Product ｜ Tiger Sniff Commercial Consumer Group
Author ｜ Zhou Bing
Edit ｜ Zhou Yueming
Questions ｜ Interviewee
In the vast overseas market, there are alwaysSome unpopular tracks and unexpected products are dug out to make money.A small Rubiks cube is one of them.
Maybe few people know that there is a brand in Guangzhou earning two billion yuan a year by selling the Miku, of which 70%of the revenue comes from overseas.
This brand is called Gancube. In 2014, it was founded by Jiang Yiyuan in Guangzhou after 85. Their team is not large, but the brand name has quietly appeared in China.In the big list.
Choosing to do the Rubiks Cube business is related to Jiang Yiyuans experience. He is not only the earliest "demon friend" in China, but also Chinas first Rubiks Cube Speed Contest.
Around 2005, Jiang Yiyuan began to contact Rubiks Cube, but he quickly found that it was difficult to buy a suitable racing Rubiks cube.There is almost no racing Rubiks brand in China. It is not only expensive to purchase overseas, but often have to wait for a month or two.Seeing the opportunity of this market, Jiang Yiyuan began to try to do the design and development of the Rubiks cube in 2009, and founded the brand Gancube in 2014.
The product pricing of Gancube is not low. For example, the average price of their third -order Rubiks cube is almost 150 yuan, which is ten times that of ordinary low -end Rubiks cube.Different from the Shantou Chenghai Industry Belt and merchants that have gathered the domestic headbroke brands (magic domains, Rubikas, etc.) and supporting 33%of the global toy production capacity.High -end Rubiks Cube business.
Is a competitive not a toy
, Instead of simply toy. "Jiang Yanyuan told Tiger Sniff.
In his opinion, as the "toys" Rubiks cube, naturally there is a disadvantage of a single category and a high learning threshold, not a good -selling product.
The common Rubiks cube is all third -order. It is enough to buy one. Ordinary people rarely repurchase. As a pasta toy, the threshold of the Rubiks cube is far higher than many toys.A lot of potential audiences have been repeated when they get started.In contrast, as the Rubiks Cube of the Athletic Movement, players will continue to repurchase or try new products for faster, updated and better pursuits.
And, The profits of the low -end Rubiks cube are indeed too low.
" Low -price toys Rubiks cube is about two or three yuan per fact, about tens of millions of Rubiks cubes each year, and the profit is up to 100 million./Strong> "" Jiang Yiyuan said, but in comparison, the ex -factory price of Gancube Rubiks cube is basically more than 100 yuan/piece, selling less, but the profit is higher than the industry average.
However, after all, the Rubiks Cube is a niche movement, and the markets demand for racing Rubiks cube is too small.How to "make the cake bigger" and let more people come into contact with the racing cube, which has become a problem to be solved by Jiang Yanyuans team.
The method found by Jiang Yiyuan is to create the atmosphere of the competition.If a single play is not addicted enough, then come to participate in the competition.
In order to create a competition environment, in 2019, Gancube began to launch smart Rubiks Cube and Rubiks Star Planet APP.Each small block of the Smart Cube contains sensors, electronic components, and batteries. These electronic components can monitor every rotation of the Rubiks Cube and transmit the data to the mobile app in real time.
Through the smart Rubiks cube, not only ordinary Rubiks cube enthusiasts can play with players around the world at any time, professional players can also practice their hands.The setting of the competition system is even more tricky. Various modes such as the Taiwan competitions, qualifying, and room games are trying to make players obsessed with this game and generate the desire for higher -end equipment.
Not only to create an online competition environment, Gancube also attaches great importance to offline competitions.
" The Rubiks Cube is a circle culture. Different countries have different demand for the demand for racing cube. Perhaps other sea categories should pay attention to localization transformationBut for the Rubiks Cube, the best is the good reputation in the circle.
Before entering the e -commerce platform, the overseas distribution of Rubiks Cube is mainly performed through overseas agents.Many agents themselves are professional Rubiks hub players. They will not only make internal tests for product opinions, but also rely on their own influence to promote and promote through the Facebook group, QQ group, forum and other channels.In this way, Gancube has accumulated an early batch of users overseas.
Based on the characteristics of the "circle" greater than the "region", Gancube focused on the professional Rubiks cube competition.
The most professional competition in the Rubiks Cube world is the Rubiks Cube Open certified by the World Rubiks Cube Association (WCA).And the frequency is very high, as of October, there have been more than 500 games in the United States, so it can reach the core of the most core racing Rubiks audience.
Where the Open of the World Rubiks Cube Association certification, it means that there are many Rubiks cube enthusiasts, and Gancube will push their brand.In the process, like many sports marketing models, Gancube also did two things, one was sponsorship competition, and the other was to sign a contractor to show their brand in large areas.
Yang Wanyan told Tiger Sniff: From the beginning of the establishment, Gancube has been investing 30%-50%of marketing costs for professional players and teams to sign operations.At present, eight of the top ten Rubiks cube players have signed contracts with them.
Can it protect the blue ocean market?
Someone will ask, where is a small Rubiks Cube, where is the competition barriers?Do you really cant break this blue sea track?
In Jiang Yiyuans view, Gancubes brand moat is R & D. According to its disclosure, the annual R & D costs account for a higher investment ratio of the company.
In the communication between Jiang Yanyuan and Tiger Sniff, it is not difficult to see that he is much more interested in research and development during the universitys main repair of civil engineering and familiarity with structure and material knowledge.
Compared to the brief overview of the brand marketing promotion, when talking about product design, he talked with us with enthusiasm for a long time, for example, in order to allow competition to competeThe Speed Cube is smooth and stable, and he has done a lot of research on the Cube structure; for example, in order to make a strong and light Rubiks Cube, they built up nearly a hundred magnets in a Rubiks Cube, but also controlled weight controlBelow 60g.
The future of Gancube will be in fierce competition like many Chinese brands that are forced to roll?For this, Jiang Yiyuan did not give a certain answer.
During the epidemic, Gancubes revenue once reached about 300 million, but after the epidemic, it remained at 200 million yuan. In such a market size, it was not particularly large.How much is left to a new brand?
If you want to surpass Gancube on this track, you must invest higher R & D and competition marketing costs. Are there enough profits after these investment?
If there is no enthusiasm for the Cube, will the same funds find a race with higher returns?
Maybe there are many questions to clarify before making answers.
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