Who says DIY has no future? See how Thunder Century is promoting the industry

The decline of Zhongguancun to some extent represents the end of the PC era. With the saturation of the personal computer market, the once popular DIY computer assembly industry has also begun to wither. In the past year, many manufacturers have chosen to withdraw from the desktop market due to low profits. It seems that this is already a sunset industry with no hope.

However, at this juncture, the rise of a new brand in the Chinese market has injected a new vitality into the entire industry. Although it has been established for less than a year and a half, Thunder Century, a new DIY brand, has already been known by many game players.

It is reported that during the Double 11 shopping festival last year, Thunder Century achieved a sales volume of 30 million yuan, an increase of nearly 300%, and won a good reputation among users and many honors in the industry with its excellent product quality and personalized design. What is the secret of Thunder Century to achieve such remarkable results against the backdrop of the overall decline in the industry?

Targeting game users and tapping into the player market

In the PC industry, the issue of CPU performance saturation has attracted more and more attention. However, due to the existence of games, players have never stopped pursuing graphics card performance, which is exactly what notebooks, which occupy a large share of the branded computer market, cannot satisfy. With the increasingly sophisticated graphics, games have become the core motivation for players to invest money in high-end DIY desktops.

On the other hand, when the post-90s generation who have not experienced the DIY atmosphere gradually become the main force of game users, the market demand begins to transition from the traditional accessories DIY model to a complete set of solutions.

Based on the above two points, Thunder Century positioned itself in the market between branded computers and DIY assembled computers, striving to create the preferred gaming computer for hardcore game enthusiasts. At the beginning of the establishment of the Thunder Century brand, it developed gaming desktop products based on the user needs of JD Big Data. Facts have proved that this positioning of Thunder Century has accurately grasped the market demand.

In November 2014, 1,000 units of Thunder Century's first new product, the Shield 7, were sold out within 24 hours after it was launched, becoming the No. 1 high-end assembled computer priced above RMB 7,999 on the Internet. In January 2015, as the first brand of NVIDIA's high-end graphics card GTX960 in China, 2,000 units of the Promise series were booked out within one day; in March, the popular version of the Thunderbolt series for game enthusiasts was launched, and 2,000 units were sold out in seconds; JD.com sold 6,000 units on June 18, breaking the record, and maintained the No. 1 sales in the price segment above RMB 6,000 for three consecutive months.

In order to further gain the player market, on March 7, Thunder Century officially released 4 new Xing Kai customized MOD game consoles: Thunder Century the one plus Space Agency MOD version, Platinum Legend MOD version, Thunder Century the one Jinx MOD version, and Tiffany&Co MOD version.

Leveraging e-commerce channels to address industry pain points

The opening of online channels is an important reason why offline computer malls are impacted. E-commerce has become a major trend in the entire DIY market. Thunder Century has grasped this trend well.

On the one hand, Thunder Century has established a JD.com direct store, using JD.com's logistics system to provide users with the fastest shopping experience. On the other hand, Thunder Century has established a strategic partnership with JD.com Game+2016, hoping to further promote the development of China's game industry by relying on JD.com's own big data and platform advantages, and provide users with more convenient and high-quality integrated services.

As the No. 1 UPC brand of JD.com and a strategic partner of JD.com Game+, Thunder Century has been committed to user interaction since its establishment in November 2014. Aiming at the user pain points of "newbies are afraid of being cheated when going to computer malls" and "worrying about buying second-hand or shrunken parts when buying computers online", the 4U product concept of "selected, high-quality, excellent, and your own" was created, that is, based on JD.com's Internet big data to select accessories, the hardware configuration is determined by the main force of famous game teams, and the world's top PC hardware manufacturers such as Intel and NVIDIA are joined to create high-quality PCs with original packaging and high-quality accessories; at the same time, users are provided with one free on-site installation and debugging service, and there is no limit on the number of (hardware) on-site services in one year, to create personalized customized computers that best meet the needs of players. Each point directly hits the chaos in the current DIY market.

In addition, Thunder Century also took the lead in establishing the Self-discipline Alliance of the Assembled Computer Industry, and together with the industry association, issued the first Self-discipline Declaration of the Assembled Computer Industry. The declaration advocates that Thunder Century and the alliance members guarantee that the products they launch must meet five basic principles: original genuine parts, free door-to-door service, self-built after-sales national service joint guarantee, 100% provision of official national invoices, and extremely fast delivery; at the same time, the declaration calls on the entire industry to take action, actively respond to the country's call for honest business operations, jointly eliminate user concerns, protect user rights, and restore the market to a clean state.

As the saying goes, there are no bankrupt industries, only bankrupt enterprises. Opportunities always belong to those teams that are good at discovering market needs and have the courage to change and innovate.

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.