In the production workshop of Wanbao Smart Home Technology Co., Ltd. located in the Economic Development Zone of Anji County, Zhejiang Province, China, workers are busy assembling a batch of gaming chairs. These chairs will soon be packaged and shipped to markets in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Our sales revenue is expected to approach 300 million US dollars this year, “Xue Dong, Chairman of Wanbao Technology, told reporters. And just eight years ago, this company was just an OEM and ODM factory, relying on order production and without its own brand and sales channels.
From OEM to brand, a chair’s overseas leap
The development process of Wanbao smart home is a microcosm of Anji chair industry going global. The company was founded in 2013 and initially only provided OEM production for other brands. In 2015, Wanbao began to transform towards “integration of industry and trade”. In 2016, it established its own cross-border e-commerce team in Hangzhou and officially entered the overseas C-end market.
At the beginning, our products were very disorganized, with a distribution model. The factory made products and immediately laid them out, but as a result, many of them couldn’t be sold and accumulated a lot of inventory, resulting in a huge loss. “Xue Dong recalled his initial experience of trying cross-border e-commerce and still couldn’t help but feel emotional.
The transfer occurred in 2018. Xue Dong led his team to conduct market research in the United States and found that American consumers have larger body sizes, and existing products cannot meet their needs. After returning to their home country, they quickly developed “heavyweight chairs” that can bear over 400 pounds and launched them on Amazon, becoming the first seller in the entire network to launch such products.
We finally survived the losses in 2017 and saw dividends in 2018. With this product alone, we have achieved rich returns and high profits in this category, “said Xue Dong.
Nowadays, Wanbao Smart Home invests nearly 30 million yuan in research and development every year, has 126 patented technologies and 15 qualification certifications, and its self operated brand BOSMILLER performs well on Amazon. In 2024, the company’s output value will reach 270 million yuan, and overseas sales have already reached 1.5 billion yuan.
Advantages of industrial belt, collective overseas expansion of Anji chair industry
A chair can also develop into an industrial belt. As the “hometown of China’s chair industry”, Anji has the advantage of a complete industrial chain supporting facilities. Data shows that the number of green home enterprises in Anji County has exceeded 1700, with 60.23% of them being enterprises above designated size. There are over 1200 chair industry enterprises, with 52.08% of them being above designated size.
If we look back, the development of Anji chair industry began in 1982, when Anji Dipu Agricultural Tool Factory produced the first five wheeled swivel chair, creating a new category of Anji industrial production. Over 40 years of development, Anji has formed a complete industrial chain from chair art design, research and development, production, testing, marketing, as well as raw materials, accessories, and other aspects. The industrial cluster effect greatly reduces production costs, allowing us to quickly respond to changes in market demand, “said Xue Dong, Chairman of Wanbao Technology
Nowadays, 70 chairs are born in Anji every minute. Anji Chair Industry has gone through a transformation process from OEM to brand when going global. In the early days, Anji chair companies mainly provided OEM and ODM services for foreign brands. In 1985, Anji Educational Equipment Factory applied for registration of the “Minyou Trademark”, which means “friend of the common people” and pioneered the branding of Anji chair industry. In the late 1990s, after undergoing institutional reforms, chair companies of all sizes emerged like mushrooms after rain. A group of leading enterprises such as Yongyi, Henglin, and Zhongyuan took on the responsibility of planning and developing the Anji chair industry.
Song Yilin, founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd., said, “As a young entrepreneur in ’97,’ I deeply feel the advantages that Anji’s complete industrial chain has brought us to go global. The 30 minute accessory circle allows us to quickly try and iterate, which is an advantage that is difficult to replicate elsewhere
Nowadays, Anji chairs have spread throughout Asia, Oceania, America, and Europe, and are sold through cross-border e-commerce platforms in 190 countries and regions worldwide. Anji’s chairs have also frequently appeared at international events, such as the G20 and BRICS conferences, where our products are available. The staff of Anji Green Home Town proudly said, ‘This proves that Made in China is transforming into Created in China.’. “
Nowadays, Anji Green Home Town, as an industrial agglomeration area, has a total planned area of 3.95 square kilometers and has 171 industrial enterprises settled in, including more than 150 green home enterprises. With the support of the small town, by 2024, 246 green home enterprises in the development zone will have achieved a total industrial output value of over 23.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11%.
