htmlOn September 26, the top brand of smart lock Deschman officially announced spokesperson Di Lieba has become a hot search on Weibo. Tongtian Deschman released the flagship new 3D face large screen smart lock Q50FMax. According to data from AVC, in the high-end smart lock market priced above 2,000 yuan, the market share of Deschman smart locks accounts for as high as 76%, making it a well-deserved representative company of high-end smart locks. This time Deschmann hired a celebrity spokesperson is a microcosm of the industry entering the brand-shaping stage.
01 Locking the second half of the brand
In recent years, smart homes have accelerated to break the circle. For many families, "smart decoration" has become the same standard configuration as "soft decoration" and "hard decoration". Among the hundreds of smart home products categories, the smart lock is the first to be popular. "Home" cannot be violated, and the lock protects the entrance to home security, but traditional locks have always had pain points such as the burden of carrying keys, forgetting to bring them and losing keys. While ensuring safety and anti-theft, smart locks support passwords, fingerprints, faces or mobile phones and other unlocking methods. Once released, they are proven to be a product that is urgently needed.
After years of market education and product evolution, the smart lock market has ushered in multiple growth opportunities in recent years: under the wave of upgrading of Chinese people's living, living trends such as fine decoration and whole-house intelligence have emerged; under the influence of the epidemic, "contactless" has become a new lifestyle; home services such as housekeeping are becoming increasingly popular, and remote lock-opening modes such as temporary passwords are becoming increasingly popular; young people have become the backbone of consumption, and as indigenous Internet residents, they prefer technological, digital and intelligent lifestyles; new technologies such as AI and 5G drive smart lock companies to continuously innovate products... The result is that has already achieved greater acceleration in the growing smart lock market.
According to data from Luotu Technology, in the first half of 2022, the sales volume of China's smart door lock online market was 1.912 million units, a year-on-year increase of 27.2%; sales volume was 2.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%. Some industry insiders estimate that the scale of the smart lock industry will have more than 4 times growth space in the next 4-5 years, reaching 50-60 million sets per year.
The huge market cake has attracted a large number of players to join the game. Qichacha data shows that from 2017 to 2020, the number of smart door lock-related companies increased by 646, 1,364, 1,421, and 772 respectively. Data from the China Lock Information Center shows that the number of domestic smart door lock companies has exceeded 3,000. In addition to professional smart lock brands, there are also intelligent traditional lock companies, Internet giants and home appliance brands. In addition, there are many unknown small brands and even OEM factory miscellaneous brands.
However, with the increase of players, the smart lock industry has also experienced extensive growth problems that all industries will experience:
On the one hand, the industry accelerates the " inverse ", and the homogeneity of products is significant. Search for smart locks in JD.com and you will find that many brands have similar main selling points, even their appearance is highly similar. Product price war has emerged. Luotu Technology data shows that the average online market price of smart door locks in the first half of 2022 was 1,307 yuan, 50 yuan less than the same period last year. Price reduction is certainly conducive to the popularization of categories, but once it evolves into a price war, it will eventually lead to a lack of profits in the brand and affect long-term projects such as R&D, quality, and service.
On the other hand, the industry has experienced a "bad money" effect. Some OEM low-end smart locks even make the product price to a hundred yuan level, but you get what you pay for. This approach can gain market share, but it also leads to new problems. Complaints such as lack of after-sales service, failures cannot come to the door in time, and no one is there but unlocking the lock automatically is not uncommon on the Internet. This "bad currency effect" hurts the entire industry.
According to the data of many institutions such as Aowei and Luotu Technology, the smart lock is entering the consolidation stage after a major reshuffle. With the increasing market education, the increasing maturity of user cognition and the continuous decline in product costs, only white-brand miscellaneous players with price advantages will be eliminated, and players who form the "good coins" can go further. This has been verified in the traditional home appliance markets such as refrigerators and TVs.
