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Success Stories

The Taste of Our Proprietary Carbonated Water Purifier Winning Over Overseas Buyers

- Product Name
  
  Hot/Cold and Sparkling water purifier
- Product Category
  
  Electronic Products > Home Appliances > Water Treatment Appliances > Water Dispensers & Purifiers
- Company Name
  
  Econixx co., Ltd

Company Overview

Company name: Econix Co. Ltd.

CEO: Heejoon Lee

Year of establishment: 2019

Location: Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do

Main product: Carbonated water purifier,
carbonated water dispenser

Main countries of export: USA, Japan, China

Overseas Marketing Overview with KITA

Export support program

tradeKorea’s 'B2B Matchmaking' platform

Country of export

China

Export product

Direct water purifier CKD

Export sales

USD 200,000

Capturing the Trendy Tastes of the Younger Generation with Our Self-Developed Proprietary Carbonated Water Purifier!

Econix Co., Ltd. is a specialized manufacturer of carbonated water purifiers and has been manufacturing and distributing carbonated water makers for stores, known as the ‘Torrenty’ brand. Recently, it has developed a product that incorporates household water purifier features such as cold and hot water, and unveiled it at the Seoul Coffee Expo held last year, garnering a favorable market reception. Since it is possible to make a refreshing carbonated drink with a single lever without any onerous carbonated water production process, it targets the tastes of the younger generation who prefer sugar-free healthy drinks and especially enjoy drinking highballs. CEO Heejoon Lee realized that there was robust demand for carbonated water while going on overseas business trips over many years during his employment at a large corporation, so he started the business of developing a carbonated water maker early on, and developed a new concept product incorporating a water purification feature to distinguish it from existing products.

He explained, “When I was working at a trading company, I was handling a water-related business, and it was then that an epiphany dawned on me. A representative business that uses water as a product item is water purifiers, but it is safe to say that the domestic water purifier market is already saturated. With even large corporations penetrating this market, if the product itself is not differentiated, the odds for success are stacked against you. Nonetheless, there is robust demand overseas for carbonated water, but existing carbonated water makers have the disadvantage of being difficult to use and lacking enough carbonation, resulting in substandard taste. Realizing how refreshing carbonated water can be drunk anytime and anywhere, I decided that combining it with a water purifier feature would create a popular product that was not available on the market, yet.”

The proprietary product developed by Econix boasts the basic feature performance of a water purifier while enhancing the carbonation level, allowing anyone to enjoy a richer carbonated taste. As a result of promotional efforts, the market reception was so positive that a flood of requests came in to send samples, and CEO Heejoon Lee decided to focus on carbonated water purifiers as his future business direction. Staying true to his unwavering interest in carbonated water and commitment to development even before establishing the company, he has faced many variables to overcome over the past four years, including COVID-19, but he has not been swayed by the impact of trends and has steadfastly forged ahead with only one industry, carbonated water. Given these efforts, he is confident that Econix has the capabilities to compete in the global market, as it holds several related patents.

“Our company is aiming for 100% exports and seeks to concentrate on carbonated water purifiers with a long-term perspective. The ultimate goal is to target overseas markets, but to do so, we have to test the marketability of our products, so we plan to sell to the domestic market over the next few years to survey information about market needs and identify areas for improvement. In particular, we plan to actively participate in various programs executed by the Korea International Trade Association, on account of their potential for bringing about a transaction from participation in the support project of the Korea International Trade Association.”

Targeting the Chinese Market with Competitive Semi-Assembled Products

Econix's strength is that it has a small number of talented people with world-class development capabilities who undertake versatile roles. Based on a deep range of excellent research capabilities, we are able to develop customized products that are optimized to the specifications required by customers rather than pre-fabricated products. This has served as the impetus behind making it possible to close a deal with a buyer through tradeKorea's 'B2B Matchmaking' platform.
In addition to carbonated water purifiers, Econix has been developing and supplying parts in the form of CKD (semi-assembled products) rather than finished products through collaboration with P Company (manufacturer of water purifiers and Ceragem parts). At that time, Ceragem's Beijing branch in China sent an inquiry to tradeKorea to find a competitive domestic company, and a match was made by showcasing the merit of Econix's export price competitiveness through collaboration with the manufacturers of parts. Afterwards, two companies were able to conduct continuous discussions over a period of six months with the support of tradeKorea. The buyer determined that the company’s quality, price, and delivery date were more competitive than other manufacturers in China, and they placed orders for 6 times later on. Based on the successful initial transactions, approximately 7,000 units are scheduled to be exported in 2024.

“I registered the product on tradeKorea without any expectations that it would actually lead to a major contract. But it has benefited me a lot. Since there were no CKD products in South Korea that met the specifications requested by the buyer, we were able to start with development and deliver a finished model that met the needs. Given the fact that we had proceeded with development without a written contract, there was some risk regarding the upfront investment, but thanks to adequate communication with the buyer with the support of the Korea International Trade Association, we were able to successfully complete the product order.”

CEO Hee-joon Lee said that Econix has the right capabilities to produce finished products but it does its best to stay true to buyers' demands for CKD. Thanks to buyers’ high praise for its efforts, it has received orders worth USD 200,000 this year, up from USD 400,000 last year, and next year's volume is expected to increase further.

For small and medium-sized businesses, the business matching function performed
by the Korea International Trade Association makes a big difference.
For a company as small as ours, there is no way to check the information of various buyers worldwide.
It is not easy to tell whether or not a buyer is a genuine customer, but buyers matched by the trade association
are highly trustworthy. We are looking forward to its continuing role to provide a base for small
and medium-sized businesses to engage in fruitful business activities by discovering excellent buyers.

Success Point

Proprietary development of carbonation maker
+water purifier

Launch of self-developed proprietary carbonated water purifier to target the carbonated water market that meets the trends of young consumers. It provides the features and performance of a water purifier, along with its advantage of convenient use by making it easy to produce carbonated water.

Introduction of new methods and price competitiveness

Its small cohort of talented staff with world-class research and development capabilities are able to develop products that meet the specifications required by buyers. Developed and supplied parts using the CKD method in collaboration with Ceragem's parts manufacturers to achieve export price competitiveness.

To. Korea International Trade Association

“For companies that concentrate on exports, various information about overseas buyers is invaluable. Even if small-sized companies like ours develop good proprietary products, they are often at a loss because they do not know where or how to introduce them. I am relieved and grateful that we have been able to effectively promote the product that we have poured our heart and talents in without any regrets with the support of the Korea International Trade Association.”

From. Hee-joon Lee, CEO of Econix Co., Ltd.

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