Smart Door Lock Industry 2024: Overcrowded and Stagnant—2025 Breakthrough Strategies Revealed
Two Smart Door Lock Major Challenges Facing the Industry Amid Fierce Internal Competition
Intensified price competition is squeezing profit margins
The comprehensive data from all channels shows that the total retail volume of smart door locks in China in 2024 reached 20.31 million units, with a year-on-year increase of 8.6%; the retail sales volume was 209 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.9%. This mixed performance indicates the underlying problems and challenges behind the industry development, which urgently need to be analyzed and resolved.
Under the pressure of internal competition, the industry is facing two major dilemmas: intensified price competition and compressed profit margins. The growth in retail volume indicates that the demand for the smart door lock market in China is gradually being released, and consumers’ acceptance is further enhanced.
Market Flooded with Low-End Products, Causing Industry Imbalance
The decline in retail sales highlights a harsh reality: in today’s fiercely competitive market, internal price wars have become the primary strategy for companies striving to gain market share.
According to data, from 2021 to 2024, the average retail price of smart door locks sold through traditional e-commerce platforms has shown a consistent downward trend, dropping to 1,068 yuan in 2024, barely maintaining the thousand-yuan threshold.
In the short term, price-driven sales strategies have contributed to growth in retail volume. However, from a long-term perspective, an over-reliance on price competition not only severely erodes industry profit margins, but also hinders investment in innovation, product development, and service enhancement.
Ultimately, this approach risks triggering a vicious cycle—where declining profitability forces companies to compromise on product and service quality, further weakening consumer trust and long-term brand value.
A large number of low-end products are flooding the market, leading to an unbalanced industry structure. In recent years, the market share of low-priced smart door locks has been rising continuously, with the proportion of products below 1000 yuan expanding year by year.
Data shows that in 2024, the retail volume share of traditional e-commerce smart door locks below 1000 yuan has already exceeded 60%, and smart door locks below 500 yuan have become the largest price segment in the market, with a retail volume share reaching 26% in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 100%.
To avoid internal competition and find a way out, the industry association actively promotes three directions.
On December 26, 2024, at the Sixth Session of the Second Council of the China Hardware Products Association Locking Branch and the 31st National Locking Industry Information Exchange Conference, Zhang Dongli, Director-General of the China Hardware Products Association, addressed the challenges currently facing the industry.
He noted that intensified internal competition has become a widespread concern among enterprises. Objectively, this situation stems from excessive market entry, serious overcapacity, and increasingly homogenized product offerings, all of which have exacerbated internal rivalry.
In response, Zhang emphasized that the locking industry must undergo a mindset shift and pursue collective progress. Companies need to take proactive measures, embrace innovation, and make firm decisions to reduce overcapacity. He further urged the industry to follow a differentiated development path, focus on reasonable profit margins, reject ineffective price wars, and work toward overcoming the current difficulties to establish a healthier and more orderly industry ecosystem.
Encouragingly, new national industry standards—initiated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology—have passed final review and are set to be officially released. These standards will serve as a foundation for production and quality control, helping to further standardize the market and promote healthy, high-quality development.
At the same time, the implementation of national subsidy policies has brought tangible benefits to the smart door lock industry. These subsidies have lowered the purchase threshold for consumers, making it easier for them to afford mid-to-high-end smart door lock products. This policy shift is expected to stimulate demand in the mid-to-premium segment, ultimately driving the industry toward a more sustainable and value-driven future.
Data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the scale of traditional e-commerce smart door locks priced at 2000 yuan and above is growing positively, with the retail volume of products priced between 2000-2499 yuan increasing by 32%, the retail volume of products priced between 2500-2999 yuan increasing by 4%, and the retail volume of products priced 3000 yuan and above increasing by 38%. The national subsidy policy in 2025 will continue the framework of 2024 and further optimize and upgrade the scope and standards, which will further increase the participation of smart door lock enterprises and effectively promote the development of the medium and high-end market in 2025.
Call for enterprises to collaborate and break free from the internal competition to achieve long-term prosperity. To get out of the current 困境, not only does it require the push from external forces, but also the united efforts of the entire industry of smart door locks in China, to unify thoughts and form a consensus. Through efforts in technological innovation, differentiated development, consumer education, market expansion, and long-term planning, we can achieve the transformation from “quantity increase and amount decrease” to “quantity and amount increase together”.
Take technological innovation as the core driving force for industry upgrading. Enterprises should increase their research and development budget in core technology fields, focus on cutting-edge technologies such as biometrics and AI intelligence, enhance the technical barriers and added value of products, and stimulate consumers’ purchase desire through product innovation.
Actively participate in the formulation of industry standards, promote technical standardization, and lay a foundation for high-quality development of the industry. Break the homogeneous dilemma through differentiated competition. Enterprises should choose to develop targeted products in niche markets based on their own strengths, create differentiated selling points, provide innovative value-added services to enhance user experience and brand loyalty. Through brand building, creating a unique brand image and user cognition, shaping brand value.
Stimulate consumer demand through market education. Through publicity and educational activities, help consumers understand the technical advantages and usage value of smart door locks, improve consumers’ value recognition of high-end products, and fully stimulate their demand for high-end products. Launch more innovative and practical products to meet consumers’ higher requirements for safety, convenience, and intelligence. Explore new markets to find new growth engines. Expand overseas markets, focus on the international market, and participate in global competition through high-quality products and services. Integrate into the smart home ecosystem, cooperate with smart home platforms, create an interconnected product ecosystem, and enhance user stickiness.
Create sustainable development through long-termism. Through continuous brand investment and user operation, build long-term competitiveness. Carry out long-term planning in core technology fields to lay a foundation for future market competition. Against the background of the internal competition dilemma in the smart door lock industry, AVIC Cloud Network will provide accurate market analysis and trend prediction with its professional data insight capabilities, providing strong data support for the industry to formulate scientific and reasonable norms and standards. Work together with the China Hardware Products Association and various enterprises to promote the establishment of a healthy and orderly market order, and achieve sustainable development of the industry.