02 Intra-rolling technology
In the first half of the smart lock industry, the main theme of price wars, homogeneity, etc., it is difficult to go further. In the second half of the branding, what do smart lock players want to "roll"?
Luotu Technology pointed out in the "2022 H1 China Smart Door Lock Market Analysis Report" that there are four major problems in the industry at present: , product homogeneity; 2. Product quality is uneven; 3. Safety issues; 4. After-sales service , and the solutions to the first three problems all rely on technology. Smart locks will "lock" the brand in the second half, and the main theme of industry competition will also be "Current Technology", product innovation driven by technology, and high-quality competition will be launched under the tone of "products are king". Specifically, smart lock products still have a lot of room for technology to be used in the following dimensions:
One is an innovation in unlocking methods. The core value of
smart lock is to replace physical keys with technological means, which in turn solves many pain points in using physical keys, such as having to bring a key, forgetting to bring a key, losing a key, setting a key, changing to lock core , etc. The predecessor of the smart lock was an electronic lock, such as a hotel door card, but its essence was still a physical key. Later, fingerprint locks appeared on the market, opening a new chapter of "biometric unlocking", and the physical keys were completely replaced; later, networked locks appeared on the market, combining AI and other technologies to achieve intelligent unlocking, and the era of real smart locks was officially coming.
In recent years, the product iteration of smart locks cannot be separated from the change of unlocking methods . On the one hand, the unlocking methods are becoming increasingly rich, convenient and safe. For example, in 2019, Deschmann launched the 3D face lock, introducing the new face unlocking experience into the industry. Compared with 2D faces, it is safer, faster and more friendly to dark light environments, face makeup and other recognition scenarios. On the other hand, the unlocking method is scenario-based, personalized and user-friendly. For example, temporary passwords can solve the home needs of domestic workers. Deschmann's latest Q50FMax can even provide 10 unlocking methods.
Looking to the future, smart lock unlocking method still has a large space for technical imagination. In addition to the new generation of unlocking methods such as 3D faces and venous fingerprints, new unlocking methods such as iris unlocking, gait unlocking, and sensorless unlocking are expected to be applied, such as villa door locks that can identify the owner longer distance and automatically open the door.
two are the upgrade of security capabilities.
Smart lock controls the physical entrance of every home, and the importance of security needs no further explanation. In addition, smart lock plays the core role of smart security, and smart security is an important part of smart home. Previously, leading brands including Deschmann have been strengthening two dimensions of security. One is the security of the lock itself, such as anti-lock picking, anti-attack and other core technologies, involving lock body , unlocking mechanism, quick opening mechanism, clutch mechanism, mechanical password and other mechanical security, as well as Internet security. The other is smart security, which has formed new value based on the "locking door" of traditional locks, such as humanoid detection, automatic alarm for long-term stays, video capture, cloud storage, smart cat eyes, etc.
In the view of Luochao Channel, the security upgrade of smart locks still revolves around two directions. is the security of the lock itself , avoiding stealing, prying, attacking, forgetting, etc. It requires continuous upgrading of locking institutional technology, such as fully automatic anti-locking, and also inseparable from the investment in Internet security technology, such as vulnerability discovery and blocking, chip layer security encryption, etc.; is the deep integration innovation of intelligent security, such as upgrade monitoring effects, AI intelligent alarm, community linkage alarm, disaster emergency lock unlocking and other scenarios.
three are upgrades to smart IoT.
Smart home has been developing for many years. Whether it is the consumer-side market education and user needs, or the supply-side product and service system, it has developed to a sufficiently mature stage. The whole-house intelligence of "making the entire house completely intelligent" has become a new trend. In 2022, whole-house intelligence has frequently ushered in favorable policies. The IDC report shows that the promotion of whole-house smart solutions in the consumer market will become one of the important driving forces for the growth of the smart home market.
smart lock, as the core of intelligent security, also plays the role of entrance in whole-house intelligence. It will be deeply linked with smart lighting, intelligent temperature control, intelligent entertainment, intelligent kitchen, smart bathroom , smart curtain , smart sleep, etc.
