Price Traps

For consumers, price is undoubtedly a killer factor. Compared to fingerprint locks priced at 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, a fingerprint lock under 1,000 yuan is certainly a cause for silent relief, especially in the online shopping domain where price tiers vary even more.

Function Traps.

Today's smart locks are highly functional and user-friendly. However, when consumers are selecting smart locks, they cannot overlook the fundamental factors of security, stability, and convenience.

Brand Traps

The domestic smart lock market is currently chaotic, with numerous brands and many taking advantage of consumers' limited understanding of the industry and their tendency to favor foreign products. As a result, many brands in the smart lock market claim to have European, American, Japanese, and Korean heritage, and aggressively promote the strength of their foreign technology and high quality to boost consumer trust in their brand. This brand deception leads to misguidance from two aspects. First, it exploits the lack of clear basic understanding of different brands in the smart lock industry, allowing some to brand themselves as prestigious to cater to consumers' foreign preference. Second, it takes advantage of the lack of knowledge about the actual cost-performance ratio between domestic and foreign brands in the Chinese market, painting foreign brands as superior. Regarding consumer perception of smart lock brands, a few domestic top-tier brands have been acquired by foreign companies, but the R&D is still handled in-house. Moreover, in the domestic market, foreign brands do not have a significant advantage over local brands. Therefore, when purchasing smart locks, consumers should not blindly chase brand names; practicality should be evaluated based on cost-performance.

Online Shopping Traps

Smart lock purchases online often lure consumers with ultra-low prices, only to reveal quality and after-sales issues post-purchase. As previously mentioned, low-priced smart locks always come at the cost of quality. On e-commerce platforms, some inexpensive smart locks are solely focused on selling products, without installation, and consumers are unaware if the locks are suitable for their homes. Moreover, some merchants promise after-sales installation, but they arrange temporary local locksmiths to perform the installations, which cannot guarantee the quality of installation, leading to many troubles such as communication costs. For consumers with little knowledge about smart locks, purchasing from physical stores is advisable, as the price difference is generally not significant.