A Shenzhen company aims to capture the global high - end home market with its smart fitness equipment priced at 20,000 yuan per unit | Insight Global
Editor's Note: As going global becomes an increasingly core strategy for Chinese companies, how to conquer the global market has become an extremely professional topic. In the evolution of globalization, many Chinese brands have emerged at the forefront. In view of this, Yingke has launched the "Insight Global" column to explore the cutting - edge directions and opportunities for Chinese brands to go global from the perspective of brand growth and change, providing inspiration and food for thought for companies going global and the industry.
This is the 47th issue of our column. AEKE was founded in 2021. It focuses on the emerging sports and health track, which is currently small in scale but has clear growth prospects. Targeting the high - end market, with its smart fitness equipment priced at 20,000 yuan per unit, it raised tens of millions of yuan in crowdfunding overseas within a month. This field has technological barriers, an unsaturated market, and has not been closely monitored by industry giants, providing a golden opportunity for startups to accumulate technology and seize the initiative. Amid the fierce competition in the hardware market, Chinese companies need to find a differentiated way to break through.
Author | Huang Nan
Editor | Yuan Silai
Loong, an entrepreneur in his 80s, loves outdoor sports. However, this doesn't stop him from selling indoor fitness equipment priced at 20,000 yuan per unit, with monthly revenues reaching millions of yuan.
Traditional sports equipment on the market today, such as treadmills, exercise bikes, yoga mats, and dumbbells, have seen little disruptive innovation in terms of core functions or user experience. Treadmills still feature monotonous belt rotation, and exercise bikes only make minor adjustments to the pedaling method.
The traditional sports and health equipment market has been relatively stable, with an annual growth rate in the single - digits for years. According to a ResearchAndMarkets report, the compound annual growth rate of the global fitness equipment market from 2020 to 2027 is only 5.3%.
However, a turning point came around 2022.
The rise of the home - fitness concept has greatly stimulated the demand for home sports equipment. Meanwhile, young users' preference for personalized and intelligent fitness has become increasingly evident.
A McKinsey report predicts that by 2025, the global digital fitness market is expected to exceed 80 billion US dollars. In terms of regional distribution, the United States will account for 40% - 50% of the market share; Europe will follow closely, accounting for about 30%; and the Asia - Pacific region, represented by China and Japan, also shows strong growth potential.
At that time, Loong and several former colleagues were exploring new entrepreneurial opportunities.
In the current home scenario, it is common for young people to "lie flat" and scroll through their phones after work. Besides mobile - content consumption, watching TV or using projectors is another major form of entertainment.
After market research, they found that most content products on the market still focus on screen interaction, with a single - mode and a serious lack of activity types.
The team began to wonder: Besides rest and entertainment, could there be a new possibility for home life?
They discovered that in the sports and health field, the wearable device market is already highly competitive, while the market for large - scale smart fitness equipment is almost blank. This is a track with both technological barriers and vast market potential, and it has not attracted the attention of industry giants, making it an ideal choice for startups like them.
"In the overall landscape, there is no absolute leading brand in the Chinese indoor sports market, especially in the equipment field. When it comes to mobile phone brands, users can quickly think of Apple, Huawei, and OPPO. In contrast, there is a lack of clear brand awareness in the sports product field. This presents a vast market space for us," said Loong.
This is also the entrepreneurial direction that Loong and his team finally settled on: focusing on the smart fitness track and targeting fragmented workouts in the home environment. So they founded AEKE, offering users an integrated hardware - software solution mainly for strength training and Pilates, supplemented by yoga and aerobic exercises, by catering to refined user needs.
Smart Home Gym K1 (Source/Enterprise)
Since AEKE launched its commercial operations in 2024, its first strength - training equipment, the Smart Home Gym K1, raised over 15 million yuan on the Kickstarter platform in just over a month.
