Today, when the smart home wave is sweeping the world, a smart curtain brand from Changzhou, China, has successively landed on Amazon sites in the US, Europe, Japan, etc. with a countercurrent attitude of “high customer demand, slow development, and full customization.” Various products have become the best sellers in the smart curtain category, and have become a “dark horse” with a low profile yet amazing momentum.

What's even more surprising is that Yoolax has been steadfastly following the path of branding since the first day of its birth. It has rejected the fast-paced logic of “shelf e-commerce”, insisted on building its own factories, self-developed systems, and even self-built apps and customer service systems. In the smart curtain segment, it has built technical barriers and brand trust step by step, making Apple engineers and New York elites loyal users.

Today, Yoolax has become one of the most recognizable brands in the electric curtain category on Amazon, based on its “high-end customization” brand image. Today, we had the privilege of having an in-depth conversation with Stella, the co-founder of Yoolax, to discuss everything from a startup brand to a “leader” in the smart curtain field. What did Yoolax do right?

seller business card
Stella: Co-Founder of Yoolax
Brand: Yoolax
Main categories: smart curtains
Online sites: US station, European station, Japan station, etc.
Joined: 2019
Outstanding results: Best seller in the electric roller shutter category in the US, with annual sales reaching tens of millions of US dollars

Yoolax's story was destined to be “unusual” right from the start. According to Stella, in 2019, the co-founding team came from three young people with very different backgrounds: the core founder is an aesthetic designer, deeply involved in the home field; the technical director is a software and hardware technical expert, a proper IT man; and Stella has been working in foreign companies for more than 15 years.

The reason why the team chose smart curtains as an entry point was actually the result of careful consideration after in-depth research:
● There are many old buildings in Europe and America. Curtains are not only needed, but also an aesthetic carrier, and a key entrance to smart homes. If your home is already equipped with smart lights, smart speakers, etc., then smart curtains are a natural extension.
● Smart curtains are in the “slow” category. Large companies are often unwilling to invest, and it is difficult for small teams to go deep. They are perfect for a “technology+design” dual-driven team like Yoolax to cultivate.

“At the time, most people felt that made in China was still cheap and fast, but we wanted to break this stereotype. ” Stella recalled. “Especially in the field of curtains, the customized service cycle in overseas regions is long, the price is high, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to reach. We hope that more people can use customized curtains with both design and intelligence. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.

As a result, at the beginning of 2019, Yoolax officially landed on Amazon's US site. At the time, there were no similar products on Amazon, let alone a smart curtain customization service. Yoolax can be said to be one of the first brands to break into this racetrack.

Although it was the first to step into a blue ocean, Yoolax did not choose to lay back or simply expand marketing, but instead insisted on being driven by technology and quality, and gradually building differentiated competitive barriers, thus gaining a foothold in the field of high-end smart curtains.

1. Defeating technical problems, leading the smart curtain circuit

At the beginning, Yoolax actually launched two main types of products. One was a remote control curtain, and the other was a Wi-Fi based smart curtain.
However, both types of products have shortcomings — they are either not smart, or require plug-in use, and cannot actually achieve low wireless power consumption.

Stella Yoolax Co-Founder
At the time, smart curtains mostly relied on Wi-Fi connections, needed to be plugged in, had a high installation threshold, and were very unfriendly to old buildings. Many users complain that they need to find another electrician to modify the circuit, and the experience is very poor.

This real feedback from early “seed users” strengthened the team's idea of developing “low power consumption, true wireless” smart curtains.

In the second half of 2019, Yoolax launched smart curtains equipped with solar lithium batteries that can be connected to Amazon Alexa, and became one of the first products in the industry to apply for Amazon Works with Alexa (WWA) certification.

“The biggest technical challenge is balancing low power consumption with real-time response. “Stella revealed that the team spent nearly a year overcoming technical difficulties and finally achieved a three-in-one experience of “solar charging+Bluetooth mesh connection+intelligent voice control.” In 2020, Yoolax officially passed WWA certification, and the product was quickly welcomed by technology enthusiasts and high-end users in California, New York and other places in the US.

Since then, Yoolax has continued to step up technology research and development. In 2022, Yoolax took the lead in responding to the Matter smart home agreement and became one of the first smart curtain brands in China to pass Matter certification; at the end of 2023, Yoolax also launched the “Smart Honeycomb Curtain” series, which solved the pain point of flexible fabrics being intelligently controlled and easily broken.

A technological breakthrough is just the first step. As the user base expanded and sales increased, Yoolax gradually realized that the foundry model was no longer able to support its high standard and customized quality control requirements, so in the second half of 2020, it decided to build its own factory.