The latest Q50FMax released by Deschmann integrates smart video cat eyes and smart visual large screens based on 3D face recognition smart locks, which can make the owner clear at a glance at the door on the large screen in the room, mobile screen and mobile app. In the future, the smart door lock & smart cat eyes may further be linked with screens such as large screen in the living room, smart screen speakers, smart refrigerator large screens, refresh the communication experience between users inside and outside the door.
In addition to multi-screen interactive innovation, in the future, the smart lock can also be intelligently linked with the whole house to realize a scene linkage mode similar to "open the lock and start the home mode, turn on the lights, open the window, turn on the air conditioner, turn on the TV/listen to music". To achieve this, smart lock brands need to be interconnected with whole-house smart brands. The new IoT protocol Matter makes this possible. This is the IoT protocol that mainstream whole-house smart players such as Google , Amazon , Apple , Philips , and Philips . It is expected to achieve "great unification" of the fragmented smart home ecosystem of each array. I believe that brands such as Deschman will join this camp soon.
03 technology can create high-end
For any technology category, technology should be the first driving force, and smart locks are no exception, because technology plays a decisive role in product value, user experience and home security. However, in fact, most smart lock players lack core technology. For example, during the survey, Luotu Technology found that most of the smart door lock industry adopts the OEM model. The roles taken by brands are very similar to those of mobile phones, mainly in solution integration, industrial design, etc. " does not really have core technology level ", which leads to serious product homogeneity. At this time, if a company has "core technology", it can carry out continuous product innovation, bringing users a better and safer experience.
In the past few years, the smart lock industry has developed extensively, with a large market of water and many players without core technologies. Now that the smart lock market is moving towards the stage of "locking the brand", technology will determine the ceiling height of smart lock players. In the new stage, Deschmann will show stronger momentum.
First of all, Deschmann has always strengthened his own research technology. It focuses on core technologies in the two dimensions of "door lock technology" and "smart technology", and has become the backbone of the domestic production of smart locks. In 2009, Deschmann launched the first set of fingerprint locks with Chinese operation, changing the situation where fingerprint locks are only foreign brands. Since then, it has been deeply engaged in the field of smart locks, and has accumulated core technologies in the dimensions of identification, induction charging, connection and power consumption, electronic protection, mechanism, etc. So far, it has more than 300 patents and 10+ software works.
Secondly, Deschmann dares to be the first to develop and apply new technologies.
The key to the booming smart lock market is the emergence of new technologies: whether it is NB-IoT or human face, they are new technologies that have emerged in recent years. Deschmanns "grafted" these technologies into the ancient lock industry to create new products, reshape people's experience of opening the door, and thus gain market recognition.
Deschman is very forward-looking in developing and applying new technologies to solve user pain points, and is more bold than his peers. For example, it was the first to launch the first App networking lock in 2016. At that time, industry conservatives were controversial about "lock networking", but Deschman still crowdfunded tens of thousands of sets on Tmall to bring smart locks into the public's vision; in 2017, Deschman made China's first generation of NB networking locks when the NB agreement was in full swing, realizing interconnection with wearable devices and other devices; in 2019, Deschman launched the 3D face lock, which can identify users under any light source based on 3D face recognition technology, and users do not need to stand and wait to "unlock when they walk to the door"; the latest "multi-screen linkage" concept of Q50FMax is also ahead of the industry.
In terms of research and development and application of new technologies, Deschmann has never been a follower, but is brave enough to be the "first one to try the new". Whether it is NB, App network lock, 3D face, 3D face + smart cat eye + visual intercom, Deschmann does it first, and his peers will follow it after a period of time, which reflects Deschmann's technical layout forward-looking and accurate judgment of the technical direction.
Finally, Deschmann does not make technology for the sake of technology.
