Chun Shui Tang, the "Xiaomi doll" brand: with a price of 2999, the quality is comparable to that of silicone dolls worth tens of thousands of yuan

Humans seem to have an innate love for puppets. I believe that those who have read "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" will remember the plot in which the leader of the Xiaoyao Sect, Wuyazi, still stares at the jade statue he carved with his own hands all day long after getting married and having children.

There is a similar story in Greek mythology: King Pygmalion of Cyprus did not like mortal women, so he carved a statue of a girl out of ivory and named it Galatea. He devoted all his energy to taking care of the statue and petitioned the gods to make her his wife. Eventually, the goddess of love Aphrodite was moved, Galatea was given life, and married to Pygmalion.

In a sense, this can be called "the world's first real doll." In the real world, people's demand for similar products has existed since ancient times.

According to records, ancient European sailors would sew dolls with needles and thread to relieve loneliness during long journeys. The French called them "travel ladies". In the 17th century, these dolls were brought to Japan by the Dutch, so they were also called "Dutch ladies". Perhaps the seeds of Japan's sex doll industry were planted hundreds of years ago.

A few years ago, this type of sex doll appeared more in online jokes, such as "My partner is good in every way, but it leaks easily", which mostly expressed people's ridicule of being single. However, reality is often so unreasonable, and the casual jokes on the Internet a few years ago are increasingly showing signs of coming true.

According to statistics, there are 240 million single adults in China, 92 million of whom live alone. Even blind dates have to wait in line. Not only in China, but also abroad, especially in developed countries, the number of single people is growing: the single rate of adults in the United States has reached 45%, Japan is 32.4%, and South Korea is 24%.

The general trend of the single economy has also driven the development of a large number of industries, with physical sex dolls being a typical example. In 2020, global sales of physical sex dolls increased to 2 million, with an annual growth rate of 100% over the past five years. It is estimated that by 2025, global market sales will reach 5 million per year, with sales of nearly 30 billion yuan.

However, the rapidly developing market has also brought about various chaos, the most typical of which is selling inferior products as good ones. There are two main types of real dolls: TPE dolls and silicone dolls. Silicone dolls are of good quality, but high-end foreign products often cost more than 20,000 yuan. The price of TPE dolls is generally only one-tenth to one-fifth of that of silicone dolls, which is more likely to attract uninformed users to buy. Therefore, in today's global real doll market, 98% is occupied by TPE dolls.

However, the cheapness of TPE dolls also comes at a price. The most obvious problem is that dolls made of this material are not realistic, cannot depict delicate expressions, and have low appearance. TPE dolls are mainly made of mineral oil, so they are very easy to produce oil, have odors, have a short shelf life, and have a poor user experience. Most importantly, TPE material is toxic, so you must be extra careful when using it.

The current physical doll market is very similar to the smartphone market before 2011: a few brands are at the top, and although their quality is good, most users cannot afford them; the affordable market is flooded with a large number of low-quality products, resulting in a situation where bad money drives out good money.

In 2011, Xiaomi mobile phone was launched, changing the mobile phone market with its sincere configuration and price of 1999. The real doll market also needs a disruptor like Xiaomi. This "Xiaomi in the doll world" is Chun Shui Tang, a domestic old-fashioned sex toy company.

After entering the real doll market, Chun Shui Tang quickly determined the strategy of extreme cost-effectiveness, that is, "extremely good products + extremely good prices."

In terms of product materials, Chun Shui Tang uses liquid silicone without compromise to create beautiful, lifelike, safe and durable silicone dolls, which will not cause any bad experience when used, and there are no health worries.

Each silicone doll of Chun Shui Tang is made through 22 manual processes, and also uses a variety of processes such as muscle touch simulation technology, skin touch simulation technology, triple softening technology, bone and joint simulation technology, carbon nanotube technology, etc., to make the touch and movement of the silicone doll as close to real people as possible.

In addition to looking like real people, Chun Shui Tang's silicone dolls also use wireless touch sound technology and have multiple built-in pressure sensors. They can give real-life sound feedback when touched, and can even interact with users in simple ways, sounding like real people.

Currently, Chun Shui Tang has established a silicone doll production factory in Dongguan, Guangdong. Its craftsmanship and quality have surpassed those of its Japanese counterparts and reached the world's leading level.

At the same time, Chun Shui Tang also overturned the high-end customized market thinking of the silicone doll industry, and regarded it as a popular mass consumer product. Chun Shui Tang's high-quality silicone dolls are priced at only 2,999 yuan, sacrificing a certain profit margin in exchange for a higher market share.

Since there is no compromise on raw materials and processes, costs must be reduced from other places. Chun Shui Tang has adopted a global strategy of integrated production, research and sales, selling products directly to users, weakening distribution, thereby reducing circulation and market costs, achieving rapid response on the R&D side and extreme price advantages on the retail side.

Judging from the market performance, Chun Shui Tang has made the right choice. Relying on its excellent quality, Chun Shui Tang's silicone dolls have achieved a "dimensionality reduction strike" against inferior TPE dolls; and compared with silicone dolls that cost tens of thousands of yuan, Chun Shui Tang's quality is not inferior and the price is much more attractive, so it has also taken up a considerable part of the market. At present, Chun Shui Tang's silicone dolls have achieved the world's largest sales volume, far ahead of the brands behind them.

Previously, lifelike simulated dolls only appeared in myths and novels, and only martial arts masters and skilled craftsmen could make them. But now, the emergence of Chun Shui Tang has made high-quality silicone dolls available to ordinary people, allowing everyone to have their own "Galatea".

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.