Rfid hotel locks is already become a red ocean market.It is a very crowded market. If you haven’t been in this industry for 20 years, you won’t come to such a conclusion.
Let me reveal it to you through some facts.
Lock demo stand become better.
Today a demostand of hotel door lock becomes very deluxe. But 20 years ago it is very simmple and cheap costs.
Let me take you back to 20 years ago with just one picture.
In 2006, the hotel lock demostand is very simple.There is no rotatable base.
It is not real wood made.
You might ask, how could this be possible?
The answer is yes it is normal in 2006. Because the core part of such a demostand is the hotel lock.
The stand is not important and customer(hotel) will not buy it.
The demostand function is only fix the hotel door lock.
We can see very clear that 2026’s stand is pretty much than 2006’s.
Is there functions improving? No.
So what makes it improving? Competition.
In very strong competition market, any small details could be the key of win.
The appearance become magic and fantastic
Nowadays, many hotel locks have a dreamy appearance. they are just like sports cars- Lamborghini, Ferrari or Aston Martin
In a crowded market,the appearance could be a very important point get win.
However, the hotel customers actually don’t need so fantastic because the hotel’s door or decoration not fit the lock.
If you know about interior decoration, you will understand a very simple principle- All the element styles must be kept consistent.
Specifically speaking, for instance, if the quality of the television is very high, you cannot save money on the wall outlets and other electrical appliances.Otherwise, your style won’t be obvious.
Gross margins become lower.
In China, the main producer of hotel door locks, 2006 price (EXW) is 43-55USD per piece.
But now in 2026, the price get down to 15-30USD. The sales price collapsed by almost 50%.
Sales price goes down normally means gross margins goes down.
This proves that the market has entered a red ocean.Price wars have become the main competitive means.
Competing in the existing market.
The existing market means the project which have already installed rfid hotel locks.
There are many projects of that. The competing is happen in this market.
The existing market for hotel locks is upgrading market.
This is an un-official upgrading.
Onity has another model similar to HT24 which use a magstripe card.
Generally, the rfid hotel lock is now a dog eat dog commodity.
What’s the red ocean strategy?
-Competitive pricing strategies
Many hotel lock suppliers will use a competitive price to attract the price-sensitive customers. Sometimes it really works.
-Product differentiation
Hotel locks differentiation adds unique features or quality improvements.
These differentiation will make available premium prices.
-Branding
The strong branding hotel locks Strong branding created a strong connection with the customers.
Their customers is less likely switch when competitors offer lower prices.
My Suggestions
-For the resellers
You need find a real different feature hotel lock to sale. The regular product will make you fall in the price campaign.
When your locks has not much differences with competitors, the only thing you can do is sale cheaper.
-For the hotel lock suppliers
Stop make new shells, or new colors.
This is already a crowded mareket. Save your money and do something real innovation. You can’t jump out the elements of hotel locks.
-For the customers.
Don’t choose the most cheap product. Because supplier will save in materials and quality to keep the profits.
