DJI-affiliated entrepreneurs create a hit product in the blue ocean, raising over one million US dollars in crowdfunding | Product Observation
Author | Huang Nan
Editor | Yuan Silai
On a weekend afternoon, the sun shines on the lawn outside a single - family villa. A shiny grill stands firmly in the middle of the yard, and the aroma of meat wafts out from time to time. Family members and friends sit around chatting with plates in their hands, and occasionally someone goes to the grill to turn the steaks.
This is a typical scene of American life. Outdoor barbecuing has long become a unique culture that runs through suburban life in the United States. It can be found in important occasions such as family gatherings, friend picnics, holiday celebrations, and even weddings.
According to the HPBA consumer survey, 70% of American households own at least one grill or smoker, and 82% of the population grills outdoors every week in summer. This collective activity with spiritual and cultural attributes has spawned a huge market. NPD data shows that in 2021, the sales volume of the American barbecue market reached $6.1 billion, and almost all types of grills had growth, with the pellet grill having the most significant growth rate.
The pellet grill uses more healthy and environmentally friendly wood pellets as fuel and combines the functions of charcoal grills, gas grills, and kitchen ovens. Aiming at the pain points of gas stoves and charcoal stoves, such as difficulty in controlling time, which leads to under - cooked or over - cooked food, it is equipped with a PID electrical control panel to precisely control the temperature and heat more evenly. Smoke enthusiasts especially favor this type of grill.
An entrepreneur who left DJI noticed the change in user habits during research. In 2021, Vince, the founder of ASMOKE, who was looking for a business direction, found that American users had a relatively good understanding of wood pellet grills, with a penetration rate of nearly 20%, second only to gas grills, but its market share in terms of shipment volume was less than 10%. It can be said that this is a blue - ocean category that has been verified by the market and still has room for innovative growth.
Considering lowering the usage threshold for beginners, ASMOKE took intelligent cooking as the entry point and launched its first intelligent outdoor wood pellet barbecue grill, ASMOKE Essential, priced at $309. Based on its self - developed temperature control system, it offers a variety of barbecue modes and recipe options. Users can freely adjust the temperature, control the heat, and keep track of the barbecue progress in real - time.
Since its launch on the Kickstarter overseas crowdfunding platform in June 2024, the crowdfunding amount of ASMOKE Essential has quickly exceeded one million dollars. Currently, it has received two rounds of financing, including from Professor Gao Bingqiang. The expected sales volume in 2025 is to exceed ten million dollars.
North American revenue accounts for over 50%
In the rich barbecue cultural landscape, the smoked category is regarded as the most complex and high - end form, with extremely high premium ability.
In the cooking of this kind of dish, it is necessary to precisely control the temperature, the amount of smoke, and the roasting time. Therefore, the wood pellet grill, the cooking tool for this dish, has become the synonym for “high - end” and “professional” in this category. In the past, brands such as Weber, MAK Grills, and Blaz’n Grill Works dominated the mainstream market, with the average customer price ranging from $1000 to $3000.
However, most of these tools cannot be remotely managed. People need to stay by the grill for a long time, and the operation is relatively complex, with a certain learning cost. For example, different ingredients such as meat, seafood, and vegetables require different roasting times and temperature settings, which are difficult for beginners to master, often leading to failed roasting.
Therefore, to increase the penetration rate of wood pellet grills, the core is to lower the usage threshold for users.
The most difficult part is the precise control of temperature. The ASMOKE Essential is equipped with the Flame Tech temperature control system, which has built - in dual sensors and algorithms. It reversely deduces the temperature of the grill surface, the combustion chamber, and the inside of the meat, controlling the fluctuation within a very small range to ensure uniform heating. It can cook for up to 8 hours.
ASMOKE intelligent electric grill (Image source/Enterprise)
To meet the dietary preferences of different people, Essential has 8 cooking styles and provides users with a recipe library from professional chefs. The operation is simple and easy to understand. It comes with an automatic ash removal system, which can clean the ashes generated during combustion while roasting. This not only improves the combustion efficiency but also facilitates cleaning after the meal.
It can be seen that Asmoke disassembles the entire barbecue process, automates the key links, and packages the parts that require manual operation into a one - click solution for easy use.
