in addition to raising a certain amount of funds from crowdfunding, the click-through rate of the product release videos at that time was very high, "Product crowdfunding can bring benefits in at least three aspects: one is to raise money, the other is to release the product, and the third is to play the role of the product. The key is to make timely adjustments to the product through feedback.”

At present, crowdfunding of smart hardware on various platforms in China has become very common, but a large number of products Much the same, it is difficult to stand out in crowdfunding. Liu Kai, based on his own observations on the industry, believes that China is a market with a high degree of homogeneity in the design direction of intelligent hardware. Entrepreneurs must walk ahead of others, which depends on a basic judgment of the company, especially the founding team, on the direction. "Crowdfunding is the first step to get company investment. Many professional investors will pay attention to you when they see that you are relatively successful in crowdfunding, so this is also a recognition from the first batch of users, and their recognition A lot depends on whether your product captures the interests of your target users," he admitted.

Next, Misfit, which grasps the direction, continues to explore the fashion and "adornment" of products, and the products gradually form a high degree of recognition in smart bracelets - the simple and fashionable design makes many consumers remember. live with this company. The company has also been favored by large companies in terms of financing. In 2013, it raised $15.2 million in the second round of financing led by Li Ka-shing's Horizon Ventures, and the subsequent third round of financing. Attracted investment from Xiaomi, JD.com, and Jiyuan Capital, and the financing amount reached 40 million US dollars. In 2015, Misfit received an offer from Fossil, one of the world's largest fashion groups, after three rounds of investment of $63 million, and finally sold it to the world's third largest watch group for $260 million.

Although there may be some adjustments in the positioning of the products acquired by Fossil, Liu Kai believes that this is not just related to acquisitions. Smart hardware has experienced a rapid development stage in the past three years. Combined with a judgment of Misfit on the market, Liu Kai believes that smart + fashion will be a general direction of smart wearable devices in the future. He explained Misfit's concept of "intelligence + fashion": in addition to creating smart functions on products, Misfit will pay more attention to the wearing itself, and integrate it into personal dressing style in combination with personal dressing style. They believe that if smart wear cannot be integrated into personal lifestyles, it will be very obtrusive, and smart wear must be able to become an "accessory" for the wearer.

Let users know you as much as possible

Misfit is one of the few smart hardware teams with "Silicon Valley genes". He was the CEO of Pepsi-Cola, and at the age of 38, he was also the youngest president of Pepsi-Cola. He was famous for his excellent marketing ability. The famous "thePepsiChallenge" marketing plan came from Sculley's hands. It is also an old story that everyone is familiar with after entering Apple and driving Steve Jobs away. Another founder, Wu Chunshan, worked as a researcher at Microsoft during his college days. In 2011, he founded a medical instrument company called AgaMatrix, which has grown from zero to $100 million in annual sales in ten years.

Misfit wants to establish itself as the Apple of smartbands -- even if it's expensive, it has a lot of loyal users. "In the entire consumer group, there will always be people who pay special attention to design, brand, user experience, and are willing to pay a higher price in exchange." Liu Kai explained to "CEConline".

In Liu Kai's view, young people may be more price-sensitive when they first come into contact with Misfit, but in the future he will form a certain sense of identity with the Misfit brand, and at the same time recognize the product design and accept the overall ecosystem created by Misfit. , he will be willing to pay for it. Liu Kai believes that this part of the population in China will increase.

Roughly two-thirds of Misfit's revenue comes from outside the United States, and half of it comes from China. This smart wearable device company, which has maintained a high level of attention in the United States, did not officially enter the Chinese market until early 2014, but Misfit has a complete market team in China for a long time. As a start-up foreign-funded enterprise, Misfit has The Chinese market also has its own unique insights. Liu Kai said that whether companies want to do publicity or market coverage, they must be very down-to-earth. He took the WeChat official account, the largest new media platform in China, as an example. It is very simple to open a WeChat account, but then you have to think about how to write some high-quality content, "At the same time, you can form a feedback with your own users, Furthermore, you have to think about how to seize the new development direction of your own company in the market as quickly as possible.”

