483In recent years, as consumer demand for home entertainment, mobile office, and audio-visual experiences has upgraded, the global audio equipment market has experienced rapid growth.
According to data from grandviewresearch, the global audio equipment market was estimated to be worth $32.69 billion in 2023, and is expected to grow rapidly at a compound annual growth rate of 11.5% from 2024 to 2030.
Image source: grandviewresearch
Under this trend, high cost performance, technological innovation, and localized experience have become the key for brands to break through. The brandEDIFIER from Shenzhen, China, is one of the representatives seizing this opportunity.
From its initial multimedia speakers to covering headphones, professional audio, car audio and other categories, the EDIFIER brand has gradually entered the markets of more than 80 countries and regions worldwide through 29 years of deep cultivation.
Since 2021, its total annual revenue has exceeded 2 billion yuan every year. In 2024, total revenue reached 2.943 billion yuan, approaching the 3 billion mark.
Image source: EDIFIER
From Beili Dormitory to the Global Market: The Brand’s Exploration Journey
It is reported that the story of the EDIFIER brand can be traced back to 1994.
That year, the two founders, Mr. Zhang and Mr. Xiao, out of their love for audio, wanted to make active speakers with excellent sound quality, so they designed and made them themselves in the Beili dormitory, and the brand began to take shape.
In 1996, with the joint efforts of the two founders, Edifier Group was officially established, launching the EDIFIER brand and beginning to stand out in the domestic audio industry.
Image source: EDIFIER
In 2003, the brand expanded its vision to overseas markets, establishing a partnership with the well-known American retailer RadioShack, successfully opening the door to the North American market.
But market changes are always full of uncertainties. In 2022, the global smart audio equipment market encountered a cold winter, with shipments dropping sharply and demand in Europe and the United States shrinking rapidly.
Facing difficulties, the EDIFIER brand decided to take a different approach and set its sights on the Southeast Asian market. This region has many young consumers, creating broad development space for 3C electronic products, and is highly compatible with the market adaptability of Chinese brands.
It is understood that EDIFIER initially tried to enter the Southeast Asian market with a low-price strategy, focusing on low-end products, attempting to quickly seize market share through price advantages. However, practice proved that relying solely on low-price competition made it difficult to gain a foothold in the market, and this strategy could only bring short-term market effects.
Therefore, EDIFIER later shifted to a “raise high, hit low” strategy, relying on the technological accumulation of mid-to-high-end products (such as Bluetooth connectivity, noise reduction functions) and brand reputation to gradually win consumers’ trust, laying a solid foundation for long-term development.
Image source: EDIFIER
Social Media Marketing: Moving Users with Real Experiences
In overseas markets, the EDIFIER brand does not rely on traditional advertising, but instead communicates directly with users through social media.
1. TikTok: Life Scenes Bring People Closer
As of now, EDIFIER’s official TikTok account @edifierglobal has reached 80,400 followers and 257,700 likes.
Image source: TikTok
The short videos posted on the account mainly feature product unboxing and real user trial experiences.
For example, one video with 1.3 million views has very simple content: a user shows the unboxing process and usage effect after receiving EDIFIER’s home speaker.
But it is precisely this “unfiltered” content that allows viewers to intuitively feel the product’s size, sound quality, and design details, making it more authentic.
Many users expressed their love for this video, and some were attracted to leave comments: “Perfect speaker player!”
Image source: TikTok
EDIFIER also leverages celebrity effects to expand brand awareness.
For example, collaborating with NBA star player Jared McCain, who has 4.7 million followers on TikTok, to shoot a “Spend a Day with Me” series of short videos for EDIFIER’s over-ear headphones. Through fitness, sports, and other scenarios, product selling points are naturally conveyed, helping the brand strengthen its association with lifestyle.
As of now, this creative short video has received over 1.3 million views, attracting many basketball fans to watch and greatly helping the brand increase its visibility.
Image source: TikTok
2. YouTube: Professional Reviews Build Trust
On YouTube, the EDIFIER brand mainly promotes products through cooperation with professional tech bloggers. These bloggers use unboxing and review formats, leveraging their influence among fan communities to deliver brand information to target users.
Tech blogger Stu’s Reviews, with 242,000 subscribers, is one of them. He filmed an in-depth unboxing and real test video for EDIFIER’s 1280DB speaker. So far, the video has 440,000 views.
During the real test, Stu’s Reviews conducted detailed analysis and testing around the noise reduction performance, sound quality, and multi-device connectivity that consumers care most about, answering potential user questions. This professional and in-depth review approach helps users gain confidence in the product.
Image source: YouTube
Many users left comments below the video after watching:
“Sounds like top-tier audio.”
“I sell these in my record store, and every buyer is super satisfied. For this price, the sound quality and build are excellent.”
“I’ve owned them for over a year, and they’ve always performed well. In standby, there’s no noise from the AC circuit. Bluetooth has never disconnected, and I originally bought them just because of the low price, didn’t expect them to be so good.”
Image source: YouTube
Independent Website: The Moat of Long-termism
In addition to third-party platforms, the EDIFIER brand established its overseas independent website early on, which has brought three major advantages:
Through community interaction and user feedback mechanisms on the independent site, consumer needs can be quickly captured, enabling rapid product iteration and optimization, thereby deeply accumulating user resources.
The existence of the independent site can also effectively diversify business risks, reduce the brand’s reliance on traditional e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, avoid potential impacts caused by platform policy adjustments, and enhance the brand’s risk resistance.
The design, content, and promotional activities of the independent site can be highly aligned with the brand’s tone, providing greater autonomy for brand image building.
Image source: EDIFIER
Conclusion
From the case of the EDIFIER brand, whether it is technological upgrades or pricing strategies, everything ultimately returns to user experience. During this process, brands need to quickly reach users through social media platforms, and also need to build long-term user relationships and brand image through independent websites.
Currently, there is still broad development space in overseas markets. Domestic brands should actively “go global”, use differentiated products as core competitiveness, and localized operation strategies as solid guarantees, steadily expanding their territory and creating a new overseas market landscape of their own.
