Author|Liu Yu

Editor| Liu Jingfeng

In just over ten years, a 3D printing brand has grown from a modest startup with 300,000 yuan in seed capital to generating nearly 2.3 billion yuan in annual revenue.

In August this year, Creality, a leading Chinese consumer-grade 3D printer manufacturer based in Shenzhen, submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to be listed on the Main Board. As a result, this consumer 3D printing giant has come into the spotlight.

The rise of Creality owes much to its precise understanding of the differentiated demand for 3D printers overseas.

10 Years ago, in an environment where industrial-grade 3D Printers were largely uniform, Creality discovered the demand overseas to the consumer-grade 3D Printer, by leveraging Amazon’s distribution channels, Creality ushered in a low price era for consumer-grade 3D Printers in the overseas markets.

Following Creality’s rise, other 3D printer manufacturers such as Bambu Lab and Anycubic have also rapidly emerged.

According to market intelligence firm CONTEXT, entry-level 3D printers performed strongly in the first quarter of 2025, with global shipments exceeding one million units — a year-on-year increase of 15%. Chinese suppliers accounted for 95% of all entry-level 3D printers shipped worldwide during that period.

Creality serves as a snapshot of how Chinese companies are achieving brand differentiation in their global expansion. In recent years, amid the wave of Chinese brands going global, many have explored their own distinctive paths of differentiation — from identifying unmet needs in niche markets, to reshaping brand identity through technologies like AI, and to building deep engagement with users to create a truly unique brand presence. These practices have provided valuable insights for the next generation of globalizing Chinese brands.

In recent years, as more and more companies venture abroad, the overseas market has become increasingly crowded. Finding differentiation amid uniformity has become the key for Chinese brands seeking breakthroughs on the global stage.

01 Going Global to see differentiation Clearly

Successful global brands are always masters at identifying differentiation.

Ten years ago, few would have believed that 3D printing could create a buzz in the consumer market. Back then, 3D printing was mainly used in industrial fields such as aerospace, healthcare, and industrial design, with machines costing tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of US dollars.

Although some desktop-level 3D printers had already appeared in Western markets, their prices, often ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, kept many consumers away.

Unlike Chinese consumers, Western families place great emphasis on cultivating children’s hands-on abilities. They use 3D printers to let their children experience the joy of printing and making forks, toys, or geometric models — fostering creativity through the process.

Creality identified this demand early on. Initially, the founding team explored various avenues—attending trade shows, conducting overseas market research, and analyzing products—to determine the right product direction. In reality, this process was far from simple, requiring a series of market surveys, data analyses, and product selection studies. Today, however, sellers can leverage tools such as Amazon’s Opportunity Explorer and Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA) to clearly understand overseas buyers’ search and purchase habits, and, by analyzing search term rankings, identify unmet buyer needs as well as competitor information.

Building on the densely integrated electronics manufacturing supply chain in the Pearl River Delta, Creality developed 3D printers aimed at mass-market consumers. In 2021, Creality launched on Amazon and established a global flagship store, showcasing its products to more overseas users and rapidly becoming a leading global consumer-grade 3D printer brand.

Identifying differentiated demand in overseas markets is the first step for any brand going global. Today, with the wave of brands expanding abroad already surging, discovering such obvious market differentiation is increasingly difficult. However, by shifting perspectives, new opportunities can still be found.

A case in point is the gaming controller brand GameSir. Its recent surge in popularity was fueled by the blockbuster success of the game Black Myth: Wukong, which boosted attention to its controllers. But even before that, GameSir had already leveraged keen market insights to find a growth breakthrough in a differentiated market.

Previously, GameSir’s global expansion focused primarily on the U.S. and European markets. In 2021, when analyzing data from its official website, the team discovered that Brazil ranked second in website traffic, just behind the U.S., while Middle Eastern countries had entered the global top six.

This is because Brazil is a youth-driven market, where enthusiasm for gaming has surged in recent years; meanwhile, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East is actively developing its esports and gaming industry under the “Vision 2030” initiative, leading to a booming gaming consumption market.

