Wired
Among the mainstream mobile phone manufacturers in the world, there may not be one that is as eager for female users as Xiaomi.
Xiaomi, which started out on the basis of cost-effectiveness, accounts for more than 60% of male users who pay attention to parameters. In a market environment where the broader market is shrinking, the only way for Xiaomi to grow is to launch a battle for new users, or the main users of friends.
Xiaomi has been fighting this battle for many years. From the broken CC series to the Civi series that took over, Xiaomi has always had the desire to break the female market.
But the ship turned around, which is bound to be no easy task.
miss women
According to the data released by the Penguin research platform in 2019, in the gender comparison of the stock users of first-tier mobile phone brands, the proportion of women in OPPO and vivo is about 60%, and the proportion of women in Apple is slightly higher than that of men. The ratio of men and women to Huawei phones is basically the same, while that of Xiaomi’s male users exceeds 60%.
The unbalanced ratio of male and female users has caused Xiaomi’s share in the domestic market to face certain growth bottlenecks.
Generally speaking, male users are more sensitive to technology and parameters, while female users pay more attention to appearance and photography. The styles of different mobile phone manufacturers also attract different user groups. In order to make up for the lack of female users, Xiaomi tried to make changes many years ago.
In 2018, the competition among domestic mobile phone manufacturers has become very fierce, and small and American manufacturers are facing increasing pressure. Meitu mobile phone is one of the representatives.
Meitu CEO Wu Xinhong was frank internally at the time, although Meitu mobile phones have leading imaging technology and beauty algorithms, high-quality female user groups, and a high premium brand image.
However, with the fluctuation of the smartphone industry environment, Meitu’s mobile phone business has been impacted. Due to the small size of the mobile phone business, it is unable to reduce costs to meet the intensifying price war.
Xiaomi, which desperately needs female users, has taken a fancy to the Meitu mobile phone business.
In November 2018, Xiaomi announced a strategic cooperation with Meitu to obtain the exclusive authorization of Meitu mobile phones and smart hardware products for up to 30 years.
The authorized Meitu phone will be developed, produced, sold and promoted by Xiaomi; Meitu will continue to provide joint support for imaging technology and beauty algorithms.
From the respective advantages of both parties, this seems to be a win-win cooperation. Xiaomi has the advantages of supply chain and channels, and Meitu has the accumulation of beauty algorithms and female users.
In July 2019, Xiaomi launched the new Xiaomi CC series, targeting the youth market, and launched three new models, Xiaomi CC9, Xiaomi CC9e and Xiaomi CC9 Meitu customized version.
Among them, the Xiaomi Mi CC9 Meitu customized mobile phone is specially aimed at female users. This is also the first cooperative product released by Xiaomi and Meitu. In November 2019, Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro was released, the world’s first 108 million pixel main camera, and the mobile phone image was officially released. Entering the era of 100 million pixels.
But unfortunately, Xiaomi CC9 Pro has become the last mobile phone of the CC series. With the suspension of the CC series, Meitu’s customized version of the mobile phone has also become a swan song.
At Meitu’s 2020 annual performance conference, Meitu founder and CEO Wu Xinhong bluntly said that Meitu Mobile and Xiaomi have no cooperation, Meitu will not enter the mobile phone manufacturing and sales industry in the future, and Xiaomi will not launch a mobile phone for female users. Meitu mobile phone.
Looking back at the original cooperation agreement between the two parties, in the first stage, within 5 years from the official launch of the cooperative mobile phone, Meitu will receive 10% of the gross profit from the sales of each cooperative mobile phone, until the cumulative share amount reaches the agreed amount;
Xiaomi also has the right to choose to pay a one-time share fee to make up the agreed amount. Once the agreed amount is reached, if Xiaomi decides to continue the cooperation, the cooperation between the two parties will enter the second stage.
The early termination of the cooperation after only two years means that the sales and revenue of this series of products have not met the expectations of both parties.
From the perspective of Xiaomi CC9 Pro, the positioning of the CC series is indeed a bit embarrassing, and the product ideas have not gone out of the parameter theory.
With the support of 100 million pixels and other imaging technologies, the camera of Xiaomi CC9 Pro ranked first in the DxO rankings that year.
But for the camera, the Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro weighs 208 grams, and the body thickness is 9.67 mm. It is difficult to attract the attention of female users for products that are too heavy.
In addition, due to the combination of 100 million pixels and Snapdragon 730G processor, the camera experience of Xiaomi CC9 Pro also has certain problems.
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After the Xiaomi CC9 Pro, throughout 2020, the Xiaomi CC series has been hidden.
