Sep 25: domestic household IoT device company Viomi Technology listed on NASDAQ
On Sep 25, domestic household IoT device company Viomi Technology was listed on NASDAQ，making it the “no. 1 stock in household IoT devices”. The company’s ticker code is “VIOT”, with “V” standing for the first letter of the company’s name and “IoT”, the Internet of Things.
The pioneer in household IoT devices, Viomi has made use of IoT and artificial intelligences technologies to create an array of products for the kitchen, living room, and bedroom, opening up a new era for a smart and “connected” home.
In response to the listing of Viomi in the U.S., ShunWei Capital founding partner and chairman Lei Jun extended his congratulations immediately. He said in his message:
Congratulations to Viomi for listing on NASDAQ tonight! This is the second enterprise from the Xiaomi ecosystem to, following Huami, to list in the U.S.
I would like to thank Chen Xiaoping for leading the Viomi R&D team in creating products such as the Xiaomi water purifier. At the same time, I would also like to thank Mi fans for their support!
In addition, ShunWei Capital partner Cheng Tian, who was also on hand at the listing venue, said:
Xiaomi and ShunWei Capital have jointly invested in Viomi, a key leading enterprise in the smart hardware and smart home ecosystem.
The company has seen its business grow swiftly in the past few years and has a highly experienced founding team that has led the company on a tremendous journey of exploration and innovation:
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- Viomi was the first to create IoT devices for the entire household, thus realizing the possibility of an integrated IoT setup in the home for users. Its product offerings have enriched the experience of users.
- Furthermore, Viomi’s F2C business model where household IoT devices are designed, produced, and sold as part of “product suites” also allow users to purchase smart products in a more convenient “one-stop” fashion in what is an improved shopping experience.
Finally, we congratulate Viomi once again on what is a successful listing in the U.S. ShunWei Capital is brimming with confidence about Viomi’s future, and we believe that Viomi will be able to make a spectacular rise in the smart home appliances category!
At the scene of Viomi’s listing
L: Cheng Tian, partner of ShunWei Capital
R: Chen Xiaoping, founder and CEO of Viomi
The future is already here
A whole-of-household architecture for a new kind of “connected” lifestyle
In the Analysis on the Status Quo and Prospects of the Development of the Smart Home Industry in 2018 report, it was observed that the industry has gone from single smart devices to inter-product compatibility and finally to integrated smart systems.
Only in the last stage can the product actively engage in the adjustment of the environment. For example, when the user arrives home and engages with the smart lock, the lights automatically come on and the window shades, open in response. The air-conditioning system starts up when the user is on the way home, at a preset distance away. However, to connect all these devices, we will need to use AI and Big Data to identify and predict user behavior at high levels of accuracy.
Viomi’s keen understanding of, and insights into, industry developments have led the company to propose the “whole-of-household” IoT concept as early as a few years ago. Viomi has also introduced more than 40 types of products for various household use scenarios by leveraging on the idea of the IoT product array and using the Vioface as the “mother of all connecting terminals” that connects various devices from the water purification system to the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, and the bathrooms. This way, the architecture makes data sharing and device linking possible in what is an innovation for both the internet and home appliance industries. In this way, various smart devices become “active” providers of service instead of “passive”, making for a brand-new smart scenario use experience. Now, thousands of users can truly make their entire homes a “smart” one. This is truly a revolution for mankind’s home lives.
On this subject, Viomi CEO Chen Xiaoping has this to say:
Just about all of Viomi’s smart home devices can be operated by voice alone, with the help of artificial intelligence.
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- For instance, when working in the kitchen, the user can call for the Viomi fridge to play some music, or to look up a recipe on Meicai;
- The temperature of the water inside the water purifier is displayed on a screen attached to the fridge, and one simply has to place a glass under the dispenser to get a drink;
- With the Viomi mirror in the bathroom, one can perform a “one-click” purchase of shower gel and shampoo when they run out; and
- In the living room, one can instruct the Vioface smart assistant to start the floor-cleaning process with the connected robot cleaner…
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All these may sound like the stuff of science-fiction yarns, but Viomi has made them possible. In the two years since the introduction of Viomi’s “whole-of-household” smart appliances concept, Viomi has seen its home appliance user base grow nearly ten-fold. This figure tells us that the prospects for this concept are tremendous and of the practicality of the functions of these IoT devices.
Redefining the core value of household devices
With a focus on the user’s needs
According to the 2018 China’s Smart Home Industry Report by iResearch Consulting, in 2017 China’s smart home market was worth some CNY325.47 billion, and it was forecast that the market would have a compound growth rate of 21.4% over the following three years. This is a market that has attracted a host of players seeking a slice of the pie, from unicorn “verticals” to foreign internet giants such as Google, Microsoft, Intel, Facebook, and Apple, and Baidu, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Haier and Midea from China. However, there are some challenges to tackle before the smart home concept can be considered to be ready for full implementation.
Viomi’s creative contribution in this respect is to propose that the future home be a “connected” home. In addition, for true implementation to be possible, a new definition of the core value of home appliances was needed. From Viomi’s perspective,
In the future, home appliances will not only be simply about function but about the “super-connection” of people, vehicles, and life in various scenarios anytime, anywhere, from travel to entertainment, shopping, and consumption, etc.
The user experience is central to product development. In this regard, Viomi has been focused on improving the user experience and the quality of services provided to users as a way of establishing its “moat”.
In the case of traditional home appliance makers, resources and funds are generally poured into technology and R&D and on hardware upgrades. However, the advancement that can be made with such innovations is limited, and there are also certain issues when it comes to addressing consumers’ pain points. On the other hand, Viomi places a greater emphasis on the needs of the household user and undertakes transformation and the active provision of services centered on the goal of making the household “smart”. Thus, Viomi has been able to understand the consumer even better than the consumer understands himself and truly resolve the user’s pain points and meet the user’s needs.
The new F2C retail model:
Direct from factory to the consumer’s home
On the retail front, Viomi has married the experience of the traditional home appliance industry with the internet concept and introduced the new “F2C” retail model that transforms the sales link into an offline experience for the consumer who places an order. The product is dispatched straight to the consumer’s home from the factory thus cutting out the costs associated with intermediate distribution, and the cost savings are passed on to the consumer.
It is worth noting that Viomi’s retail spaces are not longer simply spaces where goods are discretely racked for display but where products are showcased and connected within a showcase experience. These spaces offer an immersive scenario experience and one-stop shopping for consumers.
Consumers can seek out such an offline experience in any one of more than 700 Viomi retail spaces nationwide. To place an order, they simply scan a QR code. The factory dispatches the goods ordered directly to the consumer, and helps to install the product. Prices are same between these retail spaces and Viomi’s online ordering platform. In the first half of this year alone, revenue from IoT amounted to as much as CNY828 million, accounting for 79.6% of total revenue. The number of household users has reached more than 1.2 million, meaning that IoT household products are now truly reaching the masses.
In the near future, residences not equipped with smart home devices will feel like what a home without an internet connection feels like today.
With improvements in IoT technology and across the industry upstream and downstream, the “connected” smart home has become one of the biggest trends in this era. It is expected that in the future smart home usage scenarios will filter down to each and every household around the world. Viomi, a pioneer in the smart home appliance market, will experience a period of rapid development post-listing with its whole-of-household smart home approach.
