The US electric guitar brand "Fender" opened its first experience space in China, with revenue growth exceeding double digits | Early-stage project

A legendary brand in the history of rock music, after entering the Chinese market for 13 years, has finally expanded to offline.

Fender was founded by Leo Fender. The brand initially germinated in a small workshop in California, where Leo invented the first mass - produced electric guitar, the Telecaster. Products such as the Precision Bass launched in 1951 and the Stratocaster electric guitar in 1954 established Fender's industry status. The subsequent Custom Shop of the brand represents the top - level craftsmanship.

When Fender first entered China, it sold its products through dealers in various musical instrument stores, which is also a common practice for foreign musical instrument brands entering the Chinese market.

Recently, Fender opened an experience space in the Shikumen buildings in Xuhui District, Shanghai. This is the brand's fourth Artist Showroom globally after Tokyo, London, and Nashville, and it is also a signal of Fender's increased investment in the Chinese market.

The optimism about the Chinese market is based on its remarkable growth rate. According to Dai Yunjie, the general manager of Fender in China, the brand currently maintains double - digit growth, and the growth rate of its e - commerce channel also exceeds the industry average. This aligns with the judgment of Andy Mooney, the global CEO of Fender, two years ago: "Asia is the biggest growth opportunity in the next decade."

Fender's investment in the experience store is quite substantial. It is a small building in the central area of Shanghai. When asked why they must invest highly to open the experience space, Dai Yunjie gave a clear answer: "The guitar is the musical instrument that has the most contact with the body, and the resonance cannot be tested through online parameters." Whether for professional musicians or ordinary players, when they touch a musical instrument for the first time, they must have real tactile and sound - field feedback. The on - site experience of musical instruments cannot be replaced so far.

Fender's Shanghai experience space. Photo from the official source.

Different from the experience spaces in Tokyo and London, which are only open to professional musicians, the Shanghai experience space regularly holds open days for ordinary users. Dai Yunjie said that they hope to emphasize the "sense of community" in the offline experience space in China. This is based on the strong demand of Chinese users for music socialization. In fact, there are many social interest groups for electric guitars on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douban.

In order to develop at a faster pace in the Chinese market, Fender will present a more down - to - earth image in the future and find a better balance between style and business. When interviewed by the media, Dai Yunjie believed that in the long run in China, one of Fender's goals is to open its own direct - operated stores to bring back the "experience feeling" of traditional musical instrument stores. At the same time, Fender will gradually transform from a "musical instrument brand" to a real "lifestyle brand" and hopes to convey a lifestyle attitude of "picking up the guitar at any time to express oneself through music."

When you visit the Fender official website, you can already see that the brand is trying many products beyond musical instruments, such as clothing and various derivatives. The brand is actively developing co - branding with anime IPs and fashion brands abroad and will also make more similar attempts in China in the future.

Although Fender already has stores on Tmall and JD.com, distribution channels, and experience spaces, to truly build a strong brand image in users' minds, it still lacks the most important piece of the puzzle - the flagship store. According to Dai Yunjie, Fender will open its first flagship store in Shanghai in the future, which will be its second flagship store globally.

Dai Yunjie revealed that based on past experience in other markets, the flagship store has not taken away the business of Fender's dealers. Instead, after many flagship stores opened, they provided new channels for dealers, increasing their business by 20%.

Fender hopes that China will become its benchmark incremental market. The European, American, and Japanese markets, where the brand has been deeply involved for many years, are already very mature, while China, where it has entered relatively recently, still has great development potential. In recent years, driven by multiple factors such as the technological innovation of smart guitars, the return of retro designs, and the high digital literacy of the younger generation, they have a very high acceptance of electro - acoustic musical instruments. In addition, due to the booming offline performance market, from live houses to music festivals, the explosion of the performance market in recent years has provided a catalyst, and the demand for guitars in mainstream music scenarios has also increased sharply.

In the electric guitar industry, several leading brands have emerged: Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, and Ibanez. These four manufacturers together account for 65% of the industry's total revenue, with an annual sales volume of about $1 billion. Among them, Fender and Gibson mainly target the mid - to - high - end market, and they also have affordable sub - brands, Squier and Epiphone respectively. There are also affordable brands such as Cort and Tagima, which are more suitable for adult beginners, and Schecter, which focuses on niche scenarios.

