In the overseas market of 3D printing, another "hidden champion" is quietly emerging.
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Author: Lanhai Yiguan
3D printing is a relatively niche field. However, ELEGOO from Shenzhen has achieved an annual revenue of 1.6 billion yuan in this field through channels such as Amazon and independent websites.
“If the problems of ‘easy to use, good to use, and multi - purpose’ are solved, 3D printers will enter the lives of the general public just like electric fans and televisions,” This is the judgment of Chen Bo, the co - founder of ELEGOO.
ELEGOO's 3D printers currently have many application scenarios: Children can use them to print knives, forks, and toys, while school teachers can print geometric models.
More imaginatively, the commercial application of 3D printing. For example, users in fields such as small studios, dental clinics, and jewelry workshops can print customized high - precision props, dental models, jewelry, or print small batches of earphone cases.
ELEGOO first entered the market through Amazon and gradually expanded to channels such as independent websites, eBay, and TikTok. Relying on “hardware + consumables”, it has created an overseas brand with an annual revenue of over 1 billion yuan. Among them, North America and Europe contribute 70% - 80% of the share.
The independent website is the window for ELEGOO's brand to go global. In the face of increasing logistics risks such as lost packages and damaged goods in the United States, ELEGOO's independent website chose to cooperate with the US AI technology company Seel. Through the independent website service plugin Worry - Free Delivery, Seel provides trust guarantees for ELEGOO's cross - border logistics to be delivered on schedule. “On the first day of cooperation, 2 lost packages were compensated, and the compensation arrived in the account extremely quickly. After using Seel, our negative review rate in the US market has decreased by 35%, and customer repurchase has significantly increased. This is not only after - sales support but also the cornerstone of brand trust,” said Kevin Wang, the vice - president of Elegoo.
As of 2024, ELEGOO's sales volume has exceeded 550,000 units. What has ELEGOO experienced along the way? (The following text will specifically analyze ELEGOO's entrepreneurial story and its performance on sales channels such as Amazon, TikTok, and independent websites)
01. Breaking away from the OEM model, with a cumulative shipment volume of over one million
Chen Bo and Hong Yingsheng are classmates.
After graduating from university in 2013, the two entered China Post Group together and participated in an innovation project of the E - commerce Bureau, thus getting in touch with cross - border e - commerce. Later, their department was transformed, and cross - border e - commerce was no longer the main business. Chen Bo and Hong Yingsheng left their jobs and started their own businesses respectively.
In 2015, Hong Yingsheng found Chen Bo and established Shenzhen Smart Pie Co., Ltd., launching the overseas brand ELEGOO.
At the beginning of the brand's establishment, ELEGOO did not immediately enter the 3D printer field but started with educational programming electronic hardware products, including circuit boards, sensors, and voice - controlled lights.
This type of product belongs to the STEM kit, which is a teaching tool or toy based on the educational concepts of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Its users are high - school and college students from foreign educational institutions. Even laboratories of well - known schools like Yale University will purchase these kits regularly. Sometimes, a single school will buy dozens or even hundreds of sets.
Just one year after ELEGOO's products were launched on Amazon, they topped the sales list of the programming electronic hardware category.
By the end of 2017, the revenue of ELEGOO's STEM series products had increased to 300 - 400 million yuan, of which 98% of the sales came from Amazon.
2018 was a year of both “glory” and “anxiety” for ELEGOO.
ELEGOO earned its “first pot of gold” by selling STEM education kits. However, the ceiling of this category is relatively low.
No matter how well STEM education kits are sold, they are still just a niche field. The market is small, and user stickiness is low. Once educational institutions change textbooks or enthusiasts change their ways of playing, the product life cycle will become very short.
As a result, ELEGOO's business growth rate became unsustainable. At the same time, as a “secondary developer” for packaging and assembling in the open - source ecosystem, it lacked a moat. Against this background, ELEGOO had to seek new growth points.
ELEGOO found that many scenarios of its STEM component users involved 3D printers.
“After consumers buy programming electronic hardware, it's just a pile of parts. They need to use production equipment to print a shell to form a product demo. So they also need to use 3D printers,” said Chen Bo.
