Why don’t Huawei and Xiaomi make mobile phones for men?

Previously, there was a picture circulating on the Internet about investment value, which well explained why in various fields, including mobile phones, separate developments are often targeted at the female market, but rarely at the male market.

The male consumer market value is at the bottom, even lower than that of dogs. However, as the male group's self-awareness awakens, the consumption values ​​of the male market may also need to be redefined.

Is “his economy” really inferior to “her economy”?

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The industry is in a downturn, and they are betting on the female market again?

In the first quarter of 2019, smartphone shipments continued to decline. According to IDC data, global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2019 were 310.8 million units, down 6.6% from 332.7 million units in the first quarter of 2018.

The smartphone shipment report for the first quarter of 2019 released by Canalys shows that in the domestic market, smartphones as a whole are still in a sluggish state, with total shipments of only 88 million units, the worst performance in the past six years, a year-on-year decrease of 7% and a month-on-month decrease of 12%.

Against the backdrop of an industry downturn, major manufacturers need to find new incremental markets, so they have turned their attention to vertical segments.

However, there are great differences in the choice of market segments, and choosing which vertical direction can bring the greatest benefits to manufacturers has become the core issue.

Depending on the target market selection requirements, a segment should be identifiable, large, stable or growing, accessible, and consistent with the marketer's goals and resources.

The female market just meets all the requirements. Why say "again"? Because this is obviously not the first time.

DOOV, which was once known as the number one female mobile phone brand in the market, has long disappeared. This is not the first time that Huawei and Xiaomi have attacked the female market. As early as 2015, Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi NOTE Goddess Edition, referred to as the "Goddess Phone". Now, from Huawei nova5 focusing on AI photography, to Honor's marriage with cosmetics, and Xiaomi CC Meitu customized version focusing on appearance and photography, it is another offensive targeting the female market.

From the “disappearance” of DOOV and the “selling out” of Meitu, it is hard not to think that mobile phone products targeting the “female market” are false demands, but this is not the case.

For mobile phone products targeting the female market purely, “brand effect” > “product capability” > “price” are all essential.

For example, the "disappearance" of DOOV has no advantage in brand effect compared to Xiaomi, Huami, OV and Apple. Even though its selling price is only around RMB 1,000, there are many brands of Honor, Xiaomi, OV and other brands priced at RMB 1,000. Those who have money will not buy it, and those who are short of money will not buy it either.

In addition, the product itself provided by DOOV is just a pink mobile phone, which has no achievements in the aspects of photography and AI photo editing that women need. Of course, no one will choose it because it cannot meet user needs.

Although Meitu mobile phones have outstanding product capabilities, their "brand effect" is not enough to support their mid-to-high-end market pricing of 3,000-5,000 yuan, which is why Meitu chose to "sell itself" to Xiaomi. With Meitu's product capabilities and Xiaomi's brand effect, they can help Meitu out of its precarious situation and break the serious imbalance in the ratio of male and female users of Xiaomi.

Is the “Long Tail Effect” beginning to take effect in the “She Economy” era?

The "Long Tail Effect" is a theory proposed by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, in his best-selling book "The Long Tail Theory: Why the Future of Business Is Niche Markets."

He believes that when product storage, circulation, stores and sales channels are wide enough, the cost of commodity production will drop sharply and everyone can produce it. When the sales cost of commodities drops sharply, products that previously had low demand will be bought as long as someone sells them. The total sales generated by these products with low demand and low sales can be comparable to, and sometimes even exceed, the sales of popular products.

The long-tail effect is seen as a complete rebellion against the 80/20 rule. There are also many actual cases showing that the long-tail effect cannot represent all areas. For example, in 2018, a total of 1,923 films were screened in China, with a cumulative box office of 61 billion yuan. Among them, the top 25 films accounted for more than 70% of the total box office, and the top 80 accounted for more than 92%. The remaining 1,800 films accounted for less than 8%, and the long-tail effect was not reflected at all.

Looking at the updates and iterations of smartphones, it seems that you have never seen a manufacturer walking around the streets holding a sign that says "men's phone".

Anyone who positions themselves as a "female product" can achieve good market results at least in the early stages. For example, the Honor 20i, which was recently launched, teamed up with Marie Dalgar to create a "lip gift box" that was sold out immediately after its launch. DOOV and Meitu were also very successful in the early days, so why can the long tail effect be well reflected in the female mobile phone market? "Smart Relative Theory" believes that there are several points:

First, the female market meets the "long tail effect" that "if someone sells, someone will buy." Female consumers tend to shop emotionally, while male consumers used to be more rational. There is a phenomenon that aptly reflects this situation: "Even if the closet is full of clothes, women still feel that they have nothing to wear."

Secondly, female mobile phone users have different demands for products than male users, and female users are more easily impressed by marketing. For example, Xiaomi invited Wu Yifan to be its spokesperson, or Honor 20i launched a limited edition of cosmetics, which are in line with the consumer psychology of the female market.

Finally, there are two major trends in female consumption: one is the rise of self-awareness, which makes consumption more autonomous and pleasing to oneself; the other is the shift from shopping for usefulness to shopping for quality, with a strong demand for class identity. This just meets the needs of personalized products designed specifically for women, which can gain more recognition from them.

However, mobile phone products for women always only set off a short-lived trend, which is consistent with the long-tail effect that "tail products will only experience short-term stable growth, because the originally niche and unpopular products will become more and more popular and sales will increase, and then consumers will find other products that are more suitable for them."

Of course, this is different from women's mobile phone products. The reason why women's mobile phone products will only experience short-term stable growth is because mobile phone products are updated and iterated quickly. More importantly, fashion is constantly changing, and women's mobile phone products need to keep up with the pace of "fashion", so they will present a cycle of "hot - quiet - hot again - quiet again".

The rise of "spendthrift men", do men need "dedicated" mobile phones?

Even though it is a stereotype, we have only heard of "spendthrift women" and never heard of "spendthrift men". However, this trend may have changed, and the power of "spendthrift men" is growing.

For example, beauty and makeup have long been equated with women, but according to the latest data, MMUK, the largest men's cosmetics brand in Europe, had a turnover of 1 million pounds last year. MMUK said that by 2020, one-third of British men will use products such as concealer, beard cream and eyebrow gel. According to statistics, in 2017, the scale of the global men's cosmetics market reached 57.7 billion US dollars, about 400 billion yuan. It is predicted that by 2023, the global men's cosmetics market will reach 78.6 billion US dollars, about 540 billion yuan.

The 2018 "China Male Consumption Report" released by Taobao shows that female users open Taobao 10 times per day, while male users open Taobao 7 times per day.

QuestMobile data shows that due to high requirements for consumer quality, in addition to shopping on traditional comprehensive e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, high-spending men have a high penetration rate of TGI for boutique e-commerce platforms such as NetEase Yanxuan, TOPLIFE, and Yoho!Buy, and their personalized needs are becoming increasingly prominent.

These data show that men's consumption power and consumption concepts are changing, and the demand for personalized customization is steadily increasing.

Is the male market not taken seriously in the mobile phone industry? Actually not. The main reason is that male consumers do not have any special demands for mobile phone products, and they do not care about the homogeneity of appearance. Their demands basically represent the demands of the mass market: "large screen, energy consumption, running speed", etc.

But “no demand” does not mean “no demand”, just as Boss Joe believed during his lifetime: “If there is no demand, create demand.”

The development direction of the male consumer market is actually the same as the development model of mobile phone products for the female market. In addition to basic functions, they pay more and more attention to "others".

Perhaps a "straight man" version of the phone can open up a whole new world.