Handheld steam cleaners are not a new category in the home appliance track, but on Tuke US, a brand called Phueut has created a sales miracle of tens of millions of dollars with this product.

The steam cleaner, which was only launched in March 2024, has sold over 350,000 units so far, with a cumulative GMV reaching $16,067,200.

 

Image source:echotik

What's even more noteworthy is that, in addition to the excellent performance of the product itself, the total sales of the brand store Phueut have exceeded $18.32 million, and the number of collaborating influencers has reached 21,600.

A DTC Tuke brand focusing on handheld pressurized steam cleaners—how did it stand out in the fiercely competitive cleaning appliance track?

 

Image source:Tuke Shop

The Technical Foundation of Quietly Making Products

According to public information, Phueut's steam cleaner was officially launched on Tuke US in March 2024, priced at $42.99. Before that, the R&D team behind the product had accumulated years of experience in the small home appliance field.

From public information, this brand has hardly carried out large-scale traditional brand marketing. In its growth engine, influencer content and organic traffic on Tuke played a huge role

But this is not luck. Phueut embedded the "content dissemination gene" into product design at the product definition stage. What do 12 interchangeable nozzles mean? It means that under the same inventory, the brand can let influencer content cover dozens of segmented scenarios such as kitchen grease, bathroom scale, car window gaps, sofa pet stains, and tile grout mold, without designing different SKUs for different scenarios.

In other words, the product itself is the primary material for content, and this awareness determines all subsequent marketing strategies.

 

Image source:Tuke Shop

A “Just Needed” Product Appearing at the Right Time

The category Phueut is in is not the billion-dollar red ocean of floor washers and robot vacuums, but a more vertical and clearly demanded market: handheld/portable pressurized steam cleaners.

Market estimates from different institutions all point in the same direction: the global steam cleaner market is still expanding, with a market size of about $3.84258 billion in 2026, expected to grow to $8.66737 billion by 2035, with a CAGR of about 7.6%.

Further segmented to handheld/portable steam cleaners, the market is also continuing to grow. Relevant reports show that the value of this segment will be about $554 million in 2025, expected to reach $937 million by 2033, with a CAGR of about 7.7%.

 

Image source:globalmarketstatistics

Why are steam cleaners particularly popular in North America? This is closely related to the unique housing and lifestyle in the US.

Detached houses are the mainstream residential form for American families, and the attached front and back yards mean a lot of tiles, walls, and outdoor facilities need to be maintained; private car ownership is the highest in the world, with almost every family owning at least one car; about 66% of American families have pets, and hair and stains on sofas and carpets are unavoidable troubles.

Meanwhile, in the post-pandemic era, people’s attention to home hygiene has increased significantly, and content such as “immersive cleaning” and “deep cleaning tips” continues to go viral on short video platforms.

On Tuke, the #Spring Cleaning topic has reached 4.357 billion views, with more than 375,600 related videos. These stress-relieving cleaning contents are naturally suitable for small appliances like steam cleaners with strong "visualized effect"—the moment the steam is sprayed, stains visibly disappear, and this satisfying feeling in short videos is more convincing than any advertisement.

 

Image source:Tuke

Tuke Methodology: Influencer Alliance Matrix and Content Assembly Line

Phueut’s approach on Tuke can be summarized in three keywords: content scenarization, influencer matrix, and sales closed loop.

First, content.

Phueut does not push product specs and feature introductions hard on Tuke, but is good at using reversals and price anchors to create urgency. A popular video with as many as 2.6 million views uses the typical "return reversal" strategy.

 

Image source:Tuke

At the beginning of the video, the influencer says, "I'm actually going to return my steam cleaner today," making viewers think it's because the product is not good. But then she changes her tone—"It's not because it can't remove dirt in seconds, but because it completely changed the speed at which I clean my house."

The real reason for the return is that she found on Tuke that people could buy it at a cheaper price through flash sales, while she spent about $100 in an offline store. At the end of the video, she emphasizes that the promotion is about to end, so hurry if you want to buy. The entire video is only 33 seconds, and through the logic of "price comparison + limited-time scarcity," it directly brought in $35,500 in sales.

 

Image source:Tuke

It is worth noting that, among Phueut’s Tuke transactions in the past 90 days, short video sales accounted for more than 72.7%, while live streaming sales accounted for only about 3.9%.

This shows that for highly visualized products like steam cleaners, the short video path of "watch and buy" is much more efficient than live streaming. Users don’t need a host to explain too much—a 40-second cleaning comparison video already delivers all the information from seeding to decision-making.

 

Image source:fastmoss

Influencer collaboration is another focus for Phueut.

The core logic of this system is "pyramid layering"—influencers of different levels play different roles, each with their own responsibilities.

Top influencers are responsible for creating buzz and breaking out of the circle, driving brand awareness with phenomenal content; mid-tier influencers are the main conversion force, with precise scenario demonstrations and high fan trust, making them the healthiest ROI layer in the system; long-tail influencers and ordinary users are responsible for volume and reputation, using low-cost cooperation to spread samples widely, building real reviews in the comment section, and capturing long-tail search traffic.

This can be clearly seen in the influencer icons in the figure below:

 

Image source:echotik

It is worth mentioning that Phueut’s sales channels are not limited to Tuke Shop; they are also present on independent sites, Amazon, and other platforms.

This "multi-channel coexistence but focus on key channels" strategy is a pragmatic approach for small and medium-sized Tuke brands: don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but dare to invest resources in the most efficient channel.

 

Image source:Phueut

Conclusion

Looking back now, the opportunities for Chinese brands in overseas markets are actually bigger than many people imagine. In the global cleaning appliance market, China already accounts for over30% of steam cleaner production, making it the world’s largest production base.

We have the advantage of the supply chain and mature manufacturing capabilities. The only thing we may lack is the awareness and method to upgrade "Made in China" to "Chinese Brand." The emergence of content e-commerce platforms like Tuke has, to some extent, lowered the threshold for brand building.

Not every Tuke brand can replicate Phueut’s path, but at least one thing is common: instead of competing on price in the red ocean, it’s better to look for real needs that have not yet been fully met. The overseas market is so big, there is always a segmented track waiting to be developed by you.