“As a high-customer unit price product, smart curtains are the lifeline, and it is difficult for foundries to understand our commitment to details. ” Stella said. She and another co-founder not only personally focused on factory construction and introduced an automated production line, but also led the team to develop a full ERP management system to open up supply chain, procurement, inventory and user side data, and achieve digital monitoring and efficiency improvement of the entire process.

Stella Yoolax Co-Founder
In order to do this, the team even mortgaged the property to invest. At the time, many people said that we had to take our share of hardships; clearly there was an easier path, but we decided that to become a world-class brand, we had to take this step.

In 2021, the Yoolax factory was put into operation, automating the entire link from order acceptance to production to delivery. The delivery cycle for customized orders was reduced to 5-7 working days, far exceeding the industry average, and was able to respond quickly to customer customization needs.

Yoolax's growth hasn't been easy. In 2022, the smart curtain category gradually became popular, a large number of sellers poured in, competition for low prices was frequent, and new ways of playing continued to emerge. Yoolax also faced an impact for a while.

“The team was very anxious during that time, and there were even internal discussions about whether to launch a low price model, manual model, or multi-brand strategy to seize the market. ” Stella recalled. But in the end, they chose to return to their original intention: stick to the high-end customization and brand route, and successfully find an operating model that fits their positioning.

Yoolax is definitely not fighting a price war. According to Stella, simply relying on a low price strategy cannot effectively impress target customers; on the contrary, it may damage the long-term value of the brand. Therefore, Yoolax chose to shift the competitive core from “price” to “service”, paying particular attention to user feedback and optimizing the whole process experience. In this process, it has established a complete customer feedback collection and product iteration mechanism based on Amazon VOC (Voice of Buyers).

Stella Yoolax Co-Founder
We will turn this real feedback into the direction of research and development, and even if only a few users ask similar questions at first, we will take them seriously. For Yoolax, product innovation is not driven by market size, but whether it can actually help users solve problems.

Moreover, most of the Yoolax team has an overseas background and a global perspective. Communication in Chinese and English is barrier-free. The organizational structure covers the full link of design, R&D, production and customer service, can respond quickly to different market needs, and provides services including installation guidance and third-party on-site service reservations, which greatly enhances consumers' trust and willingness to buy.

It is worth mentioning that Yoolax is gradually forming a significant word-of-mouth diffusion effect among high-end user groups.

For example, a software engineer from Apple's headquarters tried Yoolax's smart roller blinds for the first time when buying curtains for her new home. She is extremely sensitive to technology products, but she gave it a very high evaluation after using them. Following her enthusiastic recommendation, 3 families in the community alone placed orders. Since then, the engineer has also used Yoolax smart window decoration solutions in all of his rental houses and villas, and has successively recommended nearly 10 colleagues and friends to successfully place orders.

“This is no accident. Stella said, “High-tech workers and middle- and high-income households often have strict requirements for intelligence and aesthetics. They not only focus on functionality, but also value product experience and brand reputation. ” With this accumulation of word of mouth, Yoolax has gradually built up a high-net-worth customer base with trust as a link, and has truly achieved “using customer satisfaction to drive the trust of more customers”, further consolidating the brand's influence.

Since 2020, Yoolax has officially joined the Amazon Seller Growth Service. In the past five years, relying on the professional empowerment of exclusive account managers, Yoolax has achieved leapfrog growth in various dimensions such as brand building, product layout and promotion strategies. Stella said, “The Seller Growth Service has provided us with critical and practical support, particularly in the use of promotional tools and new product development. Abbottt, Premiere Creative’s creative director.

For example, the dedicated account manager helped Yoolax analyze the profile of back-office buyers and found that the store had a high proportion of high-potential users, so it was recommended to set up an exclusive BTP discount for this group to achieve accurate reach. During the Prime Day promotion, BTP contributed about 10% of sales, which significantly increased the promotion's conversion rate.

Stella Yoolax Co-Founder
This kind of companion growth service helped us take fewer detours. Not only did we achieve breakthroughs at key points, but it also provided us with implementable strategic support to open up a new growth curve, and truly grow with sellers.

From conquering technological highlands to building its own factory, to adhering to the high-end customized route, the route Yoolax chose to go to sea was bound to be blocked and difficult. However, it is also a truly sustainable path to brand globalization. Through overseas practice, Yoolax has proven that Chinese overseas enterprises can establish competitiveness in terms of technology, supply chain, service, etc., and even redefine categories.

As Stella said, “The future of smart homes must be connected, and smart curtains are an integral part of that. Yoolax is not only satisfied with participating in the development of the global smart shading industry, but also hopes to bring more value and possibilities to the industry through continuous innovation in technology and services. ” And this is probably the most needed overseas story for Chinese overseas companies in this era.