Hello, July: Find a living space for industrial technology software in the segmented overseas expansion track.

From the established factories in the Ruhr area of Germany to the emerging industrial parks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the presence of Chinese intelligent equipment can be found in almost 90% of the world's manufacturing clusters. Sometimes, it even appears in unexpected scenarios, such as the automated filling lines of a winery in Spain or an oil and gas field in the Middle East.

These "technologically hardcore" products hidden in the middle reaches of the industrial chain are often unknown when expanding their business overseas. They face complex communication challenges when communicating with customers. Customers, when making purchases, not only focus on "looking at pictures and comparing prices" but also need to understand the technical principles, working mechanisms, and application scenarios of the products. However, these aspects are often difficult to explain clearly through words, language, or even pictures and videos.

This pain point in the industry has allowed July Hello Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "July Hello"), which is in urgent need of transformation, to see new opportunities. After traditional business customers raised the pain point of product capability display, July Hello launched the "3D Product Manual" based on its original digital twin and industrial design capabilities. It helps manufacturing enterprises with technical strength to display complex product details in a more intuitive and technological form through virtual models, thereby effectively improving the overseas transaction efficiency of manufacturing enterprises. With this product innovation, July Hello has not only helped manufacturing enterprises go global but also found a new growth point for its own development.

1. Creating the "3D Product Manual" to Address the Sales Pain Points in the Manufacturing Industry

At major global technology exhibitions, questions from domestic and foreign exhibitors such as "What does it do?" and "Where is this used for?" can always be heard in front of Chinese intelligent hardware booths.

Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first three quarters of 2025, China's exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 12.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%, accounting for 60.5% of the total export value. Among them, the exports of high-tech products such as electronic information, high-end equipment, and instrumentation increased by 8.1%, 22.4%, and 15.2% respectively. The growth rate of "three new products" and green products such as railway electric locomotives reached double digits.

During the sales process of intelligent manufacturing products in the overseas market, a common problem has become increasingly prominent. Many technology companies with "black technology" are trapped by their "expression shortcomings" and find it difficult to explain the technical principles and usage methods of their products to foreigners who do not speak the same language.

"Several old customers asked if we could help them create a 3D product manual for overseas customer display. We realized that this might be a transformation direction that could leverage our advantages," said Gao Chao, the founder of July Hello, giving an example. A technology innovation enterprise developed a tubular device for biological wastewater treatment. The specific magnetic field formed inside it can effectively decompose toxic and harmful substances in biological wastewater, thereby reducing the cost of subsequent wastewater treatment and providing a new solution for biological environmental protection.

Although this device has a high technological content, it looks like an ordinary tube on the outside. "The problem they faced was that it was difficult to convince customers that such an ordinary-looking tube could treat harmful substances," said Gao Chao. "This is also the reason why many enterprises come to us. Their products are either too complex to explain directly in words or too simple to show their essence from the appearance."

2. Successful Transformation from the "Large Scenario" to the "Niche Track"

The pain points in the industry have brought new business opportunities to July Hello, which is seeking transformation.

July Hello is a company engaged in digital twin business. It has participated in projects such as the construction of the 3D power management and control system for large-scale sports events and has accumulated a large amount of technical capabilities and project experience in 3D modeling, real-time rendering, and interactive design.

However, with the intensifying competition in the digital twin market, the traditional business of July Hello has shown weak growth, and the company's performance has declined to a certain extent. Therefore, after receiving the new requirements from old customers, July Hello quickly adjusted its product strategy. It transferred its previous capabilities in the digital twin field to the new product form of the "3D Product Manual."

July Hello's "3D Product Manual" uses digital twin and 3D modeling technologies to create an interactive virtual model for customers' intelligent manufacturing products. Customers can rotate and move the model by clicking or touching, or "disassemble" the model to see its internal structure. The model can also show the working mode of the product through 3D animation. "The recorded interaction process can be directly used as a demonstration video, which is more intuitive and clear than the previous paper product manuals," said Gao Chao.

