Sailor Plan returns with Season 3
What is Sailor Plan?
Sailor Plan, a series of short videos launched by Amazon Ads in 2021, has so far released three seasons, attracting nearly 5 billion views and telling the stories of 19 Chinese brands that have gone global. The series highlights the journey of companies that have overcome obstacles, explored overseas marketplaces, and built their international reputation. It helps businesses broaden their ambitious vision to seize the opportunities of going global and achieve worldwide expansion and branding.
In 2023, Sailor Plan is back with new upgrades, presenting eight real-life stories of Chinese brands that have successfully ventured into the global market. The brands come from diverse industries, vary in size, and are in different growth phases. The series explores the burning issues that most businesses face when they scale. It provides valuable inspiration and insights from different angles for more brands to achieve their global expansion. Follow the third season of Sailor Plan, and discover global branding strategies.
In this new season, Sailor Plan showcases fresh categories and brands, featuring seasoned sailors who have mastered cross-border e-commerce for years and novice sailors who have just debuted on Amazon. They encompass brands dominating the niche markets of emerging industries to private brands seeking transformation from traditional industries. Sailor Plan offers a comprehensive marketing guide and useful knowledge for a broader spectrum of businesses that aspire to create global brands. Come and join the “sailors” on their adventure of globalization.
In this new season, Sailor Plan showcases fresh categories and brands, featuring seasoned sailors who have mastered cross-border e-commerce for years and novice sailors who have just debuted on Amazon. They encompass brands dominating the niche markets of emerging industries to private brands seeking transformation from traditional industries. Sailor Plan offers a comprehensive marketing guide and useful knowledge for a broader spectrum of businesses that aspire to create global brands. Come and join the “sailors” on their adventure of globalization.
Baleaf Sports
Baleaf Sports is a leading sports lifestyle brand that consistently ranks among Amazon’s best-selling yoga and cycling products. After identifying the evolving needs of overseas consumers, the brand embarked on a journey of upgrading. However, the process was fraught with difficulties, as higher prices led to a lower sales volume. The story focuses on the challenges and explorations behind the brand’s upgrade. It demonstrates how Baleaf Sports used a range of tools and products from Amazon Ads to craft their new brand positioning and harnessed the power of their brand to drive sustainable and robust business growth.
Xu Muxuan
Founder of Baleaf Sports
NIU
NIU is a global leader in smart urban mobility solutions and the first lifestyle brand in China’s urban mobility sector, with a vision to “change mobility and make city life better.” See how their team flexibly designed advertising programs and used “combo punches” from Amazon Ads to boost brand awareness, stimulate consumer conversion, and generate new growth potential when the company accelerated their brand globalization. Witness the journey of Chinese brands as they transform into global brands from the perspective of real overseas consumers.
Li Yan
CEO of NIU
Cyxus
Cyxus is a leading global fashion eyewear brand that has reached 18 overseas marketplaces on Amazon, thanks to their consistent global strategy, and secured the top spot in the eyewear category in several Amazon marketplaces. Cyxus has always prioritized brand building as the cornerstone of their long-term growth, and the company has continually introduced new products. As the brand strives to become a global brand, they confront the challenge of fierce competition in their category. The story illustrates how Cyxus harnessed Amazon’s full-channel portfolios to effectively explore new marketplaces, boost sales, and enhance- their brand’s influence.
Xu Yi
Founder and general manager of Cyxus
CREALITY
CREALITY is a global 3D printing leader that started with a team of four employees in 2014 and became a pioneer of industry technology with more than 530 patented technologies. In 2023, it established an Amazon department with a bold sales goal of 300 million yuan. Facing daunting challenges, this group of “newbies” in cross-border business learned and practiced in the off-season and achieved explosive sales. The story reveals how they made use of their existing resources, constantly improved their ad portfolios, experimented with new marketplaces, and swiftly moved toward their annual goal.
Liu Huilin
Co-founder of CREALITY
Homerunpet
Homerunpet is a smart pet technology brand that aims to provide highly intelligent pet care solutions for pet owners worldwide. As of March 2023, Homerunpet has obtained nearly 200 patents at home and abroad, and the brand has also won domestic and international awards, including the iF Design Award in Germany. Facing a challenging sales goal in the Japanese marketplace, Homerunpet geared up for Prime Day with anticipation and enthusiasm. The story shows how they navigated through the heated discussions and achieved outstanding results in the Japanese marketplace with video ads as their primary strategy.
Liu Kun
Founder and CEO of Homerunpet
FINDKING
FINDKING is a distinguished knife brand that adheres to the traditional methods of forging. Since their debut on Amazon five years ago, the company has grown to have 18 marketplaces on Amazon and an impressive annual sales volume of more than 2 million USD.1 Despite its solid international footprint, it still faces challenges in professional advertising operations. That’s why FINDKING decided to shift from Automatic Targeting for Sponsored Products to refined operation. The story highlights how the Chinese knife brand got through the newbie period and was propelled from a small town to a global stage.
Huang Shuyan
Founder of FINDKING
MEGALOOK
MEGALOOK is a renowned wig brand from Xuchang, the “wig capital” of China, that has reached a remarkable transaction volume of over 7 million USD on Amazon in 2022.2 As they face the challenge of fierce competition due to the homogeneity in the industry, MEGALOOK strives to build an international brand with high-quality products, but the brand struggles with their price disadvantage and low recognition. How can MEGALOOK leverage Amazon Ads tools to craft a new brand positioning and make a small brand shine? Don’t miss this exciting journey of brand globalization.
