Yogurt makers transformed into pet water dispensers: The new consumption revolution of traditional production capacity on Pinduoduo

The Dacen area in Huangpu Town, Zhongshan, Guangdong, is surrounded by water on all sides and is locally known as the "Home Appliance Island". Through the renovation and upgrading of old factories, many small intelligent home appliance enterprises have gathered here, forming a considerable home appliance industrial park.

Intelligent transformation has indeed driven a number of small businesses to expand into large industries. For example, several projects such as Xuele Electric, Haosen Thermal Energy, and Weijin Electric all have an output value of over 100 million yuan.

However, in the domestic small home appliance industry, where there is overcapacity and fierce competition, there are more untold stories about people like Yuan Peijie who are caught in the whirlpool of involution.

Yuan Peijie runs his own small home appliance factory, "Kawu", in Zhongshan. After visiting a friend's lighting factory in Guzhen a few years ago, he realized that he had to make some changes. "They could achieve more sales and profits with just a few people at a table than our production line with dozens of people."

At that time, Yuan Peijie's small home appliance factory had encountered a profit bottleneck, and he felt that he should transform immediately.

"(Those successful small home appliance enterprises) grabbed the key to this industry in the previous era. I can't just keep struggling in this field. Instead, I should use the current industrial capabilities to meet new consumer demands." Yuan Peijie thought like this.

So, his small home appliances were transformed into pet warming bowls, which were modified from the yogurt makers on the original production line.

The pet warming bowl was the first product of "Kawu" in the pet industry, but it quickly gained popularity once it was launched on Pinduoduo. The new industry means starting from scratch. Yuan Peijie said that Pinduoduo's platform has helped a lot in achieving considerable results in a short time.

Transformation factories like Yuan Peijie's are the main players in the current booming pet economy. They have the advantages of traditional industrial chains, but it is not easy to break away from the old paths and seize the new consumption trends.

The platform provides comprehensive support to these merchants. From product development to sales, Pinduoduo has successfully pulled many small and medium - sized enterprises trapped in traditional industries into the new consumption wave.

01

Why the Pet Economy?

Today, young people place more emotional attachments on their pets than on many other close relationships. Their "furry kids" are among their most important family members. Yuan Peijie, who has experience in the mother - and - baby products industry, realized that the consumption around pets by their owners is essentially the same as that around children by their parents.

Many consumer insights are similar, and many supply chains can be reused.

Yuan Peijie said that making intelligent pet appliances is like a "dimensionality reduction strike" for them. For example, a wall - breaking blender for human use requires fine control of the motor and heating plate. It can't heat too fast, and the motor can't start suddenly. However, pet devices are much simpler.

Market opportunities are, of course, just one of the reasons to start a business. In Yuan Peijie's words, one can't do a good job in this field without loving pets.

Yuan Peijie adopted a puppy named "Xiaobai". He spent more than 10,000 yuan on treating the dog's illness. Ten thousand yuan is not an amount he can easily afford, but Yuan Peijie still thought it was worth it.

From raising the puppy to seeing the female dog give birth, Yuan Peijie himself is one of the target customers of the company. He experiences the mutual trust and dependence between the owner and the pet every day, just like a parent - child relationship. It's not just that the dog needs people; perhaps people need the dog more. With the dog, Yuan Peijie feels that the factory is like home.

"Value is created where people are truly touched." Yuan Peijie defined his "business philosophy" like this. What he didn't realize is that the time when he treated "Xiaobai" was also the turning point for Kawu to transform into the pet product business.

Cai Shuochi, who transformed from the kitchenware business to the pet product business, had a similar motivation.

Cai Shuochi's family has a Chinchilla. In Guangdong in 2022, the "returning spring" weather was very severe. The cat food in the house got damp after being left for a while, and the Chinchilla lost its appetite. It would not eat even when it was hungry and kept meowing.

This gave Cai Shuochi the idea of making an automatic vacuum pet feeder. That year, the brand "Miaoxiangjia" was established.

Now Cai Shuochi has four cats. Every time a new feeder or water dispenser is developed, his cats at home are the first "customers" to try them out. "I installed a monitor to observe the cats' usage of the new products and analyzed the footage frame by frame." Cai Shuochi said.

With the mindset of a pet owner, Cai Shuochi focuses on the quality rather than the speed of product development. The development cycle of each product takes at least one year, which is a luxury for a pet product company.

In 2022, the brand "Miaoxiangjia" joined Pinduoduo as soon as it was established. The unit price of its water dispenser products ranges from 189 to 300 yuan, which is higher than the industry average. However, the daily order volume of Miaoxiangjia's products still exceeds 300.

02

Pains of Transformation

The boom in the "pet economy" is well - known, but it doesn't mean that anyone can do this business.

Merchants transforming from traditional industries may be able to solve supply - chain - related problems through a period of running - in and adjustment. Since there is a lot of overlap in upstream capabilities, this is not the biggest difficulty.

