Loock Unlocks the Consumer Smart Lock Market in the '618' Sales Event

Technology, Financials, Automotive Author: Sirui Zhou Jun 19, 2019 06:45 PM (GMT+8)

Loock achieved a sales revenue of CNY 126 million in the ‘618’ (June 18) shopping festival, ranking first in the smart lock category. Smart lock market has a huge potential, but the time and extent of smart lock popularization remain a question.

Lock image from Unsplash

Smart lock brand Loock (鹿客) and its sub-brand OJJ reach a sales revenue of CNY 126 million (USD 18.25 million) in the '618' (June 18) mid-year shopping festival. The sales performance established Loock as the top seller on shopping platforms such as JD, YouPin-Mi Store, Tmall and Suning in the category of smart locks. 

Loock was launched in 2017 by the leading smart lock provider YUNDING Technology (云丁科技). Founded in 2014, YUNDING technology developed a two-pronged branding strategy: Yunding focuses on the business-facing services like leasing management while Loock is more a consumer-facing operation. In November 2018, Loock unveiled its subsidiary brand OJJ.

Besides online channels, Loock emphasizes offline advertising this year and sold 37,800 lock selling in 4,680 retail shops on June 18. Loock products ranges from CNY 1000 to CNY 5000, while its subsidiary brand OJJ targets the lower-priced segment. 

The smart lock market has entered a fast lane since 2015, with growth rate hoving around 100% each year.The sales of smart locks is expected to reach 22 million units in 2019. 

The market for smart home business is huge in China but it is rife with hurdles like a low awareness, which limits the penetration of smart home gizmos to only 4.9% for 400 million households. Despite its potential, the market is still immature, meaning the proper timing for brands to swarm into sector remains a question.

Current players in the Chinese smart lock market can be divided into three categories. Traditional lock companies include DESSMANN (德施曼), KAADAS (凯迪仕), ARCHIE (雅洁), which possess advantages in manufacturing and offline sales channels. The smart lock startups, including YUNDING and Youdian, stand out for their strengths in software and cloud services as well as online marketing skills.

Multi-industry conglomerates including Haier, Huawei, and HIKVISION enjoy brand power and a vast distribution network.