The Rubik's Cube is not only an intellectual toy for many people's childhood, but also a highly challenging and fun puzzle game. However, for Jiang Ganyuan, a post-85s young man from Guangzhou, the Rubik's Cube is not only his childhood toy, but also the source of his entrepreneurial inspiration.
Driven by his love for the Rubik's Cube, Jiang Ganyuan founded the GANCUBE brand in 2014 and quickly built it into a globally renowned high-end Rubik's Cube brand.
Start of Entrepreneurship: From Hobby to Career
Jiang Ganyuan is one of the earliest Rubik's Cube enthusiasts in China,and became China's first speedcubing champion in 2006, breaking the national record seven times. With these achievements, Jiang Ganyuan accumulated rich experience and a wide network in the Rubik's Cube community, laying a solid foundation for his future entrepreneurship.
In 2014, Jiang Ganyuan officially founded the GANCUBE brand and began his entrepreneurial journey. At first, GANCUBE mainly focused on the domestic market, but soon Jiang saw the huge potential of overseas markets and decided to expand internationally.
Expansion into Tuke Markets
In 2019, GANCUBE officially entered the international market and joined the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada. In just one month, GANCUBE's GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) increased tenfold, and in August of the following year, it grew by 83 times, becoming the leading brand in Lazada's puzzle toy category, second only to LEGO.
Image source:SpeedCubeShop (a speedcubing website)
Moreover, GANCUBE not only performed well in the Southeast Asian market, but also achieved great success in the Latin American market. In the first week of entering Mercado Libre Mexico, GANCUBE made it onto the hot-selling product list, with its product prices far higher than other products on the list at the same time. This high-price strategy not only did not hinder sales, but also enhanced the brand's high-end image.
Image source: Mercado Libre
Globally, GANCUBE's products are sold in more than 100 countries and regions, and currently its smart Rubik's Cube sales account for about 20% of the global market. In 2023, GANCUBE's annual revenue growth reached 100%, and the number of users of its brand app exceeded one million.
Image source: GANCUBE official site
Success in Social Media Marketing
In modern marketing, the role of social media cannot be ignored. GANCUBE has established a presence on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and has achieved remarkable results through active promotion of its brand. Especially on TikTok, GANCUBE has attracted a large number of users by publishing professional Rubik's Cube gameplay videos and competition content.
On TikTok, GANCUBE's content covers Rubik's Cube tutorials, exciting competition moments, and product showcases. Through cooperation with Rubik's Cube enthusiasts and professional players, GANCUBE not only demonstrates the high performance of its products, but also further strengthens its professional image within the Rubik's Cube community.
For example, the brand launched the #GANCUBEChallenge on TikTok, encouraging users to share their Rubik's Cube challenge videos, greatly increasing brand exposure and user engagement.
The success of this social media marketing strategy not only helped GANCUBE rapidly expand its user base, but also significantly boosted product sales. Through TikTok, GANCUBE successfully conveyed its brand philosophy to Rubik's Cube enthusiasts worldwide, making it stand out in fierce market competition.
High-End User Positioning and Product Technology
In terms of product pricing, the average price of GANCUBE's 3x3 cubes is above 150 yuan, and the Maglev Galaxy magnetic cube series is priced close to 700 yuan.
GANCUBE's pricing strategy clearly indicates that it has targeted high-end user groups from the very beginning, especially professional Rubik's Cube players and tech enthusiasts. For these users,product performance and playability are the most important, so GANCUBE has invested heavily in technological research and development.
For example, GANCUBE's smart cubes have networking capabilities and can automatically time solves, making them convenient for professional competitions. Their high-speed rotation performance ensures top players' tactile experience and can be tuned according to user needs.
In addition, GANCUBE has made significant achievements in patented technology,having obtained more than 70 patents and broken multiple world records.
Together with MoYu Cubes,it is hailed by Rubik's Cube enthusiasts worldwide as "the Apple and Samsung of the Rubik's Cube world".
In the future, GANCUBE plans to continue expanding its product line and increase its global market promotion efforts. Through continuous innovation and high-quality products, GANCUBE is expected to occupy a larger share of the global Rubik's Cube market.
At first glance, GANCUBE's success seems to be a chance case that started from a hobby, but isn't this also a typical example of seizing opportunities and moving towards success?
The founder Jiang Ganyuan's professional background certainly gives him an innate advantage, but GANCUBE's precise brand positioning, strong R&D capabilities, and effective social media marketing—aren't all of these indispensable factors in achieving this result?
Therefore, GANCUBE's success is not just a stroke of luck; it simply seized the opportunity to Tuke and pulled the rope of success.