Zhao Kuangbao
Amazon operations manager of MEGALOOKCEO and founder, ZIEL HOME
EcoFlow
EcoFlow is a trailblazer in mobile and clean energy technology, delivering innovative products and solutions for the future. With the growing demand and variety of portable energy storage devices, EcoFlow faces the urgency of showcasing their new ecological products to global users and letting them recognize the brand. To meet the challenge of reaching a wider audience, they traveled to Europe to conduct research and establish a product life cycle. The story reveals how EcoFlow refined plans for various marketplaces while enhancing their products, and they disclose the secrets behind the surprising sales of new products.
Tim Dolidze
Global user growth officer of EcoFlow
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Previous Sailor stories
Since the first season, Sailor Plan has presented the journey of Chinese brands from various perspectives, with different industries and brands on overseas expansion paths. Over the past two seasons, we have tracked and recorded the overseas campaigns of 11 Chinese companies, capturing numerous fascinating stories. What achievements have these brave sailors made?
Anker Innovations
Anker Innovations, featured in Season 2, is a global consumer electronics company. Their mobile charging brand Anker has ranked among the top brands in the global industry after starting their business on Amazon. Meanwhile, their headphone brand, Soundcore, has rapidly gained popularity worldwide by delivering excellent sound quality and effectively utilizing Amazon’s promotional tools, becoming one of the most successful Chinese headphone brands.
Christie Chen (Chen, Yalei)
CMO, Anker Innovations
XPPen
Featured in Season 2, XPPen is an innovative, world-renowned digital art brand. With their unique product advantages, traffic guided through effective ad placement strategies, and external video ads (including streaming TV ads and online video ads), XPPen has quickly achieved positive customer reviews and impressive sales on the Japanese and South Korean site and the North American site.1
Li, Yuanzhi
CEO, HANVON UGEE
Dreametech
Dreametech, featured in Season 2, is one of the leading smart cleaning Chinese brands in the world. By continuously optimizing their Amazon Ads listing page and exploring new market opportunities, Dreametech has achieved outstanding results on Amazon sites in many countries and set new records in sales.
Yu, Hao
CEO and founder, Dreame
Ecolife Technologies, Inc.
Ecolife Technologies, Inc., was also featured in Season 2. Their brand Waterdrop has become a leading player in the water purification industry in the U.S. marketplace. By leveraging Amazon’s Posts feature, Waterdrop has gained more traffic during Prime Day, resulting in significant sales growth and positive customer reviews.
Qi, Dong
Founder, Waterdrop
Karmiqi Global Lighting
Like most factory-type brands, Karmiqi Lighting is also rapidly growing. With the help of Amazon Ads, the business is building brand awareness, although it is still in the early stages of going global. The company is encountering numerous challenges in making its way to the world. Yet, how they tackle these hurdles using Amazon Ads tools continues to inspire many start-ups.
Chen, Dedi
CEO and founder, Karmiqi Global Lighting
SAILVAN TIMES
As the star home-wear brand owned by SAILVAN TIMES, Ekouaer continuously optimizes their brand positioning to focus on a boutique style and has achieved huge success in many marketplaces. However, in expanding globally , they will need to fulfill the differentiated needs of different consumer groups in multiple countries. Among many other local companies seeking opportunities overseas, Ekouaer successfully overcame difficulties and reached out to local consumers. Their outstanding performance will bolster SAILVAN TIMES’ vision of rapid development toward being listed on a stock exchange.
Chen, Wenping
CEO, SAILVAN TIMES
ZIEL HOME
ZIEL HOME owns several subsidiaries of different categories, but as a whole, the company is gradually moving toward their goal of becoming a global enterprise by tapping into their keen retail insights and by creating meaningful products for consumers. Achieving robust sales with the help of Amazon Ads during the peak season is helpful for the company as it goes through the defining moment of being listed on a stock exchange so that the world can see Chinese products for their quality and value.
Song, Chuan
CEO and founder, ZIEL HOME
SHINEBED
With the help of Amazon Ads, SHINEBED has recorded an impressive performance and reliable reputation in the home textile sector in just a few years. Their brand, Bedsure, is already outperforming their peers in the household category in the Amazon store, but is undergoing a branding transformation and upgrading. The team will have to explore means to build their brand and market their products with Amazon Ads tools to reach new heights in sales during the peak season.
Josh Zhu (Zhu, Xingjian)
CEO, SHINEBED
TINECO
Featured in Season 1, TINECO is a brand that specializes in high-end intelligent home appliances. With their focus on new product development, inventory management, logistics deployment, and precise ad placement on Amazon, TINECO achieved over 100% year-over-year sales growth during Prime Day 2021. Their floor-cleaning products, such as floor washers and vacuum cleaners, have ranked first in their category on Amazon in the U.S. and Germany for two consecutive years.
Qian, Dongqi, Founder, TINECO
USmile
As a comprehensive oral care brand, USmile was featured in Season 1. The brand has established their presence on Amazon, including opening their flagship store and activating features like Follow and Posts. They have also utilized Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display to guide traffic. During the Black Friday 2021 shopping season, USmile’s sales on Amazon increased by approximately 300% compared to normal days.
Chen, Jianqun CEO and founder, USmile
Milestones of Sailor Plan
- 2023: Sailor Plan Season 3 is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2023.
- December 2022: Sailor Plan Season 2 concludes, generating more than 250 million cumulative views.
- October 2022: Sailor Plan was featured at unBoxed 2022 in New York City.
- August 2022: Sailor Plan Season 2 officially launches.
- June 2022: Sailor Plan makes its appearance at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
- December 2021: Sailor Plan Season 1 concludes, achieving more than 130 million views.
- September 2021: Sailor Plan Season 1 officially launches.
1 XPPen, CN, 2022
2 FINDKING, CN, 2023
3 MEGALOOK, CN, 2023