Drone maker DJI targets female users as sales start to taper
Company’s 60pc annual rise in sales last year compares with five-fold growth in previous years
DJI, the world’s largest maker of recreational drones, says it has managed to attract more female buyers by repurposing some of its products in a bid to create a new customer group as sales growth begins to taper.
The company’s Osmo series of camera and mobile phone mounts makes use of camera stabilising technology to help customers take better selfies, as self portraits are commonly called, on their mobile phones. Priced at US$299, and very easy to use, the Osmo Mobile products have proved immensely popular with women, said Xu Huabin, a DJI vice president.
“We have launched Osmo in silver in order to tap the female consumer group,” said Xu.
The new business from women is important to help the Shenzhen-based company, which already dominates 70 per cent of the world’s market for drones, as it tries to find new customers and new revenue sources to keep growing.
The gender shift in its customer base comes as DJI expects a “substantial increase” in revenue this year, after sales surged by 60 per cent, topping 10 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) in 2016.
“We expect faster expansion of the [drones] market this year, and a substantial increase [in sales revenue] for DJI,” Xu told the South China Morning Post in Shenzhen.