From 0 to dominate the world drone market! This is how DJI drones become number 1 in drone market!
For those who are familiar with drone, you must know the brand DJI, the leading drone
manufacturer. As a startup in 2006, Like most entrepreneurs at the beginning, DJI had to operate in simple makeshift office
due to a lack of funds. Due to the poor working environment, Two co-founders who started the company together decided to quit two years later. At that time, DJI had only five employees. They couldn't attract talent in the drone
field. Because no talented person would like to spend
Chinese New Year at hometown telling friends and family that they work in a simple makeshift office. It is embarrassing. Things changed with the introduction of the
helicopter flight control system in 2008, Finally DJI started generating sales. Escaped from business model that solely relying
on founder Wang Tao's funds. Fortunately, with the sales coming in, DJI proved itself and didn't fail like other
drone startup! Two years later, with the helicopter control
system and the newly launched product flight control
Ace One, DJI manage to generates at least 100,000 sales
in RMB monthly.
DJI also secured a 2 million investment from
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. With the injection of funds, DJI's employees
suddenly found that they no longer needed to cram into makeshift
office like tuna fish. Subsequently, as multi-rotor drone become
more popular across the globe, DJI leverage the technology accumulated in
helicopters drone to multi-rotor drone to conquer the consumer
drone market.
Within a short year, DJI manage to conquer at least 50% market
share across the globe in multi-rotor drone consumer market. DJI's sales growth at a rate of 200-300% per
year. In 2013, after the release of the Phantom
series drone, DJI global sales skyrocket to 400,000 drones
within a single year. DJI quickly become the leader in the global
drone industry ahead of the United States ! After that, DJI entered a "cheat mode." Within a period of ten years, DJI successfully became the king of drone
across the globe! According to global drone industry research
of 2022, the global drone market is estimated at 30.6
billion USD. DJI alone held at least 70% of the global
market share. An industry leader! Even the delayed sanctions from the United
States came too late, and there was no turning back. At this time, Americans in the drone field
were looking at DJI as if it a giant! Unrivaled and almighty! So, why are DJI drones so popular? Before DJI, drones is expensive.
Not something an ordinary person could afford. Most drones were for military use or research
purposes, ordinary civilians like me and you couldn't
buy them. As it is not practical for our use. However, everything changed with this guy
from post-80s generation! At the age of 16, he received a remote-controlled
helicopter as a birthday gift! But the real-world RC helicopter almost shattered his passion for drone as it crash
almost immediately after fly. Even more tragically, replacement parts took
months to arrive from Hong Kong! Out of love for RC helicopters, Wang Tao decided to create a drone that could
fly like an elf. This is the story of founding DJI. Living in an era when the global supply chain
shifting to Shenzhen, Wang Tao was fortunate to enjoy the benefit of low electronic component prices. The cost of flight controllers was repeatedly
slashed, which reduced DJI costs and accelerated R&D.
DJI also develop part and technology itself to enjoy and secure DJI competitive edge. Finally, in 2013, DJI launched the first Phantom to the global market. DJI's drone's aerial hover and response speed completely conquered the global market! It allowed consumers to shoot professional-level
stabilized aerial videos for just a few thousand dollars. DJI understood that not everyone using a drone was ready to pilot it. At that time, DJI "Ready-to-Fly" package require
no assembly, no code or downloads additional software,
and a price of a few thousand dollars, DJI quickly dominated the "consumer drone
market." DJI Phantom become a "must have" from drone
enthusiasts across the globe. From here, DJI advanced the drone technology
and lead across it peers. At that time, GoPro's software was weak, and sometimes software failures affected the image transmission, leading to drone crashes.
So, DJI decided to part ways with GoPro and independently developed the camera. DJI drones are renowned for their cameras
and it can shoot 4K or even 8K videos at high frame rates These drones also come with stabilization
features to provide clear images and smooth video footage. This makes DJI the preferred choice for photographers. DJI also introduced a thermal imager drones. The drone's thermal imager assists firefighters, search teams, and farmers.
Able to detect heat signal DJI drones can also detect obstacles during
missions, automatically avoid obstacles, and perform intelligent tracking or searching. In addition to all this, DJI has a user-friendly
interface and comprehensive app usage, making it easy
for users to operate drones. Generally people have a concept of Chinese manufacturers adopt a strategy of occupying the market with low-priced products and rarely consider quality. In contrast, DJI pursues technological superiority, developing chips from 8-bit to 32-bit microprocessor. and a powerful dedicated signal processor.
DJI drones can use third-party commercial
software. We're not just talking about editing video. but creating 3D models of the terrain based on the data from the drone's camera. This technology is very convenient for architects,
contractors, and archaeologists, data gathering takes only a fraction of the
time compare to traditional methods. Consumer-level drones are just the beginning. Now, DJI is turning its gaze toward a more lucrative market. Agricultural Drones Equipped with eight rotors Capable of carrying 2.5 gallons of liquid It can cover 10 acres of land per hour Making it "40 times more efficient than spraying
with labor" In near future, we might see more drones on farms than tractors To enhance user engagement rate DJI founded a photography sharing website
"SkyPixel" Dedicated to create a global platform for aerial photography enthusiasts and professional
photographers The platform gathers works from around the
world and share with everyone DJI also regularly organize "SkyPixel" photography
contests and established an online user community called
"DJI Community" Providing drone usage guides Aerial photography showcases, offline event
information, as well as pre-sales, after-sales, and act
as online forum for user discussion Dedicated to enhance user experience DJI's innovation is truly deserving of its
name DJI's biggest selling point is innovation DJI's success is attributed to its commitment
to innovation and relentless pursuit of excellence The company's history is marked by numerous
breakthrough in drone technology, including improvements
in stability, camera functionality, and flight time DJI products are trusted by professionals for their reliability and performance For a Chinese brand to go global, product
reliability and performance is the foundation threshold However, unlike typical domestic brands DJI's brand followed a path from abroad to
domestic After occupying a significant market share
in Europe and the United States DJI started returning to the domestic market Entering the sight of Chinese consumers Currently, majority of DJI sales derive from
Western world In 2022, DJI's sales revenue from overseas markets accounted for 80% Reportedly, the five most popular commercial mapping drones globally are all
DJI products In the drones industry being the global leader of drone and also forefront of the world consumer electronics DJI make itself inseparable from the brand's
continuous investment in "technology and innovation" Only by continuous refining products and pursuing
innovation DJI became the "high-tech" brand of today