Vince told Yingke that currently, the user group of ASMOKE is mainly middle - aged men aged 30 - 55. This group of consumers has relatively strong economic strength, attaches great importance to family values, pays attention to product quality and practicality, and has a higher acceptance of smart products. They are willing to pay for innovative functions.
The competition among local outdoor grill brands in North America is extremely fierce, and the product iteration rhythm is fast. ASMOKE is the first brand to launch the concept of an intelligent electric grill, creating differentiation in the very traditional grill market. Therefore, it was able to enter high - threshold channels in the early stage. “Especially in offline channels, agents of traditional categories have a relatively high recognition of the intelligent upgrade of mature categories.” Vince said.
ASMOKE intelligent electric grill (Image source/Enterprise)
Taking the United States as an example. ASMOKE has entered multiple local sales channels in the United States, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, covering various stores including supermarkets, tool stores, and outdoor equipment stores. In the past, these channels mainly sold furniture, building materials, and tool products, which overlapped with the main customer group of outdoor grill products.
Among them, some offline channels will set up special areas for grill ecosystem matrix brands and sell them with accessories and consumables. For example, ASMOKE's product ecosystem also includes wood pellets, barbecue tables, Bluetooth probes, and other barbecue tools. In addition to the courtyard, ASMOKE Essential has designed a variety of accessories for different scenarios such as camping, RVs, and yachts. For example, in the camping scenario, Essential can be compatible with IGT (Iron Gril Table, a commonly used DIY table for camping) products on the market.
Based on the different target groups of multiple channels, ASMOKE has also made price distinctions. For example, small grills priced at $300 - 400 are mainly supplied to large - scale supermarkets, medium - sized channels such as tool stores mainly carry product lines with an average customer price of $1000, and products priced above $3000 are mainly sold in boutique individual stores.
Yingke learned that when ASMOKE sells in North America, agents directly supply goods to retailers, and ASMOKE only needs to negotiate and connect with channel providers. Online sales are mainly through independent websites and Amazon.
ASMOKE intelligent electric grill (Image source/Enterprise)
Accelerate the development of the European market
Beyond North America, Europe, which is at the forefront of carbon neutrality, is also a market that many enterprises aspire to enter when going global. Especially as the EU's requirements for energy and environmental protection become increasingly strict, intelligent electric grills like ASMOKE have an advantage in energy utilization efficiency compared with traditional grills, attracting the attention of a group of users who pay attention to environmental protection and energy conservation.
However, according to ASMOKE's observation, the channel attributes in Europe are significantly different from those in the United States. The offline system in Europe is mature but also relatively closed.
Taking the representative OBI sales channel as an example, it is a well - known multinational building materials retail and home improvement chain store in Europe, with a store network in many countries such as Germany, Poland, Romania, and Hungary. The market maturity of the outdoor grill category in different countries directly affects OBI's resource allocation in the local area. In regions with higher acceptance, such as the Netherlands and Germany, the implementation is faster.
Secondly, different from the United States, which is a large integrated market where connecting with the headquarters can reach all branches across the country, European channels are relatively scattered. Even for the same OBI channel, which has stores in Germany, the Netherlands, and France, products must be negotiated separately with local distributors when entering the supermarket.
“Local retailers only cooperate with or purchase goods from local distributors. Even if ASMOKE's products are finally stocked, retailers still obtain goods through local distributors - the model where distributors purchase goods from the enterprise. This is determined by its sales system and culture.” Vince told Yingke. For start - up enterprises to expand into new markets, the fragmented market will lead to a sharp increase in expenses and personnel input.
ASMOKE intelligent electric grill (Image source/Enterprise)
After starting the crowdfunding in June 2024, ASMOKE started mass production and delivery in August of the same year. Currently, there are 4 main SKUs in Europe, and it is expected that 3 to 4 new products will be added this year.
They can only accelerate the reach of local distributors by launching more new products and also need to establish local links such as logistics and after - sales service.
Of course, generally, enterprises going global only choose one market between Europe and North America as their main target. Currently, ASMOKE's North American revenue accounts for more than 50% of its overseas income.
For this company, the most difficult part is how to make ordinary people aware of this new product category. To achieve continuous growth, they cannot rely only on a small group of elite users. Traditional grill manufacturers have long integrated into families and communities and become part of the emotional bond. These subtle emotional values will be the most difficult to understand and balance, and also the problem that ASMOKE must solve.