In order to let more Chinese consumers remember it, Misfit held a very large conference in Beijing in October last year and April this year, and constantly adjusted according to the market environment. According to Liu Kai's introduction, last year's press conference had strong Silicon Valley characteristics, but this year's form is more in line with the design positioning of its products, combining many fashion elements. "From this perspective, we actually got a lot of offline responses. This is also part of our latest market plan: how to let the Misfit brand interact with Chinese users in an all-round way and improve the influence of the Misfit brand in China." Liu Kai said .

In addition, Liu Kai believes that what Misfit is good at is sales channels. They have invested a lot in traditional offline channels. Misfit has established a good cooperative relationship with Apple since its establishment. Consumers can try on and buy Misfit products in Apple's experience store; at the same time, Misfit also It has settled in Watch Station, the first officially authorized official retail store in mainland China that collects many of the world's top brands of fashion watches. Consumers may rarely see a bracelet product appearing in watch stores, which may be a very unique point of Misfit. Misfit hopes to do its best to let customers experience the good intentions of their designs and provide customers with a chance to try them on.

Of course, online is a very important channel for electronic products, and most of the consumption behaviors of young consumers in China are online. Misfit is also paying more and more attention to e-commerce channels. "Online channels will be a key direction for us in the future, both in terms of marketing and sales." Liu Kai said.

Aim your products at target users

The current smart bracelet functions are basically clustered in sports fitness monitoring, and product innovation is weak. This is not a problem with the smart bracelet itself. Most of it is the choice of the entrepreneur himself.

In 2015, the smart hardware industry ushered in a spring, but this upward momentum did not maintain a good momentum in 2016 as everyone expected. The views of many smart hardware entrepreneurs contacted by "CEConline" coincide: It may be an exaggeration to say that the cold winter is coming, but a large number of enterprises will definitely be eliminated.

Liu Kai told "CEConline" that if you just follow a trend, the chance of failure is very high. Like everyone rushing into the hot field of smart hardware, but most teams don't think about product design, including understanding user pain points and the market competition environment, all these issues don't think too much. Everyone just sees that this thing is popular, and then finds a similar hardware technology in Shenzhen and starts production. In fact, it is too simple to think of entrepreneurship or smart hardware.

"It's useless for you to post a brand. Now Chinese users are more critical than users in any country in the world, because there are too many opportunities to contact products. It's just a simple OEM, and there is no threshold. Hardware manufacturers with solutions will soon die." Liu Kai said, "You must know that no single product can solve everyone's pain points. The functions of smart wearable hardware are 80%-90% similar, and the products are aimed at users. Who are they, and what are their pain points?"

Liu Kai pointed out that for Misfit, we must think about where the users are, whether it is product design, software, hardware or the construction of the entire ecosystem. own users.

In fact, it is very difficult to start a hardware business, because from design to production, you have to make prototypes yourself, and you need to study every step by yourself, which includes not only the entrepreneur's commitment to investors, but also the Include their commitment on the sale. "Everyone has to survive, which I agree with very much, but the entrepreneurial team must keep thinking about how to see the development direction of the entire industry before others." Liu Kai said.

Liu Kai believes that for local Chinese brands, finding their own customers and markets through innovation is the only way to survive.

The way Liu Kai doesn't agree with is that everyone has to build a platform, which is difficult for hardware. Everyone needs to analyze: Where is the consumer target group of the product? What is its share of the overall consumer base? What is a percentage of their likely purchases on that product each year? Only then can we have a basic judgment on the market, and then we can have an overall plan in terms of hardware investment, production planning, and logistics system.

Going back to the smart bracelet, after the market cultivation in the past few years, "many people now care about whether the smart wearable device they wear today is suitable for their lifestyle; whether it can let them master a healthier life. In addition, whether users are willing to buy your next-generation products after the product is replaced, all these boil down to the user experience." Liu Kai said that whether it is a smart bracelet or a smart watch, there is still a good chance to become the next one. On the cusp. If any product really wants to become a high-traffic product like a mobile phone, it actually takes a long process to solve the pain points of many users.

In the face of the current smart wearable devices with serious functional homogeneity, Liu Kai said to "CEConline", "In fact, the most difficult thing is not to do addition, but to do subtraction."