cost? Data from Canalys, a market research firm, shows that in the second quarter of this year, global smartphone shipments were 287 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9%. According to a previous report released by the China Academy of Communications, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the domestic market in the first half of the year was 136 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.7%. It can be seen that whether it is international or domestic, the inability to sell mobile phones is a common problem faced by the entire smartphone industry. 
html Sales of mainstream domestic mobile phone brands in July showed negative growth year-on-year. Source: CINNO Research Why did the mobile phone market get cold? The reason is, on the one hand, people's consumption is becoming rational under the influence of the general environment. As a communication device for daily life, mobile phones are increasingly valued as functional functions rather than fashion and personalization. The young people who used to like to change their phones the most no longer impulsively consume in pursuit of fashion. On the other hand, with the increase in the frequency of mobile phone updates, the problem of homogeneous in products has become more and more serious. It is difficult to generate disruptive innovations, which cannot make consumers feel illuminated. All of these have led to a significant extension of the phone's replacement cycle. According to Counterpoint data, the replacement cycle of domestic users has increased from 24.3 months at the beginning of 2019 to 31 months. Market research firm Strategy Analytics said that the average replacement cycle for Chinese users is 28 months.
The situation in which the mobile phone industry is trapped is also a common problem faced by the traditional "three major items" (the three major items of digital refer to mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, ). According to CBNData's "2022 China New Consumer Brand Growth Power White Paper", new changes have been made in the development of China's 3C digital market in recent years.On the one hand, the saturation of traditional 3C digital products is gradually increasing, and personalization and high-endization have become the competitive focus of this stock market; on the other hand, the market demand for emerging digital products such as wearable smart devices, TWS headphones, and smart homes is gradually releasing. At the same time, companies committed to solving small and beautiful needs continue to attract money, and hot money continues to pour in. Station C has compiled some of the latest financing cases of niche digital tracks:
When the market for traditional digital products continues to tighten, old-fashioned companies are adapting to changes and developing new businesses. Huawei , Xiaomi , etc. are laying out in emerging markets such as whole-house intelligence, wearable devices, TWS headphones, etc., and leading companies in the segmented markets such as Anker, Bissi , etc. usher in rapid development. Although consumers no longer like to change their phones, their demand for digital 3C products has not decreased. The so-called "love will not disappear, it will only transfer." The niche digital market that meets diversified needs has begun to emerge, and niche products derived from consumer grading have become a new choice for young people.
What niche "Digimon" consumers fall in love with?
First of all, digital products represented by productivity tools are being loved by young people. According to the "Tablet Computer Consumer Insight Report" released by CBNData, workers who are productivity first pay more attention to device interconnection and peripheral expansion, and keyboard and mouse suits have become a must-have for office work.
Source: CBNData "Tablet Computer Consumer Insight Report"
Since 2011, the era of online collaborative office has arrived. According to public information, from 2019 to June 2021, a total of 53 financings have been completed in the field of collaborative offices, with a rough estimate of more than 60 billion yuan, and the track is very popular. While software applications are developing rapidly, various hardware facilities that can improve efficiency have emerged one after another, from mechanical keyboard to recorders, niche digital products named after productivity tools are attracted fans.
Take mechanical keyboard as an example. In recent years, with the development of the e-sports industry and the pursuit of personalization and efficiency by office workers, mechanical keyboards with sensitive and rhythmic sense have entered the public's vision. According to data from the Huajing Industry Research Institute, judging from the attention of various types of keyboard products, mechanical keyboards are far ahead of other types of products, and the proportion of attention in 2021 will reach 68.44%.
Picture source: Huajing Industry Research Institute
Among them, higher-end customized mechanical keyboards can be customized and modified to assemble into a unique product that meets the personal preferences of consumers, and are especially popular. Recently, Angry Miao, angry Miao, announced the completion of a new round of financing of tens of millions of yuan. One of Numiao's main products is customized mechanical keyboards, which shows that the capital market is quite fond of this "new species".