The crowdfunding price of this product is 2,200 US dollars, with an average customer price of 3,299 US dollars (approximately 23,000 yuan). Currently, the average monthly shipment in the domestic market is stable at several hundred units.
Targeting the High - End Market
At the beginning of product design, AEKE posed two questions to upstream supply - chain factories.
There were already a number of smart fitness devices represented by fitness mirrors on the market, with customer prices ranging from 3,000 yuan to over 10,000 yuan. The prices of leading brands such as Technogym and Mirror even exceeded 15,000 yuan. AEKE's first question was: Based on existing technologies, can the cost of fitness mirrors be reduced by half through marginal effects?
However, this idea was quickly proven difficult to achieve. The high - definition mirror screens, high - precision cameras, ToF sensors, and other components of fitness mirrors are expensive. Additional packaging is required for the thin - mirror design, and real - time motion recognition and data processing rely heavily on high - performance AI chips. Moreover, the non - standardized customized production model makes it difficult to reduce costs through mass production.
Another question AEKE was concerned about was whether there was sufficient gross - profit space for such products. Given the relatively limited cost - reduction potential of hardware, many companies turn to the content - payment model as a second option. For example, Mirror, Hydrow, Peloton, Tonal, etc., charge a certain subscription or membership fee in addition to the retail price every month.
"Perhaps this model is mature in Europe and the United States, but at the current stage in China, our users' consumption habits have not been fully developed, making it unfeasible for startups," said Loong, the co - founder of AEKE, to Yingke.
Of course, some companies try to build an "ecosystem," where the fitness mirror itself doesn't make a profit, and other profitable products make up for the loss. However, this approach goes against AEKE's concept of creating a self - owned leading product.
After the original plan was proven unfeasible, the AEKE team began to explore new product forms and finally decided to focus on strength training, offering users a differentiated product that combines strength equipment with a full - touch - screen solution, simulating various gym equipment at home.
Simulating various gym equipment at home (Source/Enterprise)
Based on its high - end brand positioning, AEKE focuses on lightweight design in its overall product design. The product's appearance and craftsmanship emphasize a sense of quality, making it more like a home art piece. The Smart Home Gym K1 has a simple design. For example, its body lines and mirror materials use aluminum alloy and anti - glare optical glass, which appeal to both young domestic users and overseas users.
The K1 is equipped with a 4K touch screen, surround sound, and AEKE's self - developed digital servo - motor technology. It has five preset force - exertion modes. With smart accessories, it can simulate various gym equipment. Moreover, through visual - perception sensors and motor force - control feedback, an "intelligent coach" can judge the accuracy of users' movements and correct their training methods.
Loong told Yingke that one of the core pain points of indoor fitness equipment is the complexity of installation, which not only affects the user experience but also has cost implications for the business model.
Take the high - end fitness brand Technogym as an example. It offers a special "white - glove service" for C - end users, with dedicated after - sales staff delivering and installing the equipment at home. For the company, whether it builds its own after - sales team or outsources it to a third - party, the cost will increase.
Meanwhile, equipment installation often involves drilling and fixing, which can cause irreversible damage to the user's home environment, affecting the aesthetics of the space and incurring potential repair costs.
In contrast, AEKE uses a movable strength - equipment hardware combination that can be used without installation, avoiding damage to the user's home decoration.
No installation required, avoiding damage to the home environment (Source/Enterprise)
This device only occupies 0.3 square meters. With its low - threshold and easy - to - use design, it meets the needs of young fitness enthusiasts.
However, AEKE is not just a hardware company.
Personalized AI Personal Trainer
For users who haven't developed long - term exercise habits, there are two core issues to address before starting to exercise: why exercise and how to keep it up.
After setting clear fitness goals such as health management, muscle building, and body shaping, maintaining a stable exercise frequency is often the biggest challenge for novice fitness users.
As current smart hardware products become more high - end, the differences between hardware are not very obvious. Therefore, it is necessary to dig deeper into users' underlying spiritual needs, which also aligns with the current mainstream consumption trend.
