SONOFF teams up with Amazon and eWeLink to build differentiated experiences and achieve global growth

The smart home industry has been experiencing steady growth over the past few years and we see this as only the beginning SONOFF, a smart home device maker based in China, capitalized on this trend, achieving high double digits growth by teaming up with Amazon and eWeLink. 

SONOFF’s vision is to create simple and affordable DIY smart home products for customers around the world, making their lives easier, smarter and better. However, developing smart home devices is time-consuming, resource-heavy and also requires deep expertise in wireless protocols, cloud connectivity, networking and security firmware. This can be a heavy burden for many developers while navigating the challenges of intensified competition. Expanding to other countries beyond China also has a number of obstacles - adhering to local regulations, managing daily operations, and strategizing on sales and marketing just to name a few! SONOFF knew that their ambitions would not be easily realized without working together with those who have the expertise in infrastructure, smart home and commercialization. 

Building differentiated smart home devices and accelerating time to market

To ensure a high quality and secure customer experience, SONOFF needed a global infrastructure to scale its business. They chose a platform powered by the AWS cloud, providing a solid foundation for its services worldwide, freeing SONOFF to focus on building differentiated experiences

Alexa supports major smart home protocols including WiFi, Zigbee and Matter, making it easy for customers to mix and match any SONOFF products. Alexa’s global support made it a no brainer for Sonoff to serve customers in over 80 countries by controllingsmart home devices and even in their native languages - there are 17 language variants! So integrating with Alexa was no brainer for SONOFF to build and grow their smart home business globally. Alexa also provides developers flexible integration options including working with an IoT solution provider, such as eWeLink, based in Shenzhen, China. This collaboration with Alexa goes back many years to 2017, and has helped eWeLink supported developers to bring over 300 Works with Alexa (WWA) devices to market. In addition, eWeLink helps developers to build devices across multiple smart home protocols such as WiFi, Zigbee, Matter, Local Adapter Platform (LAP) and Smart Home Skills to connect to Alexa and more easily implement features such as Frustration-Free Setup (FFS), Smart Reorder, and Remote Switch. 

With eWeLink’s support, SONOFF easily integrated Alexa’s differentiating features and programs to provide a simple and seamless customer experience. The WWA badge makes SONOFF’s products more discoverable on Amazon.com, and gives customers confidence that these devices are tested to work great with Alexa. With Frustration-Free Setup, customers can add SONOFF devices to Alexa with a zero-touch experience, allowing them to start experiencing the devices in seconds after powering them on. Customers can use Alexa for voice control, routines and Hunches to help them save time, live comfortably, safely, and more sustainably. The Smart Reorders service makes sure that customers don’t run out of batteries on SONOFF sensors by placing a reorder or notifying customers when they are running low. With increased engagement and satisfaction, SONOFF can benefit from valuable and long-lasting relationships with their customers. 

With over 200 million paid Prime members globally and hundreds of millions of worldwide active customer accounts, SONOFF leveraged Amazon’s global scale and services to expand and grow. The commercialization support services includes onboarding, managing daily operations, and marketing and sales strategy as well as market specific guidance. SONOFF also found Amazon’s innovative seller tools helpful to build, grow, and scale their brand. For example, SONOFF’s storefront helps to showcase their products, making them more visible to shoppers. 

SONOFF has been selling on Amazon.com since 2017 and quickly expanded to the EU, UK, North and South America, Southeast Asia and Japan markets, achieving high double digits compound annual growth. With help of Alexa’s differentiating features, SONOFF is able to provide an easy and seamless customer experience and benefits from increased customer engagement and new revenue source. SONOFF’s six million active users are testament to the hard work done behind the scenes to raise the bar on customer experience. 


Build and grow with Alexa

Working with an Alexa IoT solution providers such as eWeLink helps developers to implement best-class customers experiences easier and faster. Join SONOFF and other developers such as FSL, Raex and QIACHIP to reach customers at scale on Amazon.com and provide a seamless experience from the moment customers purchase a device, through setup, and everyday use.

Recently, eWeLink, Alexa, AWS, and Amazon Global Selling Outbound (AGS-OB) teams co-hosted a workshop for Chinese OEMs to help them learn how to achieve business growth beyond China market. This ongoing collaboration will provide a one-stop-shop for developers with support for cloud infrastructure from AWS, integration of Alexa’s differentiating features with eWeLink, and commercialization on Amazon.com. 

To learn more, visit eWeLink’s website and our new Smart Home Insider portal, or reach out to your Business Development contact.