Compared with the current mechanical locks, intelligent phase locking has greatly improved the safety and convenience. At present, the penetration rate of smart locks is relatively good mainly in first-tier and second-tier cities, but it is still basically blank in third-and fourth-tier cities. With the continuous popularity of smart home industry, various smart products have been introduced one after another, among which smart door lock products have attracted consumers’ attention by virtue of the high security of fingerprint recognition, so there are still good development prospects and markets! So what about the smart lock industry? Is it good after all? Today, I will give you my personal opinion around this topic!
How about the smart lock industry?
With the popularity of the media, fingerprint locks have been well publicized. In the future, large and small brands will blossom everywhere. Finally, after the market reshuffle, some brands that pay attention to brands and after-sales will be retained, just like the original development of electric vehicles.
The development of smart door lock industry in China started in the 1990s, and the product type changed from the initial password lock to the magnetic card door lock. With the development of technologies such as fingerprint identification and biometrics, it was upgraded to fingerprint lock and other products. The application field has gradually entered thousands of households from the initial hotels. After years of development, the number of enterprises in the industry has gradually increased, and traditional lock enterprises, home appliance enterprises and smart lock emerging enterprises have entered the market one after another, and the development of the industry has accelerated. From 2017 to 2021, the sales volume of smart door locks in China fluctuated, reaching 16.95 million units in 2021, an increase of 5.9% compared with 2020. In 2021, the online market sales volume of smart door locks in China was 3.736 million units, accounting for about 28%. Offline channels account for more than 70%, which is the main sales channel of smart door locks.
At present, the price of smart door locks is mostly 2,000-3,000 yuan, and the average price is about 2,500 yuan, which is more than 10 times higher than that of traditional mechanical locks. There is a large "price difference space", which blocks many consumers who value prices.
According to statistics, after 2019, with the continuous clarity of the competition pattern and the gradual improvement of the supply chain, the average price of smart door locks will gradually drop to around 2,000 yuan. In 2023, the sales volume of smart door locks will exceed 65 million sets.
According to relevant data, the market size of smart door locks in China has reached 40 billion yuan at present, but the market penetration rate is only 7%, while the market penetration rates of smart door locks in Japan, South Korea, Europe and America are 80%, 60% and 25% respectively.
Therefore, as the entrance of smart home, smart door lock is a huge cake in this industry, which is enough for everyone to share.
From the time point of view, the current development of smart door locks is at the right time. For players who laid out smart door locks in the early days, they may have been running on this track for many years, but from the current market situation, the smart door lock track has not yet ushered in a real outbreak.
Future development trend of smart lock
The iteration of smart lock technology innovation is accelerated, and the head manufacturer is basically a new selling point every year. As an intelligent entrance to the home, the essence of smart lock is to simplify the complex and maximize the comfortable wisdom experience. At present, problems such as unlocking the small black box, automatically opening the door, invalid fingerprint module, fast battery consumption and data theft are common. Under the premise of ensuring the safety of people and property, as well as the stability and durability of products, it is particularly important to choose new technologies suitable for different groups and formulate different product price systems to maximize the occupation of market groups.
At the same time, with the post-90s generation entering the workplace and becoming the core consumer group of the family, it is particularly important to create marketing discourse suitable for young people. This requires obtaining the browsing data and search keywords of this group through big data, and analyzing the psychological demand trend, so as to successfully get out of the circle in the marketing environment. High value, black technology and price are the key points for young people to buy at present. But the word-of-mouth effect of after-sales service is the key to whether an enterprise can go far. We should not leave behind any concept of product, brand and marketing. We should not only actively adapt to market changes, but also learn to listen to consumers and form good interaction to create good products based on users’ thinking and needs. According to research statistics, the market capacity of smart locks covering building materials, new energy and household appliances will exceed one trillion by 2021. The reasons include:
First, government policy guidance. In the government work report, Li Keqiang proposed to formulate the "internet plus" action plan to promote the integration of mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and Internet of Things with modern manufacturing, and make use of information and communication technology and Internet platform to deeply integrate the Internet with traditional industries and create a new development ecology. Smart locks effectively and deeply integrate traditional household appliances, building materials, new energy and technology, promote the upgrading of product industry and lead the development of the industry;
Second, the maturity of high-tech technology, the application of 5G networks and the rapid development of the Internet have made the Internet of Things and the Internet closely linked, infiltrated and relied on each other.
