298Have you also been swept up by this fitness craze?
Now when you open Douyin, videos featuring abs and waistlines easily rack up tens of thousands of likes—it’s become the norm, a true traffic password! Even Liu Genghong once took fitness livestreaming to new heights with his “Come on!” catchphrase, causing his fan base to skyrocket and fitness equipment to sell out in seconds, making people believe that fitness is a guaranteed source of traffic.
But in fact, even before “Coach Liu” became a sensation, a group of people had already started laying out plans in this field, and Merach was one of them.
Leaving a Big Tech Company for Cross-border: How Did He Turn the Tables?
Speaking of Merach, many people may not be familiar with it, but if you’re a fitness enthusiast, this name must ring a bell.
Merach, full name Zhejiang Merach Technology Co., Ltd., was founded in 2018 by Luo Weibao and others.
Talking about founder Luo Weibao, his background is far from simple—after graduating from university, he joined Alibaba, where he accumulated rich experience in e-commerce, especially through his training in the B2B sales team, which gave him a deep understanding of e-commerce operations. After several years at a big tech company, Luo Weibao chose to step out of his comfort zone and start his own entrepreneurial journey.
At first, he chose to cooperate with the treadmill brand Yijian. As a distributor for Yijian, Luo Weibao once contributed nearly 1 billion yuan in sales. This experience laid a solid foundation for his later venture, Merach. In 2018, Luo Weibao decided to focus on the fitness equipment sector and led his team to establish Merach.
With a mature team that had been working in e-commerce for years, the company quickly established itself in the domestic fitness equipment market and smoothly transitioned to the international market. In 2021, after accumulating a domestic market base, Merach began its overseas expansion, riding the wave of digital globalization and quickly making a mark in the cross-border e-commerce field. In its first year of cross-border e-commerce, the company achieved sales of 33 million yuan, and in the second year, sales soared to 170 million yuan—an astonishing growth rate.
Today, Merach is not only a leading brand in the domestic fitness equipment sector but also a globally renowned sports technology service provider. Its spinning bikes, elliptical machines, treadmills, and other products are sold in more than 30 countries worldwide, with annual revenue reaching 1.6 billion yuan.
Merach founder Luo Weibao, image source: Tianxia Wangshang
TikTok Marketing: Precise Positioning, Breaking the Shackles of Traditional Advertising
With the rapid development of the Merach brand, digital marketing has become an indispensable part of its globalization. Merach deeply understands this and has quickly raised its brand awareness in the global market by leveraging TikTok.
Merach’s TikTok marketing does not rely on a single account, but rather uses multiple accounts working together to create a multi-point blossoming communication strategy.
Currently, Merach operates four accounts on TikTok:
· @merach.us: Currently has 62,300 followers and 57,800 likes.
· @merach.usa: Has 12,000 followers and 21,500 likes.
· @merach.official: 8,878 followers and 93,900 likes.
· @merach_us: 7,746 followers and 20,500 likes.
Merach’s TikTok account matrix
From the data, Merach has achieved comprehensive brand coverage through the operation of these four accounts, with a combined total of over 200,000 likes and great potential for further growth.
Through TikTok short video content, Merach showcases the usage effects of spinning bikes, treadmills, and other products, while cleverly integrating the brand with the vitality and fun of fitness life, creating an image that “fitness can be cool.” This innovative content format not only allows viewers to see the fitness equipment itself, but also lets them experience the joy of interacting with the products.
Moreover, TikTok’s precise algorithm helps brands push content to truly interested user groups, resulting in a high conversion rate.
Merach’s TikTok video content
Independent Website: Direct Dialogue with Consumers, Enhancing Brand Independence
In addition to social media, Merach has not neglected the necessity of building an independent website.
Merach’s independent website, with its simple design and clear product display, creates a window for direct communication with consumers. The homepage prominently features core products such as spinning bikes and treadmills, and includes “New Arrivals” and “Hot Products” sections to help users quickly find items of interest. At the same time, the site offers multi-language support to reduce language barriers for international consumers.
Additionally, Merach provides answers to common questions in the FAQ section, covering logistics, after-sales, and other core topics, enhancing customer trust. The overall layout is simple and intuitive, focusing on improving user experience while effectively strengthening brand independence and market recognition.
Image source: Merach independent website
Amazon: A Must-win Battlefield in the Global Market
As the world’s largest e-commerce platform, Amazon is undoubtedly a key component of Merach’s globalization strategy.
On Amazon, Merach focuses on optimizing product display and user review systems. Through clear product pages and user comments, it helps consumers make quick purchasing decisions. The platform’s rating system and user feedback provide valuable data support for Merach, further promoting product optimization and after-sales service improvement.
Through refined operational strategies, Merach has successfully entered key markets such as the United States and Europe, and, leveraging Amazon’s global logistics system, ensures efficient cross-border delivery.
Compared to the independent website, Amazon focuses more on sales conversion, so brand tone is presented more simply, with more emphasis on product exposure and traffic conversion. This layout has helped Merach quickly build brand awareness in the global market and boost sales.
Image source: Amazon
Dual Engines of Hardware and Software: Innovation Is the Key to Brand Success
Merach not only relies on e-commerce platforms and precise marketing; product innovation also plays a crucial role.
As a brand focused on fitness equipment, Merach has not limited itself to the traditional hardware product route, but has combined innovation with entertainment, breaking the monotony and dullness of exercise.
Last year, Merach launched products in collaboration with the real-scene competitive game “Jue Ying Zhi Jing.” By combining fitness equipment with gamified experiences, Merach not only enhanced user engagement but also brought fun and challenge to fitness. This innovative approach not only meets young people’s needs for interaction and entertainment, but also effectively increases the frequency of fitness equipment use, solving the industry pain point of “three-minute enthusiasm for fitness.”
This innovation has not only greatly enhanced the appeal of Merach’s products but also brought the brand a large number of loyal young users. In today’s fiercely competitive home fitness market, Merach has successfully established itself with differentiated product design and innovative thinking.
Jue Ying Zhi Jing game screen, image source: Merach
Conclusion: Chinese Brands Going Global, Innovation Empowers Global Breakthrough
The rise of Merach is by no means a one-step process; it represents a precise breakthrough from domestic to global markets.
From making a mark in the domestic fitness equipment sector to rapid expansion in the global market, Merach’s success is a carefully planned cross-border e-commerce “breakthrough battle.”
In today’s increasingly fierce cross-border e-commerce competition, Merach’s story once again proves a fact: for Chinese brands to go global, it’s not just about “timing and geography,” but also about continuous innovation and precise market layout to find their own rhythm.
Only in this way can they stand out in the international market and become the true “game-changer.”