At the same time, Hong Yingsheng also found that there were very few sellers who could do both “programming electronic hardware” and “3D printers”. The combination of programming and 3D printing can make programming more concrete and realistic, turning many “ideas” into “reality” and greatly improving user stickiness.
Finally, based on the demand point of “many ‘scattered electronic hardware’ need to print a shell”, ELEGOO decided to enter the 3D printing field.
In 2018, ELEGOO officially shifted its focus from Arduino electronic programming hardware to the 3D printing and laser engraving fields.
At first, ELEGOO did not immediately develop 3D printers on its own. Instead, it sold 3D printing equipment produced by other manufacturers in the form of an agent.
Picture/ELEGOO's 3D printer
This approach is actually similar to ELEGOO's “assembly + packaging” approach for programming electronic hardware. The threshold is not high, and the profit is limited.
In the more complex field of 3D printer complete machines, the problems of this model became more and more obvious. The capabilities of the original suppliers could no longer meet ELEGOO's expected delivery quality and speed. For example, a supplier's module was two days late, resulting in a delay in the delivery of the complete machine. The compatibility of parts from different suppliers was poor, which affected the stability and quality of the products, etc.
ELEGOO decided to purchase core modules from external sources and then have its own team conduct research, development, and manufacturing, achieving independent research and development and production of key modules.
This approach achieved great results. Not only was the quality improved, but the cost was also reduced to a lower level.
It should be noted that in terms of product selection, ELEGOO did not choose the FDM printer with a larger market share like other peers at the beginning. Instead, it did the opposite and chose the LCD light - curing printer with a higher “selling price” and “printing accuracy” as the breakthrough point for its first - generation products.
Although FDM printers are mainstream and have a faster printing speed, their accuracy is limited. They are difficult to meet the application requirements of high - precision dental and handicraft models. The LCD models, on the other hand, have advantages in these niche scenarios and can form a stable group of loyal users.
Picture/ELEGOO's LCD printer
Based on the accuracy advantage of the LCD models, ELEGOO gradually “poached” users from the large FDM user pool and converted them.
In the second half of 2019, ELEGOO developed an LCD light - curing 3D printer, whose price was almost half that of foreign brands and was loved by early seed users.
However, the rapidly increasing orders exposed problems on the production side.
With the influx of a large number of orders, the production capacity requirement increased from a few thousand units to tens of thousands of units. ELEGOO began to transform from “asset - light operation” to “asset - heavy manufacturing”, and the difficulty of production management increased sharply.
For this reason, ELEGOO spent three years (from 2017 to 2019) optimizing the factory's production system and efficiency (including recruiting engineers, standardizing production lines, and testing the complete machine assembly process). It was not until 2019 that the product quality and production capacity gradually stabilized.
Relying on the progress of the industrial chain, ELEGOO continuously launched printers with higher resolutions, from 4K, 6K, 8K, 10K to the 12K product launched in 2023.
Continuous and high - frequency iterations provided support for ELEGOO to create hit products and increase sales.
In June 2020, ELEGOO launched the Saturn series 3D printer with 4K resolution, priced at $500, only half of its competitors ($800 - $1000). As soon as the product was launched, it achieved the result of selling 3,000 units in 3 minutes.
In the same year, the number of ELEGOO printers shipped reached 80,000 units, and the annual revenue exceeded 500 million yuan.
ELEGOO was once called “the price killer of 3D printers” by consumers. The cheapest 3D printer of ELEGOO abroad costs less than $200, and the domestic price including tax is about 1,000 yuan.
The most fundamental reason is that ELEGOO benefits from integrating excellent integrators in the supply chain and conducting in - depth cooperation with them in researching and customizing key components.
The model is actually the same for most people, but under the same model, the level of supply chain optimization of each player varies greatly. ELEGOO has been focusing on the supply chain and achieved a balance among cost, efficiency, and quality.
In terms of sales channels, ELEGOO mainly focuses on Amazon and independent websites, supplemented by eBay and AliExpress. All B2C platforms are self - operated by the official. As soon as the products are launched, consumers can directly purchase them on these platforms. Moreover, the product release speed is faster than that of overseas brands.
02. Amazon: 3D printing consumables are the “cash cow”
On the Amazon US site, 3D printers are just the “face” of ELEGOO, while 3D printing consumables are the “main support” for this long - term business.
