"Sell TVs to the United States!" has become a small goal for every major TV manufacturer in the country.

Before LeTV, Hisense, TCL and even Xiaomi Box have all made moves in the North American market. So is the American market really so attractive? Given that it is difficult to make profits in the domestic terminal market, it may not be as easy as imagined to make some money from Americans' pockets.

There is not much Internet thinking on American TV

Compared with the Internet TV craze that has emerged in China in the past two years, Americans' demand for TV is relatively simple and direct. They do not pursue smart TVs with various application functions, such as games, shopping, education, artificial intelligence and other APPs and performance like domestic users.

American TV users basically don’t need these overly fancy gimmicks. The main purpose of buying a TV is to play videos and music. The mainstream video apps include Netflix, VUDU, HBO, etc., and the music apps include Spotify, IHeartRadio, etc. If they want to play games, they can just buy a playstation or Xbox. Therefore, as long as the TV has good hardware, high-definition screen and beautiful appearance, it can meet their daily needs.

In addition, American users have high brand loyalty and will generally buy a series of brands they recognize, which is a natural barrier for new brands. Currently, Samsung ranks first in the North American TV brand market share, followed by Vizio. However, neither of these two companies wins in the North American market with Android TV, which is in sharp contrast to the booming smart TV market in China. Therefore, if domestic brands want to enter the North American market, the fastest way is to acquire mature brands. Therefore, Hisense previously acquired Sharp's TV business in North America, and LeTV acquired Vizio. For domestic brands, acquiring the TV business of mature North American brands can quickly break through the production capacity bottleneck in North American business, and brand licensing can also help manufacturers obtain more channels and brand resources.

In fact, when we watch American TV series or stay in local hotels in the United States, we can find that the TVs they use are not that advanced. They are basically products from Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp and other brands more than ten years ago, and CRT TVs are still everywhere. On the contrary, ChromeCast, which costs dozens of dollars, sells very well. Xiaomi Box, which costs $69, was also sold out after it went on sale in the United States last month.

The main reason is that American consumers are increasingly favoring live streaming TV programs without replacing their TV sets. Users can also easily access live TV channels such as ESPN, CNN and Disney through the box without having to subscribe to cable TV. This is basically the same as the original intention of domestic users to buy TV boxes.

The labor cost is horrible

The price level in the United States is not expensive compared to the income of local people. Food, clothing, housing and transportation basically don’t cost much. So what is the most expensive thing in the United States? Anything that requires manpower is expensive.

We always say that foreign electronic products are of good quality, but in fact, one of the main reasons is that companies cannot afford after-sales service. "American brands would rather improve the quality of their machines by a hundred times and sell them at a higher price than hire people for after-sales service, because the labor cost of on-site repairs is too high. If the products have problems every few days, the manufacturers simply cannot afford the after-sales service costs," a local American consumer told CNN.

"You can take a look at the installation of air conditioning condensate drain pipes in the United States. They are all wrapped in iron sheets and fixed on the wall, while in China they are basically left outdoors, exposed to wind and sun. After a year of use, you have to ask after-sales service to replace them with new ones. In the United States, iron sheets are much cheaper than labor," he continued to explain.

The same is true in the color TV industry. Take Vizio as an example. All of its products are outsourced. Cheap labor and resources in Asia have greatly reduced the cost of Vizio's products. Secondly, Vizio also maximizes the use of manpower. When LeTV acquired it, the entire company had only more than 100 employees.

In fact, when LeEco Ecosystem landed in the United States, it also faced high labor costs. The minimum wage in California, where LeEco's US company is located, is $10 per hour, and it continues to rise. The labor cost is much higher than that in China, and all the excess budget will be allocated to the products. Therefore, it is difficult to sell TVs in the United States at a loss like selling hardware in China. Low prices can only be achieved in a country with a large population like China.

But high labor costs are sometimes a good thing. For example, when we travel abroad, we often see some unheard-of machines in developed countries. They use these machines to replace manpower, promote technological progress, and also give birth to standardized production.

Lawsuits that are too much for companies

In addition to the high cost of labor, another thing that is very expensive in the United States is litigation. "If you want to enter the US market, the first thing you have to solve is the patent issue," a local Chinese in the United States told.

In fact, domestic technology companies often encounter patent issues when going overseas. Huawei, Xiaomi, and Meizu have all suffered losses in this regard. Even local companies like Apple have been fined $625 million in patent compensation.

In the United States, a lawsuit can make a wealthy person penniless in an instant, and can also make it difficult for a giant company to recover.

In the television industry, there are numerous policy issues. For example, domestic smart TV systems are all modified from Android. No one cares what they do in China, but can you ignore Google in the United States? The standards of the application market must also be considered. At the same time, the issue of content copyright is equally important. You can't let American users watch domestic TV programs. The protection of copyright in US law has basically reached a strict level. Video aggregation software such as TV Cat and VST have no room to survive.

On the other hand, the biggest advantage of the US market over the domestic market is the Internet speed. It pursues high-definition picture and sound quality. 4K and DD+ are basically standard. However, Netflix and VUDU registration membership is very expensive. Due to copyright reasons, American users cannot watch free movies on TV. This requires domestic manufacturers to come up with new ways to build a content ecosystem. Otherwise, they can only follow the local customs and it is difficult to differentiate themselves.

In entering the US market, domestic TV brands all regard Samsung as their rival. The home appliance business is very important to Samsung. You should know that among all Samsung's consumer electronics businesses, the first to top the global market was not mobile phones, but flat-panel TVs. However, according to data from research firm WitsView, Samsung's total TV shipments in 2015 were 47.9 million units, accounting for 22.3% of the world, ranking first, but compared with 22.8% in 2014, it has declined. In addition, the continued fermentation of the explosion incident has indeed made Samsung Electronics' reputation in the United States much worse than before. This may be the best time for domestic manufacturers to make a move.

At the same time, we should also see that the TV manufacturing industry lags behind in the field of consumer electronics. After PCs, mobile phones, tablets and other electronic products have completed a round of revolution, the TV industry has become the most suitable soil for the growth of revolutionary products, but it is also the product that is most difficult to be disrupted. Up to now, Apple, a pioneer in technology, has only produced products such as the Apple TV set-top box, and consumers are not buying it.

The mature consumer market, content purchasing habits, attractive prices, and a huge number of people who are looking to change their phones have all made domestic manufacturers salivate over the American TV market. Although each company has different motivations for entering North America, some for fame and some for profit, if they really want to be recognized by American consumers and drive Japanese and Korean manufacturers out of America, they will only be a flash in the pan if they don't adapt to local customs and show some real skills.

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.