Third, people’s pursuit of quality of life and the acceptance of convenience brought by technology are increasing day by day, creating a new lifestyle of the Internet of Things to perceive the charm of technology and perfectly combine life with technology.
Fourth, brands at all levels participate in the competition, stimulate the development potential of the industry, and a spectacular situation will emerge. "You chase after me" will realize the multiple competitive vitality of technology, marketing and management. Smart locks have broad prospects in China and even in the world. According to the analysis of the current development trend, there will be nearly 200-400 million families in the world in the future, which shows that the profit will be the biggest. In a short time, the number of smart lock manufacturers has increased from the initial companies to more than 100 companies today, and the rapid development of its industry is unmatched by any other industry in China.
5. Futurist Wolff Renson once said: "After the era of farming, industry and electrification, human beings will enter a new society that pays attention to dreams, spirits and interests in life." Yes, smart lock is indeed a craze now, and it is also one of the hot topics in society. It can bring a lot of convenience and experience to people’s lives, and it also attracts many enterprises to compete for a share in the intelligent market. However, as mentioned earlier, because of the relatively high cost, and the lack of novelty and obvious homogenization of smart products at present, some so-called functions are somewhat trivial and cannot poke people’s rigid needs. So simply summarize this development prospect: the technology will become more and more advanced, the practicability will become stronger and stronger, and people will become more and more eager to own it. At that time, the smart lock will change from the potential rigid demand to the just-needed one.
Is the smart lock business easy to do now?
Is smart lock business easy to do? Personally, choosing the right brand is not as difficult as expected, and if a manufacturer wants to become a real head enterprise, he must at least do these "three elements": product, brand and channel. To make a good product, it is necessary to invest huge R&D funds and raise a large number of R&D talents; It is essential to make a good brand, invite spokespersons and advertise in the media; In terms of channels, enterprises not only recruit agents, but also do a good job in after-sales, installation and service. Therefore, powerful enterprises can do a good job in products, brands and channels at the same time. We can choose manufacturers through the above points, so the risk of starting a business is greatly reduced.
From the current point of view, smart locks are mainly concentrated in B-end markets such as real estate and door fittings, and their shipments in the whole industry are at least 70%. Although online and offline retail sales are growing rapidly, the proportion is still not dominant. In addition, some shipments are concentrated in the hands of dealers, agents, etc., and have not really circulated to the terminal market. Therefore, it is still too early to say that the smart lock market broke out. Due to the joining of the giants, it has brought a lot of heat to the smart lock industry and promoted the development of the industry.
Judging from the current application situation, smart home products are mainly used in high-end real estate and luxury houses, so the real estate industry has also become one of the directions for the rapid landing of smart homes. The data shows that more than 80% of the sales channels of smart homes are used in real estate channels.
As a manufacturing industry, the smart lock industry has not formed a close relationship between products and consumers, and lock enterprises still need to build consumer brand awareness and shape brand image through offline dealers. Smart lock dealers can also provide users with a fixed consumption scene, bring random consumption, build trust between consumers and brands, and help consolidate the brand value of lock enterprises. The foreseeable trends in the smart lock industry are as follows:
1. In the future, the industry concentration will be further deepened. This has already happened, and everyone has seen that the entry of technology giants must bring about the reshuffle of the industry.
2. The future development of the industry must be the integrated development of soft and hard clouds. As a single product in smart home, the development process of smart door lock must be inseparable from the overall development of smart home, and it must be the coordinated development of soft and hard clouds.
3. In the future, the whole smart lock industry, even smart homes, will be integrated, and all products will survive in the same ecology.
How about the smart lock industry? What do you think of this? Welcome to consult and discuss through the comments below! Finally, it should be noted that many real estate enterprises in the industry cross-border into smart homes, whether it will affect the development trend of smart homes in the future, and how the real estate industry will combine with smart homes to bring new growth points to smart homes, all of which are worth looking forward to.