The guitar was originally an accompaniment instrument for American country music and is now regarded as a common instrument in pop music, rock music, blues, and folk music. It has always been a category of modern musical instruments with higher cost - effectiveness, easier to learn, and wider application. In the entire electro - acoustic music market, the proportion of electric guitars is 15 - 20%, and this figure is still rising. Compared with acoustic guitars, electric guitars have a lower learning threshold, better effects, and stronger social attributes, providing a long - term, low - cost emotional shelter for busy people.

As the number of learners continues to increase, the user segmentation of electric guitars in China is also quite obvious. According to Magic Mirror Data, the sales volume of fretless guitars on mainstream e - commerce platforms in 2024 was nearly 1 billion yuan, and the average selling price on e - commerce platforms reached 2,234 yuan. The users are mainly young people aged 18 - 30. These high - cost - effective, low - threshold electric guitar products have also helped the category initially establish a brand image in China.

However, musical instruments have a strong educational attribute. Fretless guitars are more suitable for users who "just want to try it out." As users continue to deepen their learning, they often have a strong demand for product upgrades. Dai Yunjie also believes that today's young users have significantly improved their understanding of the appearance, feel, and price of guitars and have a relatively strong demand for higher - quality products and a more diverse product line.

In the category of electric guitars, Fender is a mid - to - high - end brand and has an advantage in the price range of 6,600 - 20,000 yuan. Fender's second - generation professional series made in the United States, the second - generation player series made in Mexico, and the second - generation fusion series made in Japan have always ranked high on the sales list. Professional users of Fender care more about the sound characteristics, expandability, and compatibility for stage performances and recordings. Fender also provides higher - end customization options for such users - the Fender Custom Shop. In Fender's custom workshop, players can choose team - built or master - built customization, allowing them to realize more product ideas beyond mass - produced products.

However, the functional differences in the musical instrument industry are relatively small. Compared with the single - product approach of domestic brands, Fender's competitive advantage lies in its complete product line. On the basis of emphasizing professionalism, it tries to expand its user group and cover more product categories as much as possible.

Just in the category of electric guitars, Fender has various models such as Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and Mustang. Each model can be combined into different SKUs according to different pickups, body structures, fretboard woods, and paint colors. In terms of product types, Fender mainly deals in guitars, basses, amplifiers, effect pedals, and peripheral products.

In addition, to meet the personalized and fashionable needs of young users, Fender also has many co - branded products with artists and IPs. It has not only launched a limited co - branded and customized Stratocaster with Bulgari but also a Telecaster electric guitar and peripherals in cooperation with the Monster Hunter IP.

To meet the needs of beginners, Fender also has a sub - brand, Squier, which was founded in the 1970s. It has rich colors, affordable prices in the range of 4,000 - 6,000 yuan, is more suitable for beginners, is lightweight and easy to learn, and has a higher degree of digital integration. There are also some sub - brand products in the brand's Tmall flagship store.

Fender's mature product matrix is based on its global supply - chain layout: its products are mainly produced in the United States, Mexico, Japan, etc. The Custom Shop in the Corona factory in the United States represents the highest level of guitar - making in the industry. This ensures product stability, and compared with small factories, it is more mature in raw material selection and process control.

In China, Fender is also trying to promote localization, such as developing products exclusive to Chinese users. Fender China launched a limited - edition traditional series of 60s Stratocaster and 70s Jazz Bass made in Japan in 2024.

Although it is an electro - acoustic product, different from the shopping decisions of general 3C products, which tend to focus on function and cost - effectiveness, many people's purchase of their first electric guitar is an emotion - driven "fan - economy behavior" - they have a shopping impulse because their favorite musicians have used it. Many legendary musicians in history have used Fender products for recording and performances. Fender is also constantly strengthening its connection with professional musicians to consolidate its professional and high - end image. Starting from solving the pain point of musicians that "good works are difficult to be heard," it has tried music projects such as Fender Next, the localized Fender Boost, and Hear TA to increase exposure opportunities.

Although Fender has shown obvious growth in China, the electric guitar is still a relatively new category in China, and the brand still needs to invest more in cultivating brand awareness. Fender is also making more content - based and cultural - communication - oriented attempts, seeking opportunities to cooperate with local culture and local musicians, while in mature markets, it mainly focuses on product marketing.

In response to the outside world's concerns about trade frictions, an executive from Fender's US headquarters said: "We are an American company, but our products are also produced around the world."

Next, Fender's plan in China is to first establish a foothold in Shanghai by opening an experience space. It will also hold more pop - up stores here for marketing activities. Later, it may open an offline official flagship store in Shanghai and expand its dealer network to serve players in more cities.