From “OEM” to “brand creation”, from “manufacturing” to “smart manufacturing”, Anji Chair Industry is achieving a leap from “selling products” to “selling brands” and “selling standards”. As observed by Xiong Youcong, a cross-border e-commerce partner at Deno Forestry, the core of brand building is not only product innovation and user experience, but also marketing and service. “How to package products well, with quality and experience, and how to make others recognize them as high-end products at first glance before they even come into contact with them. Cross border e-commerce platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for businesses to gain long-term and uninterrupted insights into consumer trends
Anji Chair Industry is becoming a typical example of China’s home furnishing industry going global, demonstrating the shift from Made in China to Created in China.
The Way to Success in Going Global: The Global Competitiveness of Chinese Home Furnishings
The success of China’s home furnishing industry going global is not accidental. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2024, there were 7459 large-scale enterprises in China’s furniture industry (with an annual main business income of 20 million yuan or more), achieving a revenue of 677.15 billion yuan, a cumulative furniture production growth of 8.4% year-on-year, and a total profit of 37.24 billion yuan.
At the same time, Chinese furniture is also accelerating its pace of “going global”. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the export of furniture and its parts in China reached 483.034 billion yuan in 2024, an increase of 7.0% compared to the same period last year.
The success of Chinese home furnishings going global is primarily attributed to their supply chain advantages. China has a complete furniture production chain from wood, board, hardware to paint, etc. The highly concentrated industrial cluster greatly reduces costs and can provide innovative products for various segmented furniture categories to go global more flexibly.
At present, in order to meet the demand for small batch and multi batch orders in cross-border e-commerce, many factories have completed the transformation of flexible supply chains, which can quickly respond to market changes, make samples quickly, and produce quickly.
Cost structure optimization is also an important factor. In 2023, the overall pressure on traditional furniture foreign trade will decline, forcing more OEM companies to shift to cross-border B2C models with greater profit margins.
From a global market perspective, furniture is one of the rapidly growing categories in major markets worldwide. The relevant person in charge of Amazon said, “In addition to maintaining steady growth in the European and American markets, emerging markets have enormous potential: the growth rate of home e-commerce in the Middle East is significant, and the demand for compact furniture in Latin America is rapidly increasing, providing new incremental space for Chinese sellers
Technological empowerment further accelerates this process. The AI product selection tool significantly improves the popularity rate, and the AR virtual exhibition hall technology effectively reduces consumer decision-making costs and return rates. In addition, AI can quickly generate product descriptions and furniture space scene images, reducing the operating costs of furniture sellers.
Coping with challenges, the overseas strategy of Chinese home furnishing enterprises
The journey to sea is not always smooth sailing. Home furnishing enterprises are facing multiple challenges such as high logistics costs, difficulty in localizing overseas, and long brand building cycles.
Large scale logistics is the primary challenge for furniture going global. Furniture products have a large volume and heavy weight, and logistics costs account for a very high proportion. Song Yilin, founder of Hangzhou Linsheng Home Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters, “We have been troubled by logistics since the beginning of our entrepreneurship. This includes domestic logistics, sea freight, and even the final stage of overseas warehouse logistics, where every link is quite important
To solve this problem, companies have shown their own tricks. Linsheng Home controls the volume of goods through high sales volume, and as the volume of goods increases, logistics will correspondingly increase its priority. Wanbao optimizes container loading through research and development – when the loading rate of most sellers is between 138 and 168 sets, Wanbao optimizes product design and allows one container to hold 300 sets, significantly reducing unit logistics costs.
Localization in overseas markets is another major challenge. Jieanxin’s Director of Operations, Arita, shared their experience in the Japanese market: the mainstream apartment sizes in Japan range from 40 to 90 square meters, and they focus on developing small-sized products for this customer group.
Japanese people work overtime more often, so the thickness of office chairs or boss chairs must be reached. If the thickness is not reached, they will be very tired sitting there all day, and the quality of the chair sponge pads will be poor, making it uncomfortable to work
Brand building is a long-term challenge. Xiong Youcong, a cross-border e-commerce partner at Deno Forestry, believes that “there are not many companies in China that truly make brands, and everyone is just selling goods.” He found that companies that make brands have brand concepts from the front to the back, including after-sales service experience.
At present, green environmental protection is also becoming a global consensus, and Chinese furniture companies are actively adapting to this trend. Wanbao Smart Home ensures product quality and safety through international certifications such as BIFMA, ISO, FCC, and relies on advanced environmental treatment facilities to achieve clean production. Deno Forestry chooses to use water-based coatings, and the wood meets FSC forest certification.