Many companies have made similar mistakes: technology for the sake of technology, and cool for the sake of being cool, holding some technology in their hands to search for the scene, similar to "finding nails with a hammer". In the end, the nail was not found, and the hammer was empty. Deschmann first has nails and then finds the right hammer, first understands the real pain points of the users, and then looks for suitable technologies to solve such pain points.
For example, when people go home, they may be holding something in their hands, playing with their mobile phones, or having sweat on their fingers, fingerprint recognition is still not "good enough". Is there a more convenient way to identify it? In response to this pain point, Deschmann took the lead in giving a solution to "3D face" and unlocked it as soon as he walked to the door. This is very similar to the evolutionary route of iPhone unlocking: TouchID is used well, but the recognition is slow and the corresponding module occupies an important position in the screen. So later, FaceID was introduced. FaceID brought about a bang problem, and now there is Lingdong Island, an innovation of "turning waste into treasure".
In addition to 3D face unlocking, every product innovation based on new technologies has been verified by the market. This is inseparable from its technical genes and reflects its strong technical strength. can only choose the right technology to innovate product innovation to solve user pain points. This is very similar to Apple's company: Apple is not necessarily the inventor of a new technology, but it can often use the right technology to innovate products at the right time, and finally it is followed by the market. For example, Siri based on voice recognition, TouchID based on fingerprint recognition, and FaceID based on 3D visible light, have now become the industry standard.
It is precisely because of years of technical accumulation, forward-looking technical layout, and unique technical concepts that Deschman has the confidence to anchor the high-end market. The most difficult thing to do in a market is often the high-end market, because high-end users are not sensitive to price and are highly sensitive to product innovation, quality, service, and brand. It is difficult to do any of them well. Deschmann's "technology is king" concept at least ensures that its products can be fought and show strong competitiveness in the high-end market:
One is that it has significant high-end strength and has obvious advantages at a price of 3,000+. Why can the products of Deschman be sold at a price? In addition to the premium brought by services, brands, etc., the impact of the product itself is very important. In addition to the dimensions of craftsmanship, appearance, quality, etc., product innovation itself can form a premium. 3D faces with higher costs, higher thresholds and better experience are the configurations that only high-end smart locks have. This is Deschman's longboard category. According to market survey statistics from the China Daily Hardware Technology Development Center, Deschman's 3D face smart locks have a market share of 72%. In the automotive industry, only car companies that are capable of building sports car . Only luxury cars can build high-end markets. Deschman sells "sports cars" and also has the technical strength to build "sports cars".
The two are that product innovation can "strike" . Deschmann does any new function, even if there is a patent, it cannot stop the quick follow-up of his competitors. How to build a barrier? In addition to continuously strengthening the comprehensive strength of brands, channels, services, manufacturing and other products, relying on R&D strength to accelerate product innovation, run faster than peers, and make the product experience better, and form a dynamic moat. This is exactly the route that Deschman has always adhered to. Because of the technology, he has never been a follower, but an industry leader. For example, when he realized that female users lack a sense of security at home alone, he developed the "AI voice change" function, which can enhance the owner's sense of security with uncle voice dialogue with outsiders. This kind of caring small function has been recognized by users. For example, the Q50 series has taken the lead in multi-screen interaction in the industry. When peers follow up, Deschman has a new generation of technology products, and it is also a solid barrier to innovate faster.
It can be seen from the above that Deschmann smart lock can be high-end, but it cannot be separated from its technology.
is written at the end:
Smart lock in the second half of the "Current Technology" also followed the trend. In the past few years, China's technology industry revolved around business models, application innovation, etc., and lacked attention to underlying hard-core technology. This route has been stretched to this day. In recent years, under the influence of the macro environment, China's science and technology industry has increasingly attached great importance to "root innovation" and " independent technological innovation ". In such a general environment, I believe that the smart lock industry will present more Chinese-style innovation based on subtle insights into user needs, further "unlocking" the smart life experience of Chinese people.
