Creality, a 3D printer manufacturer founded by four 3D printing lovers in 2014, never expected to grow this fast. In September 2016, the 3D printer Creality CR-10 went viral on YouTube, with more than 10 million user-generated videos of this product shared in just a few months.
Since then, Creality has sold more than 4.5 million 3D printers, expanding their footprint across 192 countries and regions.
As if that weren’t impressive enough, Creality went on to achieve even more outstanding results: in the 8 months since their website was launched, their online store has achieved over 3 million global visitors, and their total transaction value has surpassed US$12 million.
Keep on reading to learn about Creality’s story and get some inspiring insights into their experience with ecommerce.
Creality: born to be global
Founded in Shenzhen, China, Creality is a manufacturer of both consumer and industrial-grade 3D printers. Since the launch of the first self-developed 3D printer in 2015, Creality has successively introduced five product lines, including Creality, Ender, Sermoon, HALOT and an accessory ecosystem to cover users’ needs.
Many 3D printing fans choose Creality 3D printers to achieve their ideas and make their thoughts come true. American Physics professor Sterling Backus spent 16 months building a Lamborghini sports car with his son using Creality’s CR-10 S and CR-10 S5. Upon hearing about Professor Backus’ endeavor, Lamborghini presented him with a real sports car.
In Africa, Kyle Reeser, a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and a user of Creality, partnered with a local disability center to 3D print prosthetic limbs for the underserved community.
Currently, Creality 3D printers are exported to 192 countries, with more than 4.5 million units sold in total, and 90% of the orders come from overseas. Creality has also gained more than 1.6 million users worldwide, making it one of the top global consumer 3D printer brands.
Building an online store with Shoplazza
As a technology product manufacturer, Creality initially chose the B2B2C route to go global, with resellers and online shopping platforms as their key sales channels. However, Creality came to realize that, in order to build a global brand, they needed to bring traffic to a website of their own.
Creality carried out in-depth research to choose the right platform for their ecommerce and, at the end of 2021, they partnered with Shoplazza to start building their online store. But why did they pick Shoplazza as their platform?
According to the Head of Marketing at Creality, “Shoplazza provides professional and cost-effective services and solutions. In addition to technical services and resource support, Shoplazza provides suggestions and directions on issues promptly, and is always willing to grow together with us.”
Creality’s idea was to combine their official website with an online store, a place where they could present their brand, communicate with users, sell products and provide after-sales services. Through Shoplazza, they were able to launch that environment on April 9, 2022, all while upgrading their content and visual style to build a premium and technology-driven brand identity.
Shoplazza also provides them with strategic insights into channels like social media, paid ad campaigns and store operations, helping Creality expand its reach across the globe.
Creality’s goals and results
Building relationships with 3D printing enthusiasts
Listening to what 3D printing users have to say is conducive to product innovation and improvement. Thanks to Shoplazza, Creality now has a user community where people can share their innovative 3D printing work.
This community allows Creality to gather potential customers and foster user-generated content (UGC) to help promote the brand and their technology.
Establishing relationships with users directly through online shopping platforms can be challenging. However, long-term relationship management is the ultimate way for brands to retain customer loyalty and increase their repurchase rate. Driving new users through existing users not only cultivates customer retention but also enhances brand credibility.
A better shopping experience
When it comes to technology products, people tend to take longer to make the decision to purchase. With that in mind, Creality opted to include a button in their official website to redirect users to the online store. The idea is to make sure customers enjoy a much more optimized shopping experience and feel more inclined to make the purchase in a shorter period of time.
In addition to products, the online store is the central hub for Creality’s promotions as well as pre-sale and after-sales services—all in the name of a better shopping experience. Through this online storefront, Creality can also sediment user data to increase their conversion rates.
Website and social media, all together
In addition to including a link to their website on their social media accounts, Creality has created an ecosystem to promote user sharing, influencer reviews and other types of content, with the goal to drive more traffic to the website. Through Shoplazza, Creality was able to seamlessly integrate their online store to their social media channels.
Over US$12 million in transactions
It didn’t take long for Creality to see the benefits of joining Shoplazza. Here’s what Creality managed to accomplish within eight months:
- 3,000,000+ global visitors to their online store
- 7,000+ orders placed
- Over US$12 million in total transaction value
Creality credits their quick results and success to the possibility of creating a branded website with Shoplazza.
“Branded websites, as an expansion of sales and brand promotion channels, can reach more end-consumers directly and respond to market demand better. In addition, the company can give full play to the big data, keep pace with the global supply and demand changes, collect user feedback for product development, and provide more professional solutions to resellers in a more timely manner,” said an executive from Creality.
Creality: an inspiration to go global
Surrounded by uncertainties such as the global economic slowdown and the pandemic, many international brands have prioritized building their own website. To them, having an online store is a way to improve risk resistance and consolidate brand competitiveness.
While Creality pioneered the overseas market through their resellers and Amazon, they have now created in their website another distribution channel where they can improve brand exposure and increase loyalty of the resellers.
Establishing and maintaining a brand identity is fundamental if you want your brand to stand out and go global.
Shoplazza provides a shopping cart SaaS platform for brands of all shapes and sizes to start, market and manage their online stores. Shoplazza is the all-in-one SaaS platform used by over 360,000 merchants worldwide, serving customers from over 150 countries.
If you feel inspired by Creality’s story and want to start your global online business, Shoplazza offers a 7-day free trial for you to make sure the platform is right for you.
We from Shoplazza are proud to be a part of Creality’s success story, and we hope to become part of yours as well.