From price competition to value competition, the future of Chinese home furnishings going global
With the deepening of overseas expansion, Chinese home furnishing enterprises are shifting from price competition to value competition, achieving premium through brand building.
The successful case of Fujian Jieanxin is very representative. The company started from the Japanese market and adheres to the business philosophy of “quality is king, logistics is the backbone”. They found that Japanese consumers have an extreme pursuit of “quality”, not only willing to pay a reasonable premium for high-quality products, but also extending “quality” to the entire process from the product itself to the user experience.
For this reason, the triple protective structure of “double-layer corrugated box+customized shockproof foam+corner cardboard reinforcement” is adopted on the packaging of GEANS, and the outer box is also marked with “fragile” and “placed upward” in striking Japanese; For accessory storage, categorize all screws, fasteners, and other small parts into separate storage boxes with Japanese labels; The instruction manual has been changed to a visual form of “step-by-step schematic diagram+precise dimension annotation+common problem answers”.
Chinese companies need to abandon the mindset of low price competition and reshape the image of Chinese manufacturing through quality and details in order to build global brands, “said Arita.
Xiong Youcong emphasized the importance of emotional value: “Nowadays, consumers like AI, so we try to install the ambient light strip in it to sell at a higher price. We added a light, which added 10 RMB to our cost, but the price can be increased by 10 USD. This is using AI to increase consumers’ emotional value, thus gaining a premium. ”
Integration of industry and trade has become the key to transformation. Many traditional factories have started to establish production lines specifically for cross-border e-commerce, achieving a “small order, fast response” (small batch, fast response) production model. Lv Xiang, Director of Hangzhou Kerui Business Unit of Wanbao Smart Home Technology Co., Ltd., said, “We must first have confidence in the products we have researched and developed ourselves. This is fundamental
Global layout, new space for Chinese home furnishings to go global
Faced with intensified competition in the domestic market, more and more Chinese home furnishing companies are beginning to layout their global markets and achieve diversified development.
After starting from Japan and establishing a firm foothold, Jieanxin has begun to layout its two core markets, the United States and Australia. Arita explained, “As the world’s largest cross-border e-commerce market, the United States has a strong demand for office furniture and home furnishings, and consumers have a high acceptance of ‘ergonomic’ and ‘quality durable’ products, which is highly in line with our positioning of ‘quality first’
Wanbao has made attempts in the Middle East and Mexican markets. Xue Dong said, “The Middle East market is not large, but its positioning is relatively accurate. After research, we found that many sofas are not suitable, while office soft products are acceptable
From the platform side, various platforms are also providing convenience for enterprises to go global through their platform advantages. For example, the Amazon Global Store Industry Belt Accelerator project provides support for enterprise globalization. This project is committed to promoting the transformation and upgrading of China’s traditional manufacturing industry, rooted in key industrial clusters in China. Through innovative models of government guidance, platform empowerment, and industry linkage, it builds a bridge for manufacturing enterprises to access the global market.
In April 2025, Amazon Global Store signed a new three-year cooperation memorandum with the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce to jointly promote the upgrading and transformation of 20 characteristic industrial belts. In the future, Amazon will continue to deeply cultivate the Anji furniture industry belt and empower local enterprises to develop cross-border business.
From the development path of Anji Wanbao, it can be seen that China’s home furnishing industry is going through a three-stage value transition from OEM dependence to data-driven (DTC), and then to value output (brand premium) when going global.
Successful companies that go global often have several commonalities: outstanding supply chain integration capabilities, the ability to coordinate supporting resources in the industrial chain, and the ability to shorten the cycle from product research and development to shelving; Implement data-driven refined operations to optimize cost structure and expand profit margins; Global layout and diversified channel layout, reducing the risk of a single market and channel; Skilled in utilizing various tools and services provided by the platform, accurately capturing changes in consumer demand, and creating innovative products.
Despite facing challenges such as high logistics costs, difficulty in localization, and long brand building cycles, Chinese home furnishing companies are responding to these challenges through innovation: building overseas warehouse networks to reduce logistics costs, conducting in-depth market research to achieve product localization, increasing research and development investment to improve product quality and added value.
Starting from a chair in Anji, the Chinese home furnishing industry is providing a new answer for Chinese intelligent manufacturing in the global market. As Song Yilin said, “We are not a one-year enterprise, we may be a five-year to ten-year enterprise, or even aspire to be a century old enterprise.” This long-term thinking may be the key to the success of Chinese home furnishings going global.