Data from Sellersprite (www.sellersprite.com) shows that in the past 30 days, among the top 200 ASINs in terms of parent - product sales under the ELEGOO brand, the total sales volume was 2.665 million orders, and the estimated total sales reached $71.008 million (possibly including some follow - up sales and brand authorizations).
Data source/www.sellersprite.com
One of ELEGOO's main products, the Neptune 3 Pro, has consistently ranked fourth on the Best Seller list of the “3D printing equipment category” on Amazon. However, a closer look at the sales data reveals that its real “cash cow” is 3D printing consumables.
“Brand Yiguan” observed that almost all of its top 200 ASINs in terms of sales volume are 3D printing consumable products.
ELEGOO has piled up an estimated annual sales of nearly $800 million with a bunch of 3D printing consumables priced at $10 - $30 each.
Users who purchase ELEGOO printers are more likely to buy the original - factory consumables. Its consumable products have a more detailed SKU layout in terms of color, weight, and combination packages.
Picture/Various consumables for ELEGOO printers
Such as 250g multi - color printing consumables, single - color double - roll PLA, and high - repurchase single - color models suitable for most FDM printers. The average rating of these consumable products is above 4.4, and the cumulative number of reviews is as high as tens of thousands.
Of course, ELEGOO's consumable products still rely on advertising. For one of its best - selling consumables, among 252 traffic keywords, 110 are advertising words (including some natural traffic keywords).
Data source/www.sellersprite.com
A user may use a printer for two or three years. But once they “get addicted”, for example, when printing figurines, architectural models, or engaging in some batch - production projects, the consumption of consumables becomes as necessary as “eating and drinking”.
Wang Bingbing, the deputy director of ELEGOO, said that C - end users may print 10 or 20 kilograms of consumables per month, while B - end users may buy 100 or 200 kilograms.
03. Independent website: It can thrive without heavy investment
In the past three months, the total number of visits to ELEGOO's independent website reached 4.037 million. Among them, the proportion of device visits from the desktop end was 48.19%, and that from the mobile end was 51.81%, ranking 75th in the industry.
“Brand Yiguan” learned that ELEGOO has some competitors in the international market. For example, Creality, whose product line covers the needs of consumer - grade to industrial - grade users; Anycubic, known for its high cost - performance; and Bambu Lab, which focuses on serving the high - end market.
Among many competing brands, Creality and ELEGOO are vying with each other in the overseas market.
Creality is a bit like the “Xiaomi” in the 3D printing circle, with a rich product line covering the entry - level Ender series, the mid - to high - end K series, and even laser engravers. Although it has a large variety of products, it is relatively weak in light - curing, while ELEGOO is more focused in this area and has a relatively stable reputation.
Among these competitors, although ELEGOO's number of visits is not the highest, it maintains a relatively high proportion of natural search traffic (42.28%).
Meanwhile, among the natural search traffic, 76% of users enter ELEGOO's independent website through brand - related keywords. This means that ELEGOO's brand has relatively high stickiness among users.
Overall, ELEGOO does not rely heavily on advertising for traffic but rather on the traffic actively searched by users.
From the perspective of the user profile, ELEGOO is a typical brand for enthusiasts, with a very “hard - core” gender structure. Its male users account for 74.8%, and female users account for 25.2%.
This means that you have to be enthusiastic about technology and addicted to hands - on work to enter the world of ELEGOO. Just like Lego has an “adult zone”, ELEGOO attracts a group of adult players with basic hands - on abilities.
In terms of age distribution, ELEGOO's main consumer groups are mainly concentrated in the 25 - 34 age group (35.28%) and the 18 - 24 age group (21.32%). These people are not all industrial engineers; they may also be animation modelers, Cosplay prop makers, or beginners in the 3D printing business.
In terms of country distribution, more than 30% of users are from the United States, followed by Canada (10.98%) and Germany (7.05%). These countries have mature DIY communities and a culture of hard - core players. ELEGOO has gradually attracted users from social platforms to its independent website through YouTube tutorials, Reddit word - of - mouth, and an open - source ecosystem.
