427When it comes to outdoor sports watches, which brands do you know? Have you ever heard of COROS? If not, today Tuke will tell you all about it!
This brand has been developing very well recently, breaking through the monopoly of European and American brands like Garmin and Suunto, and collaborating with top athletes to become a “top influencer”!
Image source: COROS
From Smart Bands to Professional Outdoor Watches
According to reports, COROS did not initially jump directly into the outdoor sports watch track, but chose the smart band market, which seemed more promising at the time.
In 2014, its founder Niu Haotian and his team created the smart band brand WeLoop, which was one of the earliest fashionable smart bands in the Chinese market. WeLoop performed quite well, achieving fourth place in online sales during the 618 shopping festival in 2017.
Although the results were good, the team was not satisfied. They realized that the smart band market was already fiercely competitive and might not have a long-term future. After careful consideration, they shut down the WeLoop project and shifted their focus to the outdoor sports watch sector, establishing the COROS brand.
Image source: Internet
If You Do It, Do It Differently
For the COROS brand, choosing this niche but highly competitive market was a huge challenge.
European and American giants like Garmin and Suunto already have deep expertise and strong brand effects in the professional sports watch field. As a new brand, it was almost an impossible task for COROS to make a breakthrough.
However, with the growing demand for smart wearable devices (global market shipments are expected to exceed 200 million units by 2025), specialized needs in areas such as trail running and mountaineering have gradually emerged, providing opportunities for the brand’s development.
Image source: Canalys
COROS targeted this gap in the market, entering with “technology + precise user positioning,” and avoided direct competition with the giants in the consumer market.
Through self-developed heart rate algorithms, the EvoLab fitness system, and other core technologies, COROS solved pain points such as long battery life (e.g., APEX series with 40 hours of GPS battery life) and adaptability to extreme environments, precisely meeting the needs of niche groups like trail runners and climbers.
Image source: COROS
Andto optimize the heart rate algorithm, their engineers once debugged continuously in the lab for 72 hours, and the team even took the watch to dive 15 meters underwater just to test its waterproof performance.
Image source: COROS
Strategic TikTok Deployment Is Essential
Competing on performance and technology is just one aspect; precise overseas market deployment is also key to COROS’s success!
The brand chose to market on TikTok and collaborated with many influencers, achieving good results. TikTok influencer @nicofelich is one of COROS’s partners. In one of his videos, he conducted a comparative review of the watches, effectively highlighting the performance of COROS outdoor watches and attracting a lot of user attention and discussion. The video has accumulated 459,600 views so far.
Comparison video Image source: TikTok
In addition, COROS has also collaborated with many top athletes, building the brand’s image as a “professional tool,” which quickly earned the trust of athletes and sports enthusiasts.
Whether it’s trail running star Killian Jornet, marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge, or legendary climber Adam Ondra, these top athletes have all been COROS brand ambassadors, contributing greatly to expanding the brand’s influence.
Image source: COROS
Conclusion
That’s today’s content sharing.
I hope the story of the COROS brand can help everyone with overseas marketing in the future!
2025 is already almost a quarter gone.
Faced with the huge potential of the overseas market, are you ready?
