Text | Sina Technology Zhang Jun
Editor | Han Dapeng
Focus on:
1. AsEco-chain enterprises, creating meters and numbers, have the same joy and trouble. Relying on Xiaomi, Chuangmi Digital has created smart cameras’s explosive products and supported more than 80% of its revenue; However, the excessive dependence on Xiaomi also resulted in a low gross profit margin. Investment in research and development is also insufficient, and patent infringement lawsuits are also faced.
2. In order to change the dilemma of single revenue, Chuangmi Digital has launched new categories such as smart watches, sweeping robots and smart doors. Among them, the smart door has become a controversial product, and Chuangmi Digital Alliance intends to build it into the entrance of the whole house intelligence, but there are still great problems in user habits, installation and after-sales service.
Another Xiaomi eco-chain enterprise is going public. Relying on a camera explosion, Chuangmi Digital achieved a revenue of 1.5 billion in 2021.
But the thinness of products is a big problem. I don’t know if I can learn from the smart refrigerator with a screen. Chuangmi Digital Alliance takes the smart door with a screen as a key new category, trying to build it into a smart control center for the whole house. However, many users have reported that there are huge problems in the installation and after-sales of Chuangmi Smart Door, and the product demand is also in doubt.
Because of the excessive dependence on the millet sharing model, the gross profit margin of Chuangmi is also low, only less than 20%. Chuangmi, which sprints to the market, still faces many challenges.
Eighty percent of the income depends on selling cameras.
During the reporting period, the main products of Chuangmi Digital Alliance include smart cameras, smart watches, smart doorbells, smart doors and smart cat eyes. But in fact, it relies heavily on smart cameras products.
From 2019 to 2021, the operating income of Chuangmi Digital Alliance was 875 million yuan, 1.124 billion yuan and 1.532 billion yuan respectively, and the proportion of smart cameras in operating income was as high as 86.96%, 89.17% and 83.88% respectively.
Smart cameras products of Chuangmi Digital Alliance include indoor smart cameras, outdoor smart cameras and webcam. In the category of smart cameras, Chuangmi Digital Alliance really did a good job. According to the statistics of iResearch, the shipments of home cameras in China in 2020 and 2021 were 40.4 million and 46.5 million respectively, and the shipments of Chuangmi Digital Alliance smart home cameras in 2020-2021 were 8.04 million and 10.28 million respectively, with market share of 19.90% and 22.11%.
However, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on this explosion.
In 2020, Chuangmi Digital launched smart doorbells, smart doors, smart cat eyes, smart watches and other products; In 2021, it even entered the category of sweeping robots. We have been focusing on the creation of smart home security products, and the product line is becoming more and more messy.
These messy product lines have not brought smart cameras-scale income to Chuangmi Digital Alliance for the time being. In 2021, for example, smart cameras’s revenue accounts for 83.88%, smart watches for 4.33%, smart doors for 2.12%, and sweeping robots for only 0.68%.
Heavy dependence on Xiaomi, low gross profit margin
It is worth noting that Chuangmi Shulian relies heavily on Xiaomi, which is also a common problem of Xiaomi ecological chain enterprises.
From 2019 to 2021, the associated sales of Chuangmi Digital Alliance to Xiaomi Group were 779 million yuan, 851 million yuan and 916 million yuan, respectively, accounting for 89.09%, 75.69% and 59.79% of the company’s operating income in each period, showing a high proportion as a whole, but there is a downward trend year by year.
Chuangmi Digital Alliance is also aware of this problem and is making efforts to increase the sales of its own brand.
Xiaomi is a complex role of love and hate for Xiaomi eco-chain enterprises. On the one hand, Xiaomi eco-chain enterprises can rely on the advantages of Xiaomi’s brand and channel in the early stage to quickly turn a certain category into an explosive product; On the other hand, when these Xiaomi eco-chain enterprises grow and develop, they will not be satisfied with the low gross profit under the Xiaomi model and seek to establish their own brands instead.
According to the disclosure in the prospectus, under the sharing mode with Xiaomi, whether the company can make a profit depends on Xiaomi Group. For the customized products of Xiaomi in the sharing mode, Xiaomi Group will share the profits after they are finally sold through various channels of Xiaomi Group.
According to the data, in 2019-2021, the comprehensive gross profit margin of Chuangmi Digital Alliance was 15.50%, 17.98% and 19.75% respectively, which was generally lower than the average compared with the gross profit margins of comparable companies such as Fluorite Network, Meizhi Optoelectronics, Jimi Technology and Roborock.
Chuangmi Shulian explained that the gross profit margin of the company is lower than that of comparable companies, mainly because the product structure and business model of the company are different from those of comparable companies in the same industry. The company’s gross profit margin is lower than that of fluorite network. One of the main reasons is that the company’s Xiaomi mode revenue accounts for a relatively high proportion. Under the sharing mode with Xiaomi, part of the profits are shared by Xiaomi Group, so the gross profit margin is low.
In addition, Chuangmi Digital Alliance also has a competitive relationship with Xiaomi and other Xiaomi ecological chain enterprises. For example, in smart cameras products, Xiaomi Group not only purchases from Chuangmi Digital Alliance, but also purchases from Tianjin Hualai Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Moxiang Network Technology Co., Ltd.; For example, in smart watches and sweeping robot products, Xiaomi brand also has its own products.