In 2021, Nu Miao released the world's first wireless three-dimensional split ergonomic keyboard AM HATSU, priced at US$1,600 (approximately RMB 10,347). The first 100 pieces were sold out immediately after they were put on the shelves. In 2022, the hand-painted AM HATSU keyboard of graffiti artist SHEK, who cooperated with Balenciaga , and the family bucket of the "Rich Meow x Tmall No. 1 player" including him were sold by a mysterious buyer for 89,000 yuan at the Tmall charity auction. Station C observed that there are only two products on sale in Numao’s official store, one of which is a mechanical keyboard keycap priced at 650 yuan.
At present, it is normal to customize the keyboard circle with price but not market. Many people spend a lot of money to buy it and have to wait 1-2 years before they can get it, which is enough to show how popular it is.
In addition, with the rise of self-media and the development of short video, live broadcast and other industries, GoPro, gimbal , and recorder are ushering in rapid growth. According to the "2021 Internet (Performance) Live Broadcast Industry Development Report", as of December 2021, the cumulative anchor accounts were nearly 140 million, and 8.26 million new broadcast accounts were added in the first half of 2022. The competition in the live broadcast industry has entered a fierce stage, and the increasingly large self-media population naturally has a more segmented and higher demand for related equipment.
Take the recorder as an example. At present, the recorder industry has transitioned from digital recording to intelligent recording. As users' demand for recording pen functions continues to increase, the services provided by smart recording pens are more cognitive, and provide functions such as picture recognition, multilingual translation, recording and translation, real-time error correction during recording.In addition to the iteration of functions, the recording pen has also begun to show diversification in its shape. There will be products of different shapes in different scenarios, such as putting it on the desktop, wearing it on the wrist, etc. iFLYTEK , JNN, and Xinke have launched wrist recording pens similar to smart bracelets. In addition to working and studying, the hot camping during this period has also made the niche product of outdoor power supply popular. On Xiaohongshu, there are more than 30,000 notes about grass planting on camping charging. According to Tmall data, the market growth rate of outdoor power supplies has been close to 300% for three consecutive years. The sales volume in 2021 was only about 300 million yuan, and it has exceeded 1 billion yuan in 2022. Now, this niche track has also spawned small giants with a market value of 10 billion yuan. The two leading brands Zhenghao and Huabao New Energy are all preparing for listing. China Chemical and Physical Power Supply Industry Association survey shows that by 2026, the global market size of portable energy storage equipment is expected to reach 88.2 billion yuan, and the future of the outdoor power track is quite imaginative.
Whether it is an ergonomic mechanical keyboard or an indirectly forced equipment upgrade in the industry, we found that the common point of these niche digital products is that they accurately solve the pain points of some consumers. The more subdivided the functions and the niche products, the easier it is to become the urgent need of a small group of people. In addition, what magic does niche digital have that can enable consumers to "call" their love with their wallets?
niche digital products that are addictive
There are "three pits" in the niche cultural circle: JK, Lolita and Hanfu. There are also some pits in the niche digital circle, such as Bluetooth headset , speaker/speaker, fast charging data cable, etc. Of course, different digital enthusiasts have different opinions on this. Why do consumers still willingly jump in even though they know it is a pitfall? What are the reasons behind this that prompt users to place orders?
Planting grass while watching the evaluation, "Please eat this Amway"
Reading the evaluation video to complete planting and pulling weeds is already a must-do homework for many people before deciding to spend money. In fact, the evaluation video originally originated from a small circle of digital enthusiasts. Before the birth of the video website in 2005, some people shared the unboxing process in graphic form on related blogs and forums. Since then, the charm of evaluation videos has begun to spread from the digital circle to various popular or niche fields.
