Beyond the noise of the “hot tracks” in home, beauty, and personal care, a Chinese brand focused on art supplies has managed to break through in Europe and America with its alcohol markers.

This is the domestic art supply brandOhuhu.

This brand, which mainly deals in art supplies, achieved nearly $90 million in annual sales of a single alcohol marker product in 2023, successfully ranking first in market share in the overseas online market.

Furthermore, in 2024, it drove its parent company Qian'an Technology's “art creation” category revenue to exceed 537 million RMB (a year-on-year growth of over 55%), ranking first among the company's four major businesses.

A single pen has drawn the password for cross-border explosive products.

 

Image source:Ohuhu

From“general merchandise shop” to “No.1 in art supplies”

The brand story of Ohuhu begins with the transformation of Qian'an Technology.

Back in around 2014, Qian'an Technology began to operate its own brand on cross-border e-commerce platforms. The initial Ohuhu was like a wide-net explorer, with product lines covering home, camping equipment, and other categories at the same time—a typical “general merchandise” seller approach of that era.

In 2015, as Ohuhu entered Amazon Europe, Japan, and other sites, the team, after testing multiple categories, keenly discovered: the creative art tools track was somewhat different—high user repurchase rate, products easily showcased through content, and naturally suited for social media dissemination. This seemed to be a more fertile soil for nurturing a brand.

So, they decisively narrowed their focus, gradually concentrating resources on the field of art supplies.

 

Image source:Ohuhu Wiki

The real brand awakening happened around 2016, when the company management decided to “build a real brand, not just sell products.”

Taking this as a turning point, the brand officially entered the art enthusiast community and launched a professional-grade alcohol marker series. It was no longer a “store that sells a bit of everything,” but began to build a warm brand story around “art creation and emotional healing.”

 

Image source:Ohuhu

From the results, this branding route has brought solid commercial returns.

According to the alcohol marker market report released by third-party agency IndexBox in 2025, in its sample of the US online market, Ohuhu brand dominated with about 75% sales share, defined as a “star brand,” leading in both sales and user ratings.

This report card is undoubtedly the strongest dual certification of its product strength and brand strategy.

 

Image source:indexbox

The track is not“cold”: precise support from a booming market

The art supplies track has often been seen as a “niche hobby,” but global market data gives a completely different answer.

And the fact that the Ohuhu brand can dominate a segment with a single alcohol marker is itself a strong signal.

Data shows that the global art and craft materials market size is expected to grow from about $23.56 billion in 2025$23.56 billion to about $35.29 billion in 2032$35.29 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of about 5.94%. Online channels are growing even faster, with the compound annual growth rate of online sales channels expected to reach about 7.40% from 2025 to 2032.

Core drivers of this growth include the popularization of art education, the rise of the creative economy, the explosion of interest community content, and the expansion of the middle class in emerging markets. These trends have made art supplies shift from “relatively niche professional tools” to interest-based consumer goods that more people are willing to pay for.

 

Image source:indexbox

Meanwhile, the low-end segment of the market is highly homogenized, with many brands relying on price wars to grab traffic in the short term, resulting in crowded channels and rising customer acquisition costs.

In this layered landscape, Ohuhu has entered the “star brand” quadrant with high ratings and large sales volume, proving its comprehensive capabilities in product and operations. Conversely, it also shows that in a seemingly “niche” track, as long as youcatch the trend and stick to branding, you can still build a sizable business.

 

Image source:Ohuhu

Breakthrough across all domains: a new growth pole in social e-commerce

Perhaps seeing new opportunities in platform traffic shifts and youth user hubs, Ohuhu has significantly increased its investment in TikTok Shop.

This is evident in the data: during Black Friday and the year-end promotions in 2025, Ohuhu's sales performance on TikTok improved significantly.

In just two months from November to December, its TikTok Shop sales reached $946,700, far above previous normal levels.

 

Image source:kalodata

This change in pace is not simply about “adding another channel,” but about shifting from passively receiving demand to actively creating demand.

For art supply products, video content is naturally suited to showcase “before and after,” “creative process,” and “healing atmosphere” emotional value, while TikTok is currently one of the most efficient platforms for global content dissemination. The brand's increased investment is logically very smooth.

 

Image source:TikTok Shop

In terms of specific tactics, the most direct thing you can see is the account matrix Ohuhu has built on TikTok.

These accounts cover different regional markets, not only mainstream sites in Europe and America, but also emerging markets such as Indonesia, Peru, and South Africa.

 

Image source:TikTok

Although the markets are different, the content of these accounts is largely similar, all focusing on painting tutorials and technique sharing.

This seems to be related to the nature of the art category—no need for creative plots; as long as your work is good enough and your painting process is skillful, interested people will naturally follow.

For example, their main account @ohuhuart_official has gained over 200,000 followers on TikTok with such content.

Apart from a few promotional videos, almost all the content on this account is about drawing with markers. Through this slow-paced process, color changes, and atmosphere creation, viewers become interested in the product while “watching others paint.”

 

Image source:TikTok

From the sales results, the conversion effect of this type of content is indeed very good.

For example, a marker set video they posted last December received819,200 views, and the transaction amount has reached$55,400 so far.

Although it is essentially a promotional video, the user experience is completely different. As one comment said,“the sense of need for the product has doubled, and I want to get it.”

 

Image source:TikTok

Of course, to achieve wider promotion on TikTok, influencer support is essential.

According to data,Ohuhu collaborated with 712 influencers in the past 30 days, publishing 1,733 promotional videos—an average of 57 related videos per day on TikTok. For a niche category like markers, this is a wide coverage.

 

Image source:kalodata

Similar to the uniformity of content, the influencers they work with are all vertical painting influencers, which is determined by the product attributes.

The fan base of these influencers is the brand's most precise target customers—users interested in painting and willing to buy.

Through professional tutorials, real creative processes, and stunning work displays, they provide the strongest “trust endorsement” and “scenario-based seeding” for Ohuhu products. Their persuasive power far exceeds simple promotion, efficiently driving the conversion path from viewing, interest, to purchase decision.

 

Image source:kalodata

The distance is still worth pursuing

Alright, that's all for today's sharing.

Through the case of Ohuhu, we may capture such a picture: today's overseas market is no longer the wild era of traffic dividends everywhere and instant sales upon listing, but it has quietly evolved into a more fair,and more skill-testing arena.

Here, a clear brand narrative, professionalism rooted in vertical fields, and agile operation of emerging channels together constitute the “soft power” of the new era of Tuke.

The distance is still worth pursuing, but the path requires deeper thinking and more patient cultivation. Let us encourage each other.