Is the wisdom gate an IQ tax?
In order to get rid of the dependence on smart cameras products, Smart Door is one of the key products of Chuangmi Digital Alliance.
First, the unit price of smart door products is higher, which is expected to bring more income; The second is that the smart door integrates many functions such as door lock, doorbell, cat’s eye, etc. At the same time, Chuangmi Digital Alliance intends to build it into an intelligent central control system for the whole house.
In 2020, Chuangmi Digital launched the Xiaobai Wisdom Gate H1, with a pre-sale price of 3,999 yuan and a daily retail price of 4,999 yuan. Chuangmi Digital has a 10-inch LCD screen embedded in the door, which can check the situation outside the door and control the indoor equipment.
This year, Chuangmi Digital Alliance has launched the BLADE STAR series of Xiaobai Wisdom Gate, with the original price starting from 12,999 yuan and the crowdfunding price of Xiaomi products starting from 7,999 yuan. This time, a 5-inch touch screen was embedded outside the door, and a 10.1-inch touch screen was embedded in the door.
Why put a screen on the door? The original intention of Chuangmi Digital Alliance is to use it as the entrance to control the intelligence of the whole house. In the process of intelligent landing in the whole house, with more and more intelligent devices in the house, it is difficult to control and operate only by mobile phones. Therefore, some enterprises want to add a screen control device to the refrigerator, and some enterprises want to use the TV as the control center. But in fact, no matter whether it is the door, refrigerator or TV, their control scenes are relatively simple, and it is not easy for users to develop habits.
From the data point of view, the sales volume of Chuangmi Digital Smart Door is not very good. In 2020, the sales volume was 4,800 units and the sales volume was 12,914,100 yuan. In 2021, the sales volume was 9,500 units and the sales volume was 32.533 million yuan. Chuangmi Digital Alliance is constantly raising the unit price of products to seek revenue growth.
It is worth noting that, unlike cameras, cat’s eyes and other products, the installation of smart doors is convenient, and the links involved are also very complicated.
Sina Technology saw on the e-commerce platform that many users who bought Chuangmi Xiaobai Smart Door H1 said that the installation service was handled by a third party, which led to frequent problems and poor after-sales service. One user said, "Don’t buy this door, it’s really rubbish and the service is rubbish!" According to his description, there are two main problems in this smart door. First, there is a problem with the door lock, and the lock core automatically rebounds, and the lock core is changed before it is used; Second, the door cover is not the right size, and there is a gap after installation, which makes it look ugly. When seeking after-sales service, it is difficult to connect the after-sales phone, and online customer service is also a unified reply, which does not solve the problem.
Another user also pointed out the size of the smart door. Because it does not support custom size, it is extremely ugly to install in a community with a large door. If you want to return the goods, you still need to pay thousands of yuan. "If you like smart locks and smart cat eyes, you can buy them directly. You don’t need to buy this door. It’s really rubbish after sale."
Even more, some users posted the post of "Xiaobai Wisdom Gate H1, Special Pit Xiaobai" on social networking sites, telling the story of being locked at home because of the door lock failure. "If, in case, any user is unfortunately trapped in a fire at home, this door will become an accomplice to murder!" He said in the post.
Is the moat of the accused patent infringement technology insufficient?
Chuangmi Digital also disclosed the risk of intellectual property litigation in the prospectus.
According to the prospectus, there are 15 unresolved intellectual property cases involving the defendant in the company. The cause of the case is that Hangzhou Hongyan Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. sued the company for infringing its invention patent right and utility model patent right, involving a lawsuit amount of 19 million yuan. The case involved in the lawsuit is still under trial. If the company loses the lawsuit in the future, or other parties file other lawsuits against the company in the course of business, it will have a certain adverse impact on the company’s financial status, operating performance and reputation.
What is the technical strength of Chuangmi Digital Alliance?
Data show that by the end of the reporting period, the company had 108 domestic patents, including 13 invention patents, 47 utility models and 48 design patents. It can be seen that the patents of Chuangmi Digital Link are mainly utility model patents and design patents, while invention patents account for a relatively low proportion.
In addition, in terms of R&D investment, the R&D expenses in 2019-2021 were 39.937 million yuan, 52.1502 million yuan and 78.8076 million yuan respectively, accounting for 4.57%, 4.64% and 5.14% of the operating income respectively.
Although the amount and proportion of R&D expenses of Chuangmi Lianlian have increased year by year, the R&D expense ratio is lower than the average of comparable companies in the same industry. In 2021, for example, the R&D expense rate of fluorite network is 11.57%, that of Meizhi Optoelectronics is 6.68%, that of Jimi Technology is 6.51%, and that of Roborock is 7.55%. In contrast, the data of Chuangmi Digital Alliance is relatively low.
tag
For Xiaomi eco-chain enterprises, joy is often accompanied by hardship.
Although Chuangmi Digital Alliance has reached the time of listing with the help of Xiaomi, it still has a long way to go in terms of product revenue structure, independence of independent brands, R&D investment, and user satisfaction of new products.
More importantly, after Xiaomi’s solo flight, how to tell the capital market a new story other than the explosive items is a huge test.