400In the business world, many people tend to focus their attention on popular and mainstream categories, believing that is where wealth is concentrated. However, those seemingly niche categories, as long as they are cultivated with dedication, also contain infinite opportunities.
Take the 3D printing industry as an example. In the mass consumer market, it is not as well-known or widely received as categories like smartphones or clothing, butShenzhen Anycubic Technology Co., Ltd.'sAnycubic brand has blazed a trail in this niche track. Its products are sold in over200 countries and regions worldwide, with cumulative sales exceeding1 million units.
Image source: Internet
From "Selling Parts" to "Defining the Industry": A Life-or-Death Transformation
According to information, in 2015, Mr. Ouyang, the founder of Anycubic, established the company in Shenzhen. At the beginning, it was just a typical distributor, selling umbrellas, schoolbags, pajamas... selling everything, but always lacking core competitiveness.
Until they discovered a phenomenon: customers who purchased 3D printer parts were able to assemble the parts into whole machines and sell them at double the price. This discovery prompted the team to decisively cut all unrelated businesses and focus fully on whole machine R&D.
Image source: Anycubic official website
The launch of its first product, Anycubic i3 Mega, became a turning point, allowing consumers to experience professional-grade performance for less than half the price of European and American brands (about $300-500).
In the first month after the product launch, its sales soared from 50 units to 3,000 units, quickly climbing to the Amazon Best Seller list. In the following eight years, Anycubic launched more than 20 products in succession.
By 2023, its annual shipments exceeded 500,000 units, with cumulative sales surpassing one million. The North American and European markets contributed 90% of revenue, making it the undisputed "invisible champion" in the consumer-grade 3D printing field.
Image source: Anycubic official website
Dual Explosion of Technology and Demand
Looking at the brand's development history, Anycubic's rise is largely due to catching the wave of 3D printing's growing popularity, especially the surge in demand for home-use machines that ordinary people can afford and use.
According to third-party platform data, the global 3D printing market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 16.4%, and is expected to reach $37.4 billion by 2030.
Within this growth, the rapid rise of the consumer market is particularly critical. The maturity of technology and the decline in the cost of core components have both accelerated the transition of 3D printers from "professional tools" to "household consumer goods."
Image source: Marketsand Markets
At the same time, the profound change in China's role in the global 3D printing industry chain has become the core engine for the rise of brands like Anycubic. After years of technological accumulation and supply chain integration, China has risen from an early-stage technology "follower" to a major global production and export base for 3D printing equipment.
In the first quarter of 2025, China exported 965,000 units of 3D printing equipment, with export value close to 1.97 billion yuan. This scale effect and supply chain efficiency enable Anycubic to respond quickly to market demand with prices far lower than traditional European and American brands, launching reliable and rapidly iterating consumer-grade products that precisely meet overseas consumers' strong demand for "affordable and easy-to-use" products.
Image source: General Administration of Customs, Nanjixiong compilation
Omni-channel Layout: Precise Mining of the Traffic Pool
Anycubic's channel and marketing strategy is essentially about solving a core problem:How to continuously reach scattered global users and build trust in a high-threshold, high-ticket vertical field?
Its answer is not to rely on a single platform, but to build amulti-level, complementary traffic ecosystem.
1. Social Media Marketing: Deep Vertical Cultivation, Winning Professional Trust with Content
Faced with 3D printing users who are generally tech-savvy, hands-on, and passionate about creation, Anycubic's strategy on social media is very clear: focus on professionalism and scenarios, solve users' practical problems, and stimulate creative desire.
On TikTok, Anycubic's official account @anycubic has 32,100 followers, with an average video view count of 125,300. The conversion effect of fan traffic is quite good, and the content focuses on technical demonstrations, cleverly integrating elements from the ACG (anime, comics, games) field to attract traffic.
Image source: TikTok
At the same time, Anycubic also launches creative challenges on TikTok such as #AnycubicMake, encouraging users to share their printed works.
This strategy has successfully stimulated users' creative enthusiasm. User-generated content (UGC) with the #Anycubic tag on the platform has accumulated over tens of millions of views, forming a huge and free "real case material library" that continuously attracts potential users.
Image source: TikTok
In addition, Anycubic has also cooperated with many TikTok influencers for promotion, with most of the content focusing on functional scenarios. The benefits brought to the brand by this type of content are also considerable. For example, TikTok influencer @universeofemily's video on making cosplay props with a 3D printer brought the brand 531,800 views.
Image source: TikTok
2. Sales Channels: Dual-Engine Drive, Solving Platform Dependency
For tech products like 3D printers with a unit price of $200-1,000, Amazon is the core entry point for users to actively search and compare prices. Anycubic has established a complete product matrix here, especially with entry-level models priced at $300-500 (such as Photon Mono 4K) as the main sales force.
Image source: Amazon
This approach is not hard to understand. It allows products to precisely meet users' clear needs for "ready to use out of the box" and "suitable for beginners," thus shortening the decision-making path. This can also be seen from product reviews (as shown below).
Image source: Amazon
The role of overseas independent websites goes far beyond "just another place to sell products." It is more like Anycubic's brand base camp among overseas users.
On this self-owned platform, Anycubic has built an active user community, providing printing tutorials, model file downloads, and encouraging users to upload their own works and share experiences.
This interaction can increase user stickiness and form a virtuous cycle of "creation-sharing-repeat purchase." Seeing others' works can stimulate the desire to buy, and after purchasing, creating new works can attract more people.
Anycubic Maker Center
Made in China Going Global: From Product Output to Value Output
Anycubic's story proves one thing: the global market is full of "potential stocks" like 3D printing. It doesn't have to be the hottest category; as long as you identify the real needs of a group of people and leverage the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Made in China to do it well and thoroughly, you can gain a foothold overseas.
Today, the road to going global is actually much easier than it was ten years ago. Platforms like Amazon and TikTok can help reach users, mature tools make it easier to build independent sites, and overseas consumers are increasingly aware of the "good quality and affordable price" of Chinese products.
Therefore, don't always hesitate about whether you can do it; you should think more about how to do it. The overseas market is big enough, and Chinese companies are fully capable and have the opportunity to catch their own "big fish"!
