In this fast-paced era, attention has instead become a kind of“scarce resource.”
It’s hard for people to stay focused on one thing for long,if you want to create a blockbuster product, you have to keep up with trends, dig deep into the mindset of young people to discover needs and find inspiration, and make products that truly attract them—so they’re willing to spend time choosing, and even happy to share.
This shift is especially evident in the traditional daily category of insulated cups.
A few years ago, few could have imagined that an insulated cup for drinking water could become a trendy item sought after by young people.
Nowadays, choosing a cup is no longer just about drinking water, but a way to express lifestyle attitudes and personal style.
Image source:TikTok Shop
It’s this kind of consumer shift that has driven the rapid growth of the insulated cup market.
According to Grand View Research data,the global insulated cup drinkwaremarkethas been growing steadily since2020,with a valuation of $3.1 billion in 2024,and is expected to reach $4.5 billion by2030.
Among them, the North American market stands out,accounting for 34.5% of global revenue in 2024, with strong growth momentum.
Image source:grandviewresearch
Of course, data is just a reference. If you want to know how hot this track really is, you have to look at real cases.
In this blue ocean market full of business opportunities, many domestic brands have leveraged Tuke to make a name for themselves overseas, becoming dark horse top sellers in the cross-border track.
Among them,Meoky is undoubtedly the most representative—its story may give us a more intuitive look at new opportunities for “Made in China.”
Image source:TikTok Shop
From OEM factory to cross-border dark horse:Meoky’s transformation and breakthrough
According to reports,Meoky is a Shenzhen brand focused on kitchenware. Its early business was mainly OEM manufacturing, and it wasn’t until 2018 that it officially entered the insulated cup production project. However, by then, the domestic market was already a red ocean, with severe product homogenization and shrinking profit margins, and the brand’s development hit a bottleneck.
The turning point came from a forward-looking insight by core operator Mr. Zheng.
With a background in software development, Mr. Zheng personally witnessed the explosive growth of domestic Douyin e-commerce, but regrettably missed out on that wave of traffic dividends. This experience made him especially sensitive to the business potential of social media.
In 2021, when TikTok opened its e-commerce track globally, he sensed huge potential and decisively led his team to enter. In 2022, Meoky was officially launched for overseas markets, and in June of the same year, they set up shop on TikTok UK, starting their Tuke journey.
Image source:TikTok Shop
However, the brand’s Tuke journey was not smooth.
Because UK consumers had not yet developed online shopping habits and the product’s unit price was relatively high,Meoky experienced a half-year loss period in the UK market. Later, the brand tried to expand into Southeast Asia, but due to low unit prices in the region, profits couldn’t cover operating costs and they were blocked.
After several rounds of market trial and error, the team finally decided to adjust its strategic focus and concentrate on deepening the North American market. This move successfully opened up overseas sales channels and, starting from there, gradually expanded into key markets such as Mexico and Brazil.
In 2023, Meoky’s annual sales on TikTok Shop successfully exceeded 100 million yuan, and during the Black Friday promotion, monthly sales surpassed 150,000 orders, winning the GMV championship in TikTok Shop’s kitchenware category.(Data fromTikTok Shop cross-border e-commerce)
So far, its products onTikTok Shophaveaccumulated nearly1.4 million sales, with total GMV exceeding 155 million yuan, completing the transformation from unknown tocross-borderdark horse.
Image source:echotik
Everyone must be curious:How did the Meoky brand break through in the North American market?
The answer is actually simple, just two core drivers:Product strength+Social media boost!
Product as anchor: precisely targeting North American market pain points
Meoky’s ability to stand firm in the competitive North American market is primarily due to its deep insight into local user needs and precise product response.
North American consumers have a strong year-round demand for iced drinks, and in high-frequency scenarios such as in cars, they have extremely high requirements for leak-proof and spill-proof performance.
Based on this,Meokylaunchedan insulated cup withboth24-hour cold retention+heat retentioneffects, and with a three-layer silicone sealing ring structure, effectively solved the leakage problem, meetingthetwo core needs of local users.
Image source:TikTok Shop
In addition, consideringtheNorth American youth’s pursuit of individuality and passion for fashion,Meokycontinues to enrich its product matrix, launching various co-branded, holiday limited, and personalized custom products. By constantlycreatingfreshness and scarcityto stimulate repeat purchases and increase market share.
Image source:TikTok Shop
Channel as wings:Leveraging social mediaoperationsto boostgrowth engine
TikTok has extremely high penetration among North American youth and has become the mainstream local social entertainment platform.
According toDemandSage data, as of November 2025, TikTok’s global monthly active users reached 1.59 billion, with the US market ranking first globally with 135.79 million users.
Americans spend an average of53.8 minutes per day on TikTok, meaning they spend long periods “immersed surfing” on the platform every day.
Image source:DemandSage
For brands wanting to reach local consumers,TikTok is undoubtedly a golden publicity ground with its own traffic!
Meoky naturally grasped this traffic code and decisively leveraged TikTok for brand promotion.
InTikTok layout, Meoky played the “combination punch” of account matrix!
In addition to the core official brand account, they also set up localized operation accounts for key markets such as the US, Mexico, and Brazil.
Image source:TikTok
These accounts aren’t just simple content copies, but truly have their own roles and focuses.
Take the main brand account@meoky_officail as an example, this account focuses on brand information, mainly posting the latest news, promotions, and official collaborations, so users can get the latest brand updates first.
Image source:TikTok
For the local accounts set up for different countries,Meokycustomizes content based on local user interests.
For example, the dedicated accountforthe Mexican market@meoky_mx,focuses on real unboxing+immersive usage. This authentic sharing styleis very close to local users’ browsing preferences.It allowspotential consumersto quickly understand product details and strongly stimulates purchase desire!
Image source:TikTok
In addition to finely operating a multi-account matrix,Meoky also fully leverages influencer marketing to push products to more consumers.
Data shows that amongall Meoky TikTok shops, the best-performing one has cooperated with 50,300 influencers and published 84,200 promotional videos.
Image source:echotik
The top-selling influencer is@hannah.nicole.96 with 138,800 followers, who contributed 31,700 orders and over 2.88 million yuan in sales.
Image source:echotik (top), TikTok (bottom)
The reason for such results is largely due to a product-promotion video by@hannah.nicole.96.
The video, themed“Surprising colleagues with a leak-proof cup,” records the influencer gifting Meoky insulated cups to different colleagues, showcasing the product’s leak-proof advantage by turning it upside down, and winning unanimous praise.
So far, the video has reached19.9 million views and over 1.9 million likes. This single video brought 20,000 orders and over 1.81 million yuan in sales to the brand, showing a very strong marketing conversion rate.
It’s clear that promotional videos integrated into real-life scenarios are more likely to win the favor and recognition of young users.
Image source:echotik
Video from influencerhannah.nicole.96’s TikTok account
Conclusion
Meoky’s success shows that even in traditional categories like insulated cups, as long as you capture user needs and make good use of social media, Chinese brands can still achieve rapid growth in overseas markets.
Currently, the global insulated cup market continues to expand steadily. Mature markets like North America and Europe are increasingly focused on high-quality, good-looking products, while emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Latin America are showing strong growth potential.
For domestic enterprises, now is the golden window to lay out insulated cups and more general home categories.
Rather than continuing to compete domestically, it’s better to look globally—after all, the imagination space of overseas markets has only just been opened.