In terms of after - sales service, ELEGOO has cooperated with the well - known US AI technology service company Seel. By embedding an independent website plugin on the transaction page, it provides consumers with guarantee options that can be added during the shopping process, relieving the after - sales concerns of many consumers, effectively reducing the customer complaint rate, and increasing the repurchase rate.
According to comprehensive data from Statista, Shopify, Narvar, etc., in the North American market, the average return rate of independent websites is as high as 20% - 30% (up to 40% for shoes and clothing), while in the European market, it reaches 15% - 25%.
Among them, the return rate due to logistics problems (delayed delivery or lost packages, etc.) reaches 25% in North America and 20% in Europe.
Facing this problem, ELEGOO has cooperated with Seel to provide customers with the Worry - Free Delivery service.
Picture/The “Worry - Free Delivery” service of Seel shown on the ELEGOO independent website page
During the payment process, customers will see the “Worry - Free Delivery” option on the ELEGOO page. After customers check it, they can enjoy compensation or even full reimbursement at a very low rate in case of delayed arrival, damage, or loss of the package.
It is worth noting that the cost of the Worry - Free Delivery guarantee service is not paid by ELEGOO but by consumers.
Meanwhile, in response to customers' concerns such as “worrying about buying the wrong product and needing to return it” and “the product warranty period is too short”, ELEGOO has chosen Seel's services such as Free Return, Guaranteed buyback, and Extended warranty, which have solved a series of after - sales problems. This has reduced the negative review rate of ELEGOO in the US market by 35% and significantly increased customer repurchase.
04. Social media: 566,400 fans to drive brand traffic
Social media contributed 6.42% of the traffic to ELEGOO's independent website.
“Brand Yiguan” observed that ELEGOO has a good scale of social media fans. The total number of its fans on mainstream social platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram reached 566,400.
Among them, TikTok has the most fans (196,000), accounting for more than 30%, followed by Facebook (150,000) and Instagram (110,000). Although YouTube (54,400), Twitter (36,000), and Reddit (20,000) have relatively few fans, they play an important role in driving traffic to ELEGOO's independent website.
From the perspective of the structure of social media driving traffic to the independent website, YouTube is the real “main battlefield”. Although it only has 54,400 fans, it accounts for nearly 70% of the traffic - driving proportion.
3D printing products are not a category that users order easily. Before buying a printer, users first need to “do their homework”, including reading reviews, tutorials, and case studies.
ELEGOO has laid out a large amount of medium - and long - form video content on YouTube, covering topics such as how to level the machine tool, how to install the print head, and how to adjust the Z - axis eccentric wheel, as well as tips on using the printer from getting started to printing finished products. These evaluation and practical operation contents can meet the in - depth reading needs of users before placing an order. Once they meet the users' psychological expectations, they can improve the conversion rate.
In contrast, although ELEGOO has the largest number of fans on TikTok, from the performance of the independent website channel, TikTok hardly appears among the main traffic - driving channels.
However, its TikTok account is not “completely useless”. Its value in closed - loop conversion has actually begun to gradually emerge in the TikTok shop. Currently, the estimated total sales of ELEGOO's TikTok shop in the United States are $13,300.
It can be seen that the number of ELEGOO's TikTok fans is increasing, but they are not used to drive traffic to the independent website. Content is the key lever to “persuade users to place an order”.
TikTok is a “content consumption platform”, not a “product research platform”.
TikTok is more like an amplifier of “instant attraction”. It can quickly help a brand catch users' attention within a few seconds, but it is not good at presenting complex products.
The 3D printing category is a “high - threshold + high - learning - curve” category. Users care about a series of technical indicators such as product parameters, printing accuracy, accessory compatibility, support for printing materials, whether the software is open - source, and the image output speed.
TikTok cannot convey this information, nor does it have the scenario to do so. After watching the video, users are less likely to study the site instructions but more likely to place an order for an entry - level product in the shop or forward the video as a reference for DIY inspiration.
Therefore, for ELEGOO, TikTok is more like a “shallow traffic pool” + “brand splash”, mainly used for the first - contact exposure. (Text/Lanhai Yiguan) Note: Some data and information are from third - party sources and are for industry reference only.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Lanhai Yiguan” and is published with permission from Qiantang.