Therefore, at the beginning of product - function design, AEKE incorporated the supply of emotional value, which young users care about, into its core considerations.
In the traditional fitness industry, there is an imbalance in the entry - level requirements. The qualifications of personal trainers vary widely. Some trainers can start working after only short - term training, with a weak professional background, making it difficult to guarantee the service quality. In this context, users urgently need to transform the professional capabilities of high - quality personal trainers into a replicable personal scientific system.
Noticing the above market situation, AEKE independently developed an AI personal - trainer system, providing users with intelligent fitness services throughout the entire exercise process, from pre - workout to during - workout and post - workout.
Before a user's first workout, the AI personal trainer will comprehensively evaluate the user's physical condition, exercise ability, and health data through a sports - ability detection algorithm, creating an accurate user profile. This solution can effectively replace the manual evaluation process of traditional personal trainers and is the first step for the AI personal trainer to provide personalized services.
Then, based on the detection data, the system will automatically generate a 21 - day to 3 - month exercise plan and diet plan for the user, covering detailed scenarios such as body - shape correction, fat loss, and diet - health management.
In terms of course setting, AEKE has a professional coaching team, including expert coaches, yoga instructors, and senior nutritionists. They develop and shoot their own courses, with a single - course cost of over 20,000 yuan, and customize courses based on the hardware products. These courses are provided to users for free as a value - added service.
During the user's training, the AI personal trainer will record all exercise data and the entire exercise process. Once it detects a deviation in the user's movements, the system will correct them through voice and text. At the same time, based on real - time exercise data and changes in the user's physical state, the system will continuously optimize the training plan to match the user's latest physical fitness.
AI personal trainer can correct exercise postures in real - time (Source/Enterprise)
Considering the different exercise habits and preferences of users in different countries and regions, AEKE has launched two course systems for the Asia - Pacific and European - American markets, providing differentiated content services.
For example, for beginner and intermediate exercise groups, the course arrangement focuses on action decomposition and basic training. Through detailed step - by - step guidance and gradual intensity increase, it helps users establish correct exercise patterns. For users in the European - American market, who generally have a higher exercise foundation and professionalism, the courses will focus on increasing the training intensity and action complexity, incorporating more functional - training elements and advanced action combinations to meet their demand for exercise efficiency and challenge.
The UI style has also been adjusted accordingly. In the domestic market, as women aged 35 - 50 account for up to 90% of users, the page design emphasizes a sense of quality aesthetics and a smooth interaction experience. With a soft color scheme and intuitive operation logic, it better suits the aesthetic preferences and usage habits of female users.
In contrast, in the overseas market, men aged 35 - 50 account for about 70% of users. Therefore, AEKE has adjusted its software design to a more technological and industrial - style design language. Considering that European users pay special attention to fitness data, the interface layout enhances the visualization of various exercise data, meeting their professional fitness needs through clear charts and real - time data dashboards.
Overseas version of AEKE smart fitness equipment (Source/Enterprise)
"Selling a product is just the beginning. The transaction doesn't end when the user buys our product. From the perspective of the overall user experience and interaction logic, we aim for zero - operation, meaning that the product can be placed in any scenario without the need for additional operators to promote content or customize it," said Loong.
Beyond the product itself, the AI personal trainer has also effectively improved AEKE's efficiency in expanding overseas markets.
In the initial stage of entering a single market, with the help of AI technology, AEKE can quickly adapt the courses locally, including multi - language translation such as German, French, Japanese, and Arabic, keeping the market - verification cost within a reasonable range of hundreds of thousands of yuan. After the market feasibility is verified, a professional team can be deployed for in - depth local production, avoiding the risk of blind investment of tens of millions of yuan in the traditional model.
Yingke learned that AEKE will accelerate its overseas expansion this year, targeting the US market first and gradually extending to the North American and European markets. It plans to increase its overseas revenue to 100 million yuan in 2025.
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