It is actually difficult to make evaluation content in the field of digital products. First of all, you need to have a more professional digital knowledge reserve. Secondly, it is best to deeply cultivate in a certain sub-category to accurately reach key users. Finally, you must be responsible for the evaluation content and make a real evaluation of the product. Because of this, once a digital review blogger establishes a trust foundation with his fans, his fans' loyalty and stickiness will be particularly high. For niche digital products, bloggers often play the role of introduction to popular science. The more niche the product is, the stronger the irreplaceability of the blogger, and fans will be dependent on it. Therefore, fans will also carry natural filters for the niche products recommended by blogger Amway. Even if there are occasional "Chefan" videos, as long as the content of the review is of high quality, fans will "tolerate" accept them all.
symbolic tags attached to niche products, brings psychological identity to consumers
In the niche digital product circle, members in the circle often have common hobbies or similar aesthetics. Consumers will not only pay for the functions of the product itself, but sometimes they also pay for their feelings or the tags attached. It is also a common psychological need to seek identity by purchasing niche digital products.
For example, the ccd camera that was suddenly popular on Xiaohongshu recently was caused by Ouyang Nana in her personal video, and then Zhang Zifeng took the camera to appear in the variety show "Home Life 100, ". Fans took the opportunity to reveal that their idols had also used the same model. In addition, the fuel was fueled by the bloggers of Xiaohongshu. This old-fashioned camera, which was long eliminated by the times, became a representative of niche retro trend cameras, and its value has also increased by 10 times in the second-hand market.For niche products, the halo effect brought by public figures such as stars is extremely attractive. Consumers are willing to find a sense of ties and identity in the stars they like. When this tacit understanding occurs on a niche product, this sense of identity will be greatly improved. This is why celebrities can always make one "niche brand" popular one after another. The specific work and life needs of different groups
Niche digital products are sometimes necessities of work and life, and people in different circles will also give birth to new opportunities in the digital market.
This year, young people are not satisfied with the lifestyle of "specialized career" and choose to have a diverse life with multiple occupations and identities, which is the so-called "slash youth". Perhaps out of financial considerations, or in order to escape the atmosphere of 996, they chose niche professions such as illustrators, sound recorders, podcasts, and production, which also led to the growth of professional equipment such as hand-painted boards (digital boards), stylus, and professional microphones. In addition, young people who pay attention to quality of life will also purchase related digital products for their interest, such as smart guitars that can be connected to real-time Bluetooth teaching, and fitness mirrors that can guide movements. These trendy lifestyles have brought new gaps to the niche digital market.
At the same time, digital products are no longer exclusive to young people. With the development of digital economy , silver hair people have also begun to accept and use intelligent electronic products. The "6·18" Consumer Trend Insight Report" released by Baidu and JD shows that since 2022, the search proportion of "silver-haired people" searches for "smart supplies, digital products" related content has increased to 12%, and the search popularity has increased by 32% year-on-year. Among the consumers who purchased smart supplies and digital products on June 18 this year, the consumption of "silver-haired people" increased by 6.3%.
Source: "2022 618 Consumer Trend Insight Report"
Silver hair people have specific preferences when purchasing digital products, such as simple and easy to use, the instructions for eye-catching fonts, safe and comfortable, etc. Currently, digital products for the silver hair people on the market mainly include smart bracelets, smart watches, and smart wearable products for the elderly. Overall, the market development is still in its early stages. With the intensification of population aging in the future, how to find the balance between "intelligent" and "aging-friendly" may be the focus of research and development for digital product manufacturers.
It should be noted that the niche products we are talking about in this article are relative to mass products. Today's niche products may become mass products in the future. Similarly, the previous mass products may also be eliminated by the times and become niches (such as old cameras), which only reflects a trend. Although niche digital products are emerging in the east wind, the industry still has pain points that cannot be ignored: high idle rate, serious premium, difficult accessory finding, difficult maintenance, etc. These have all hindered the development and breaking the circle of niche digital. How to follow the path from niche to public in the future is the question that merchants behind niche digital should think about.
Note: 3C products are a general term for computer, communication and consumer electronic products . 3C products include relatively traditional TVs, desktop computers, , digital cameras, CD players, audio, etc., as well as emerging smart electronic products such as smartphones, tablets, wearable devices, etc. All home appliances that can interact with information through network systems can be called 3C products.
