254In recent years,with the rise of home coffee culture worldwide,segmented demands have gradually emerged, and the home coffee machine track has ushered inanew development window.
According toMarket Research Future data, the global coffee machine market size was valued at $894.218 billion in 2023, and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of about 5.15% from 2024 to 2032. By 2032, the global coffee machine market size will grow to $1,394.367 billion.
Image source:Market Research Future
As early as6 years ago, before the global coffee machine market exploded, a Chinese company had already targeted this segmented track.
This company found that consumers were looking for solutions that could ensure coffee quality and offer convenience, but existing products on the market often failed to achieve both.
It was precisely this unmet demand gap that allowed it to find a differentiated breakthrough, and thus it began to stand out in overseas markets.
And this company is the Foshan Shunde coffee machine brandHiBREW (Banli Electric).
Reportedly, the brand entered the Middle East via AliExpress in 2019, selling one million units in its first year. In 2023, its annual sales on AliExpress approached $5 million, with an increase of about one million each subsequent year.
Now,HiBREW (Banli Electric)'s coffee machine products have served 400,000 users worldwide, with cumulative sales to more than 70 countries and regions, including the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Spain, Poland, UAE, and other key markets.
Image source:HiBREW
From OEM to Brand: Seizing the Opportunity for Transformation
It is understood thatthe predecessor of the HiBREW brand was Foshan Shunde Banli Electric Technology Co., Ltd., which initially focused on OEM business, providing coffee machine OEM production for distributors in Europe, America, and the Middle East.
With changes in the international trade environment and rising production costs year by year, the profit margin of the traditional OEM model has been continuously squeezed. The brand's founder, Mr. Zeng, realized that long-term reliance on OEM made it difficult to gain market discourse power.
Therefore, in2017, the HiBREW brand was officially established, starting the transition from OEM to own brand retail.
The brand did not directly benchmark against high-end mature brands in overseas markets, such asDe'Longhi or Smeg, but through market research, discovered an unmet demand point: many users hoped that a coffee machine could be compatible with multiple capsules and coffee powder, rather than being limited to a single brand system.
Based on this insight,the HiBREW brand launched the industry's first multi-capsule universal system, compatible with mainstream brand capsules and supporting direct use of coffee powder. This design directly reduced user costs and became the stepping stone for entering the coffee machine market.
Image source:HiBREW
Precise Positioning and Localization Improvement: Winning the Market with Products
After confirming which category of coffee machine to produce, inJuly 2019, the HiBREW brand entered the overseas market for the first time via the AliExpress platform.
Initially, the team invested resources in Europe and America, but sales data showed that orders from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other Middle Eastern countries accounted for a high proportion. This discovery prompted the team to quickly adjust its strategy and focus on the Middle East as a key market for deep operations.
Because consumers in the Middle East prefer strong-flavored coffee and the environment has more dust, they have higher requirements for the machine's sealing and durability. Therefore,the HiBREW technical team made several localized improvements to the product, including enhancing the powder compartment's sealing design and optimizing the waterway's anti-scale capability.
These changes greatly improved the product's suitability for the local market, resulting ina 70% year-on-year increase in HiBREW coffee machine sales in the Middle East in 2019; in 2020, the growth rate soared to 300%, and the brand gradually established a regional reputation.
Image source:HiBREW
Social Media Marketing: Authentic Content Resonates with Users
Good wine also fears a deep alley, especially for new brands, continuous brand exposure and user communication are crucial.
For example,the HiBREWbrandchoseTikTok and YouTube as its core social platforms, leveraging influencer collaborations to convey product usage experiences and touch potential users with real-life scenarios.
--TikTok:
OnTikTok, the HiBREW brand has established partnerships with several active influencers in the coffee field, releasing creative promotional short videos.
The video content mainly showcases the real usage scenarios of the coffee machine at home, integrating the product into daily life.
TikTok coffee influencer @alexhomebarista, who has 207,800 followers, collaborated with the HiBREW brand to shoot a promotional short video for the H10Plus coffee machine.
Image source:TikTok
In the video, the influencer first unboxes and cleans the product, then pours in drinking water and coffee powder to start making coffee, followed by steaming milk and finishing with latte art, and a cup of aromatic coffee is completed.
So far, this video has received596,700 views and 34,100 likes. Many interested potential users have asked about the price of the coffee machine in the comments section:
"How much is this product?"
"How much is it???"
Image source:TikTok
--YouTube:
OnYouTube, the HiBREW brand collaborates with more professional tech bloggers to launch in-depth review content.
Tech blogger Lance Hedrick, with 375,000 subscribers, is a HiBREW brand partner and shot a 23-minute, 16-second in-depth review video for the H10A coffee machine.
So far, this video has reached238,800 views.
In the video, bloggerLance Hedrick unboxes the product in detail, explains the uses of various accessories, and then conducts rigorous tests on extraction time, liquid output, powder-liquid ratio, extraction concentration, and output stability, explaining the product's performance one by one.
Image source:YouTube
Many users in need of coffee machines were impressed by the product's performance after watching:
"It's great to have a low-cost espresso machine, I want to buy it."
Image source:YouTube
"As of August 2023, I already own one and am still very satisfied. This is my first time using an espresso machine, and through this review, I am even more satisfied with this machine, thank you."
Image source:YouTube
It can be seen that theseprofessional review videos focused on solving user questionsmake it easy for users to understand product performance and greatly help conversion.
Multi-channel Sales: Balancing Platforms and Independent Sites
In actively exploring the market, in addition to leveraging social media platforms for marketing and promotion,HiBREW has also made many efforts in channel strategy, adhering to "multi-point reach", laying out mainstream e-commerce platforms and investing in independent site construction.
In addition to its earliest partnership with AliExpress,HiBREW later joined Amazon and regional e-commerce sites such as Darty, Fnac, and Cdiscount to cover different consumer groups in various regions.
Image source: Amazon
At the same time,HiBREW also established its own independent brand site.
On the independent site, the brand clearly categorizes six different types of coffee machines, such as capsule and portable, and sets up a hot-selling product section, which features several products with high orders and positive reviews on the site, making it easier for beginners unfamiliar with coffee machines to choose.
Image source:HiBREW
To reassure users when purchasing,the HiBREW brand clearly displays its after-sales policy on the independent site, including local warehouse delivery in multiple locations and a one-year warranty, which greatly helps reduce users' concerns about placing orders.
Therefore, other companies can also adopt a multi-channel layout likethe HiBREW brand when promoting overseas. By leveraging third-party platforms to help brands gain traffic dividends and accumulating brand assets through independent sites, both can jointly promote the long-term development of the brand.
Image source:HiBREW
Small brands can also "brew" their own flavor in the global market!
The story of HiBREW is a victory in the niche market. The brand did not blindly challenge industry giants, but found its own space for survival in a differentiated development path.
This is a direct inspiration for domestic brands:Globalization is not the exclusive domain of large enterprises; small brands can also rely on precise positioning, rapid iteration, and flexible operations to get a share of the overseas market.
The key is whether the brand is willing to abandon the mindset of copying the old path, truly study users' unmet needs, and then use a combination of product, marketing, and channels to turn opportunities into sales.
Today's overseas market is no longer the rough era where low prices win, nor is it the iron era where giants monopolize everything.
Brands likeHiBREW, which enter with differentiated products, make data-driven decisions, build trust through social media, and reduce risk through multi-channel strategies, can be replicated by any determined brand, thuswinninga place in the overseasmarket.
