At a recent exchange meeting, Liu Jingkang, founder of Insta360, addressed the increasing competition in the panoramic camera market. He argued that establishing a durable competitive advantage in consumer electronics is inherently difficult because product differences are too obvious—it's immediately clear whether a camera performs well, has a long battery life, or produces high-quality images.
Liu pointed out that the real protective barrier is customer consumption habits and brand perception. However, he noted that the rapid pace of technological change in consumer electronics makes it challenging for brands to build stable consumer habits around specific features or specifications. Compared to that, a more viable strategy is to continuously create "thresholds"—by understanding customer needs faster than competitors, deploying the necessary technology earlier, and bringing products to market sooner.
He emphasized that the organizational capability, culture, hiring standards, and systems behind consistently creating these thresholds are themselves a form of competitive advantage. If Insta360 can keep generating new thresholds, users will also develop a mindset of it as a "constantly innovating brand." On the technical side, barriers can also be built through key component patents or distribution channels, but this is not a primary goal for the company. "What we pursue is continuous innovation," Liu stated.
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