As a result, in 2022 GameSir entered Amazon Brazil, and within just six months, its GTS series became a category Best Seller. During Black Friday 2023, sales exceeded a thousand units, and in 2024, revenue officially surpassed 10 million RMB. Following this success, GameSir expanded into emerging Amazon marketplaces in Mexico, Australia, India, and the Middle East.

GameSir’s success highlights a clear trend: emerging markets are becoming a golden opportunity for Chinese brands going global. These markets not only harbor substantial demand but also, due to their relatively undeveloped competitive landscape, provide Chinese brands with an ideal chance for “low-cost positioning and high-growth potential.”

In this process, Amazon Attribution provides advertising analytics and performance measurement solutions, allowing marketers to gain deep insights into how their campaigns impact sales on Amazon. These campaigns include both off-Amazon paid channels and organic search, driving traffic to product listings and brand flagship stores.

In other words, emerging markets are far from lacking opportunities; it is just that most people are focused on Europe and the U.S., overlooking these real “blue oceans.”

Today, as competition among domestic brands intensifies, unique overseas consumer demands present significant opportunities. The cases of Creality and GameSir demonstrate that going global and exploring differentiated demand in overseas markets is one of the key paths for brand growth. Amazon, in turn, offers a variety of tools and support for global sellers throughout the entire brand lifecycle—from brand launch to strategy development and brand protection.

02 AI: Redefining Brand Differentiation

Finding differentiated market demand is the first step for a brand’s survival and growth; the next step is enhancing product capabilities through technology. AI represents a major opportunity in this context.

In recent years, a Chinese-made AI pet toy has gained popularity in the U.S., selling 60,000 units on Amazon, and has even been purchased by American hospitals to accompany children with autism.

This AI pet toy is Loona, an intelligent robotic dog developed by Canbot Technology. The company’s founder, Yang Jianbo, recalled that in 2021 he witnessed a pivotal moment for generative AI — the full release of GPT-3.0’s API. “After testing it, we realized AI would become the defining theme of the next era. That’s when we decided to create Loona,” he said.

Loona is an emotionally embodied robot, positioned as an “AI pet dog for children.” Unlike traditional pet toys, Loona learns from family conversations using AI, detecting emotional fluctuations and providing a “late-night empathy mode” tailored for individuals experiencing loneliness.

In fact, when Loona first launched on Amazon, its target user profile was not clearly defined. Canbot Technology leveraged Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA) to precisely identify its in-platform audience and user segments, resulting in nearly a 30% increase in ad conversion rates.

By mid-2022, just six months after launch, Loona had already reached the Top 5 in its category on Amazon U.S.

Loona represents a case where AI was used to create a new product category and a new brand. Many other products, however, use AI to upgrade existing categories, thereby shaping differentiated brands.

In recent years, Chinese-made robotic vacuum cleaners have caused a wave of excitement overseas. According to IDC’s Global Smart Home Cleaning Robot Device Market Quarterly Tracker Report, Q2 2025, global shipments of smart home cleaning robots reached 15.352 million units in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 33%. Among the top five global robotic vacuum brands during this period, four are Chinese companies.

Ten years ago, the picture was very different. iRobot was the global leader in home cleaning robots, launching its first consumer robotic vacuum in 2002 and reaching over 80% market share at its peak. In recent years, Chinese robotic vacuum manufacturers have recognized the transformative potential of AI.

Bin Ye, Global Brand Director of Narwal Robotics, told Xiaguang News that the world’s first robotic vacuum with automated water supply and drainage came from their brand. “A traditional robot vacuum has a clean water tank and a dirty water tank, and it stops working when the dirty tank is full. By equipping it with automated water supply and drainage, Narwal allows wastewater to be discharged directly into the drain, eliminating the need for manual emptying.”

Moreover, overseas users often leave genuine feedback and suggestions on Amazon. Based on this input, Narwal innovated with features such as tangle-free rolling brushes and AI DirtSense, earning widespread praise from international users. These innovations have continually reshaped overseas consumers’ perceptions of Chinese smart robotic vacuums. “They see Narwal as an extremely innovative and technologically advanced brand,” Bin Ye said.