Taking the technology innovation enterprise mentioned above as an example, July Hello designed a set of 3D models for its product, including the installation instructions, the mechanism of the internal magnetic field on harmful substances, and the destruction of the molecular structure of harmful substances in the pipeline, which were used as the "product manual" for the sales team's product demonstration.

After completing the orders from old customers, Gao Chao took the "3D Product Manual" to exhibitions such as the "Tomorrow City Exhibition" in Shanghai and the Digital Trade Expo to verify the feasibility of the product direction. "The results were beyond our expectations. Many enterprises came to our booth and thought that the product met their needs very well. We got many orders on the spot."

Based on market feedback, July Hello positions its target users as enterprises with products of a certain complexity, long transaction cycles, and in urgent need of professional display tools. There are two pricing models: customers can pay annually and log in to their accounts at any time to use the "3D Product Manual," or they can make a one-time purchase for permanent use.

Gao Chao explained that the purpose of designing the relatively lower-priced annual payment is to attract customers with a lower threshold and meet the trial needs of some customers. Customers can decide whether to renew the service after verifying the effect. The annual fee pricing cost model is also clearer. "Our model is not like AI projects with high contract amounts and fast growth rates. So, we don't pursue the rapid expansion of the company scale. This charging method can ensure that the company doesn't lose money and gives us time to gradually accumulate customers and continuously optimize the product."

Since last year, the "3D Product Manual" business has helped July Hello get out of the revenue dilemma and brought in more new customers. Currently, the revenue generated by this business accounts for more than half of the company's total revenue.

3. Strengthening the Design Aesthetic Barrier to Seize the First-Mover Advantage and Go Global in Synergy with Hardware and Software

The 3D Product Manual has not only enabled July Hello to achieve business transformation but also has a higher customer stickiness compared to the previous digital twin business. "Customers' products are updated every year, so they will definitely continue to repurchase our manuals. Compared with changing service providers and re-explaining the products, we are more familiar with customers' needs and product characteristics. Only minor adjustments to parameters and appearance are needed for subsequent updates, which makes the service more efficient and reduces customer costs," analyzed Gao Chao.

However, he also sees potential competitive threats. "If the market profit expands in the future and large companies enter the market to compete, small companies like ours will have little room for survival." To improve the barrier of its own products as much as possible, July Hello consciously strengthens the "design gene" of its products.

Gao Chao used to work at the Landscape and Architectural Design and Research Institute of the China Academy of Art and has better aesthetic ability. "One of my important current tasks is to lead the team to participate in international design competitions. Having awards as endorsements gives customers more confidence, and it also makes it easier for us to get projects." Currently, July Hello has won several international design awards, including the Silver Award of the Italian A Design Award, the Gold Award of the MUSE Design Award, and the Silver Award of the London Design Award.

In addition to enhancing the design expressiveness of its products, July Hello has also taken advantage of its first-mover advantage to set up local sales teams in industrial belts such as Ningbo, Taizhou, and Wenzhou to serve more long-term customers. The technical team at the Hangzhou headquarters focuses on product R & D and standard product configuration.

To seize the "dividend period" when market competition is not yet fierce, Gao Chao plans to further increase the speed of setting up branches in industrial belts through financing and replicate the proven successful model to other manufacturing clusters such as Tianjin, Shandong, and Chongqing.

In Gao Chao's view, it is very difficult for domestic SaaS companies to venture into the international market alone, facing challenges such as large differences in demand and fierce international competition. He prefers to embed the products into the large chain of manufacturing enterprises going global and go global in synergy with hardware enterprises as "supporting services." "We are going to the Smart City Expo in Spain next month to 'test the waters.' It is really not easy to promote software products alone. However, we are more confident when going 'abroad' with manufacturing enterprises such as those producing intelligent hardware and robotic arms as part of the supporting services."

Authors (Feng Yaling, Yang Yuexin)