At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2026) in January this year, domestic smart hardware equipment manufacturers shined.
Intelligent hardware forms such as robots, wearables, smart homes, and sports and health appeared in various exhibition areas at a high density.
Public data shows that there are more than 400 technology companies from Shenzhen, accounting for about one-third of Chinese exhibitors and close to one-tenth of the total number of global exhibitors.
The person in charge of Chinese seller management of Amazon’s global store said: “Chinese companies have brought a large number of innovative products. But the most eye-catching thing is not the improvement of products and technical parameters, but the emergence of more new categories under existing consumption scenarios.”
AI (artificial intelligence) is undergoing a transformation from “capabilities in the screen” to “actions in the physical world”. The scale of the global consumer electronics market is increasing, and this track is large enough and full of vitality.
With the iteration of large model capabilities, understanding and generation technologies are coming to the forefront, so that AI no longer exists as a separate conceptual area, but penetrates into almost all consumer electronics categories, turning it into a physical product that can be seen, touched, and experienced.
In just two years, at today’s CES exhibition, more and more smart devices have fully integrated and applied AI, and the performance of many domestic manufacturers is particularly outstanding.
Regarding the changes in the overseas market of smart devices in the past two years, Zhang Xiangcheng, CEO of MiZheng Technology, said that with the maturity of the supply chain, the improvement of engineering capabilities and the popularization of AI tools, Chinese teams are becoming more active product definers and innovation initiators.
This change from “realizing needs” to “defining needs” is an important advantage for Chinese brands in overseas competition.
“If many so-called intelligences in the past were just buttons moved to Apps, then the value of AI today is that devices have begun to have the opportunity to truly understand people and scenes.” Zhang Xiangcheng, who has a technical background, explained, “For us, AI is not a marketing label, but a basic ability: on the one hand, it helps to understand the market faster and improve R&D efficiency; more importantly, it gives our coffee machine the first opportunity to move from ‘executing instructions’ to ‘understanding preferences.'”
While AI algorithms are embedded in more smart devices and smart hardware, AI as a tool is also providing more help for more smart products to go overseas.
Yang Dan, head of overseas e-commerce at Jimi Technology, revealed that at the sales link level, Amazon launched the Rufus shopping assistant at the front desk last year, which can further shorten consumers’ purchase decision-making time.
“In short, users who want to buy a projector only need to enter ‘want to buy a projector that can be taken outdoors’ in the Amazon Rufus dialog box, and the price is within a few dollars. Rufus will quickly combine Amazon’s algorithm to recommend a certain XGIMI series to consumers. How many mAh portable lithium batteries does the product have?
All the information such as how many hours of outdoor viewing can be supported will be revealed.
I think this is the most intuitive demonstration that AI can give consumers a better shopping experience at this stage.”
Cross-border e-commerce first started with exporting products overseas, and then moved brands overseas, and now it has entered the 3.0 stage – “online and sold globally.”
From the perspective of Amazon’s global store opening, the core of the 3.0 stage is no longer to build one site first and then the next, but to target the world from the first day of product design, brand positioning, and service system establishment.
In fact, true globalization starts from the product research and development stage.
Amazon’s global store opening stated that on the one hand, AI technology can proactively identify gaps in potential product selections, allowing sellers to shift from “following the market” to “anticipating the market”; on the other hand, finding good product selections is only the first step. Today, as AI lowers the threshold for content production, the risk of homogeneity between brands increases.
“What really cannot be copied is the unique brand values and emotional links.” The relevant person in charge cited Wan Technology and Hypershell as examples. The former built a robot matrix around the home scene, while the latter cut into the outdoor sports assistance scene. Both of them have gained a foothold in the AI era by occupying the scene’s mind.
For Chinese smart device companies that aim to “go online and sell globally”, they need to integrate global thinking into design, compliance and brand positioning from the research and development stage.
On the other hand, the cross-border e-commerce market has been turbulent recently.
Not long ago, JD.com’s European online retail brand Joybuy was launched, with its own supply chain and localized operation system, focusing on a full range of products such as electronic products, home appliances, and home life.
On April 13, Xiaohongshu’s overseas e-commerce brand Redshop also announced that it will be officially launched in June and will expand to all categories later.
Wave after wave of new entrants are challenging the existing structure of overseas e-commerce markets from different dimensions.
Facing the cross-border offensive of domestic e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, AliExpress, JD.com Joybuy, and Xiaohongshu, can Amazon’s global store defense system, which is centered on technology and ecology, continue to hold its position in the face of competitors who better understand China’s supply chain and are more flexible in localization?
The answer is not yet known, but what is certain is that the competition among overseas e-commerce companies has evolved from a single price and logistics efficiency to a systematic competition of AI capabilities, brand services and global operations.