From their experience, "identifying the demand" is the most difficult part.

Yuan Peijie deeply felt this because his products once faced such a dilemma - the products were developed based on pet needs, but the actual sales were not good.

He summarized the reason as the fact that the value behind pet products is not only about the pets' needs but also the needs of pet owners.

The feeling of "loving pets" is real, but the consumption around "loving pets" can stem from many needs that have nothing to do with pets but are related to human nature, such as ornamental, showing - off, and landscaping needs.

Yuan Peijie gave an example. Some hamster owners regard the hamster cage as part of the room decoration, and the design needs to fit into the home environment. "Most of the cost of this product is not for the part used by the animal but for the decorative part for people to look at."

This reveals the complex side of the pet economy - the pet economy is ultimately a human - centered business, and it is necessary to balance the practicality for pets and human needs.

Yuan Peijie has been in the pet product business for four years. Based on his observation of users, he describes pets today as a 5D painting in the family.

Human needs are not all bad. From a business perspective, pet owners dressing up their pets, taking photos, and sharing them on social platforms have given rise to a number of emerging pet product brands.

Zeze is one of the "internet - famous brands". Initially, Zeze mainly sold cat trees and only did foreign trade. In 2018, it expanded its domestic sales channels and extended its product line to pet clothing and other supplies.

In 2018, there was no obvious trend in the domestic pet economy, and pet clothing products were lackluster and lacked design. Zeze's first hit product was a Christmas - themed pet vest with an innovative design.

Zeze, which seized the demand for pet clothing early on, has been booming. It is now a favorite and an internet - famous brand on various social platforms. It has even collaborated with big brands like KFC and Pizza Hut to launch multiple co - branded products. Data shows that on Pinduoduo, Zeze's daily sales of pet clothing alone exceed 700 orders.

The domestic pet economy is just in its infancy. Not only merchants but also pet owners are "learning continuously". Regarding how to raise pets scientifically and what product designs are truly effective, merchants have to run in with pet owners through continuous product updates, and contradictions are inevitable in this process.

"In consumers' inherent perception, a whole piece of sponge in a dog bed means good quality." But Yuan Fang, the e - commerce director of Zeze, said that the team once conducted a test and found that using only a whole piece of sponge had poor resilience, so they added some shredded sponge to the product.

This change dissatisfied consumers, who thought that Zeze was cutting corners. "But in fact, our cost is much higher than before." Yuan Fang said.

The deviation in product perception between merchants and consumers is a problem faced by many brands. He revealed that Zeze will focus on knowledge popularization next year.

03

Doing Subtraction

For most people, it's hard to associate Pinduoduo with the pet economy. The sales performance of pet products on the Pinduoduo platform also exceeded Yuan Peijie's expectations.

"The price of our products, such as the thermostatic pet bowl, is not low and is higher than the average level on the Pinduoduo platform, but our sales volume is still the largest in the field."

Yuan Peijie summarized that the basic principles of promotion tools on various platforms are similar, but the operation staff of Pinduoduo impressed him as more straightforward. "They only care whether they have fulfilled their promises to us and whether the data has reached the target. It's very practical."

The domestic pet economy is still a young industry, and most merchants are transforming from traditional industries. Facing a brand - new industry, Pinduoduo provides a lot of support to help merchants quickly identify accurate consumer insights.

Most notably, innovative products such as the "warming pet bowl" launched by merchants like Yuan Peijie can quickly gain market traction on Pinduoduo. Relying on this advantage, market testing can be completed in a short time, greatly reducing the risks associated with innovation. Whether a product has a market can be tested in a week on Pinduoduo, while it takes half a month on other platforms.

With its "short - link, high - efficiency, and high - quality - to - price - ratio" model, Pinduoduo provides a low - threshold and fast - feedback entrepreneurial environment for merchants, greatly improving the efficiency of R & D, product testing, and creating hit products.

Cai Shuochi had no previous e - commerce experience. He said that Pinduoduo's help was crucial for the early stage of Miaoxiangjia. "There are not only platform operation staff online, but the platform also organized merchant training in Chaozhou."

"The difficult part is doing subtraction." After Pinduoduo removes many unnecessary things, we merchants can operate simply and have more time to optimize the supply chain and conduct R & D.

Especially in the pet economy, which is just starting and has rapidly changing demands, the efficiency of each link directly determines the market competitiveness of merchants.

In this wave of the pet - economy boom, Pinduoduo has become an important driving force to some extent. Connecting the capabilities of traditional industries upstream and consumer insights downstream, it has enabled many young entrepreneurs to seize new trends and released consumer demand.

More innovative pet products are on the way to solve problems like cats' "black chins", dogs' gastrointestinal health, and to promote human - pet interaction. As Yuan Peijie said, value is created where people are truly touched.