However, in September 2021, the Xiaomi Civi series was officially unveiled, and it also took over the CC series as a new product line for young people. Xiaomi Civi also invited Chinese shooting female athlete and post-00 Yang Qian to be the spokesperson.
This time, Xiaomi thought more clearly about the Civi series. Wei Siqi, product manager of Xiaomi Civi, emphasized at the press conference: “Xiaomi Civi is no longer a parameter party that everyone is familiar with. It only has two requirements, one is good-looking and the other is good. use.”
She said that the design ideas of Xiaomi Civi are different from the past, and many new attempts have been made to meet the needs of trendy young people and female users. The product team also has more female members, who are engaged in user research, imaging, design, marketing, etc. This field has more say.
From the point of view of the keynote speaker of the conference, the same is true.
In the past, Xiaomi’s conferences were often given by Lei Jun, the soul of Xiaomi and chairman of Xiaomi. This tradition has lasted for more than ten years. At the press conference of the Xiaomi Civi series, the role of the speaker was handed over to a female product manager for the first time.
From the product point of view, at least in terms of thin and light indicators, the Xiaomi Civi series takes into account the needs of more female users than the Xiaomi CC series. This parameter was continued on the Xiaomi Civi 1S released in April this year.
At the Xiaomi Civi 2 press conference on September 27, Xiaomi further upgraded the front-facing image, from a 32-megapixel single-camera generation to a dual 32-megapixel professional main camera combination, which is also a more frequent shooting scene for female users .
In addition, intelligent ultra-wide-angle multi-person group photo adjustment, multi-color temperature 4 soft light, upgraded beauty algorithm, etc., all show that Xiaomi has explored the needs of women’s images.
It is worth noting that this time Xiaomi Civi 2 adopts the form of joint name, which is also the common practice of most mobile phone manufacturers who pursue trendy design.
At the press conference, Xiaomi Civi 2 product manager Hu Xinxin announced that Hello Kitty has become a trend partner of Xiaomi Civi, and launched a Hello Kitty co-branded trend limited gift box, including customized mobile phones, figures, lipstick power banks, and can hold mobile phones, earphones, lipsticks The luxury goods of the same paragraph “Small Waste Bag” series.
One detail is that the lipstick charging treasure, a peripheral ecological product with very feminine characteristics, is very rare in Xiaomi’s press conferences over the years. It is specially designed for female users in terms of appearance design and volume. It is small and cute, and can be directly put into small satchels commonly used by women.
How far is it from “Bai Fumei”?
From the Xiaomi CC series to the Xiaomi Civi series, from the perspective of products and marketing, Xiaomi is correcting the positioning deviation of the previous female user products.
However, it should be noted that compared with Xiaomi’s MIX, digital series, and even the Redmi brand, the recognition of the Xiaomi Civi series still needs to be improved. This is a systematic project in terms of products, marketing, brand image, channels, etc.
In terms of the overall brand image, users’ perception of Xiaomi mobile phones is still based on keywords such as cost performance and parameters. Breaking the stereotype of the brand is what the next Xiaomi Civi series and even the entire Xiaomi brand need to work on.
Xiaomi needs more products based on women’s thinking and needs, and more marketing actions and brand stories that touch the minds of female users.
In terms of channels, Huawei, OPPO and vivo have all been deployed in low-tier cities for many years, and they have more advantages in reaching the breadth and depth of young people and female users.
Xiaomi is also making up for shortcomings. In 2021, Xiaomi will vigorously expand the number of Xiaomi Homes, focusing on the county market.
Data shows that in 2021, Xiaomi will open about 8,000 new Xiaomi Homes a year, which also brings the number of Xiaomi Homes nationwide to more than 10,000.
The new goal set by Lu Weibing, President of Xiaomi China, is to open another 10,000 Xiaomi hometown authorized stores in the future, and sink to the township market.
Today, the product power of Xiaomi Civi series is gradually maturing, and the offline channel layout is becoming more and more perfect, but it remains to be seen whether it can successfully compete for female users of Huawei, OPPO and vivo.
In fact, while Xiaomi is expanding to female users, OPPO and vivo are also trying to expand users in more segments. For example, OnePlus of the OPPO series has begun to exert its force in the e-sports market, while realme has competed for users who focus on parameters and cost-effectiveness; vivo has also specially launched the iQOO brand to attract users who focus on performance.
According to data released by IDC a few days ago, China’s smartphone market shipments in the second quarter of this year were about 67.2 million units, down 14.7% year-on-year. Taiwan fell by more than 40%.
With the smartphone industry entering a cold winter, this is destined to be a tragic zero-sum competition.