In 2023, Narwal participated in Amazon Prime Day for the first time, instantly reaching the second spot on the Best Seller list in a U.S. subcategory. Bin Ye noted that Amazon provided excellent tool support: “The Brand Tailored Promotions (BTP) tool we used before the sale helped increase our Prime Day order volume by 10% month-over-month.”

Another example is flying cameras, which represent an innovative product category. Traditionally, action photography was a highly specialized activity accessible to only a few. HOVER leveraged AI to enable fully automated tracking and launched flying cameras, securing an official camera partnership with the U.S. National Ski Team. This collaboration significantly raised the profile of this Chinese brand among professional American athletes.

Technology empowerment is not about making products more complex—it is about identifying user needs more accurately. In this era of AI-driven transformation, an increasing number of Chinese companies going global are using AI and other innovative technologies to create differentiated products and reshape the image of “Made in China” brands.

In June this year, Xiaguang Think Tank published insights in 2025 China Brand Globalization Growth Report, highlighting that the AI revolution is driving consumer electronics from being “functional objects” to “intelligent entities.” This presents the best opportunity for Chinese products to build differentiated brands.

03 Reach the Mind, Create Uncopyable Differentiation

For brands going global, relying solely on technological capabilities to maintain differentiation is nearly impossible. After all, every technology follows a cycle from emerging to mature, and once it reaches maturity, technology actually makes copying and imitation easier and faster.

It’s easy to imagine that in such a world, a lack of differentiation can leave a brand struggling to move forward.

So how can a brand maintain differentiation that is truly hard to replicate? An answer is beginning to emerge in today’s consumer landscape. As Millennials and Gen Z become the new main consumer groups, their awareness of consumption extends beyond the product itself to its meaning and emotional value. Moreover, they are establishing increasingly intimate interactions with products.

Yang Jianbo, founder of Canbot Technology, once shared a story: an overseas user accidentally submerged his Loona in water, causing it to break and be sent for repair. The user then contacted customer service, offering to pay four to five times the retail price to help restore Loona’s memory. This Loona had been with him for a long time, learning his daily habits, understanding his preferences, and forming a certain emotional connection.

In addition, through Amazon’s “Brand Story” tool, Loona not only showcases its technological capabilities to users but also conveys its mission: “to bridge the gap between humans and technology through intelligent and emotionally interactive robots.” This allows users to intuitively understand the story and philosophy behind the brand, further deepening brand recognition and emotional connection.

Unlike Loona, which builds brand differentiation through emotional interaction with humans, the smart litter box brand PETKIT empowers its product with the role of a “family pet doctor” using AI.

Pet owners naturally care deeply about their pets’ health, but pets cannot express when they are unwell or uncomfortable. International cat behavior experts have noted that a cat’s health can often be inferred from its litter box habits.

To address this, PETKIT upgraded ordinary automatic litter boxes into a home health guardian station using AI health monitoring technology. PETKIT’s proprietary AI vision recognition system automatically records each cat’s urine and feces before cleaning. Combined with pH-testing cat litter, the system can promptly alert owners if there are abnormal urine pH levels or changes in frequency. Even in households with multiple cats, the AI can track each individual cat’s bathroom data separately, providing personalized health monitoring for every pet.

In this way, through a smart litter box, users can more accurately monitor their pets’ health, making the product a bridge that connects humans and their pets emotionally.

Looking at the present, we have entered an era of emotional consumption. A brand’s design can be copied, and its technology can be replicated, but the “emotion” and “meaning” a brand conveys are far harder to surpass. Even if a brand’s products are somewhat homogeneous, providing unique value—such as superior experiences, emotional interactions, or distinctive identity recognition—can still create true differentiation.

Steve Jobs once reflected on product design in this way: it’s not just about blindly meeting user needs, but about combining technology with humanity, exceeding user expectations, and creating something uniquely “different.”

This insight serves as a guiding light for brands going global today and in the future: building a differentiated brand is the “key to wealth” for the next decade of global expansion.