Chinese drone maker DJI Technology Co. Ltd has established a strong early lead in the world commercial market as companies turn to its inexpensive, light-weight flying devices for a host of uses from shooting films to mapping and site inspections.
Founded in 2006 by Chinese entrepreneur Frank Wang, DJI generated $2.8 billion in revenue in 2017, up from $500 million in revenue in 2014. In 2017 around 30 per cent of its revenue was achieved in North America, 30 per cent in Europe and 30 per cent in Asia. The remaining 10 per cent goes to South America and Africa. The percentage for the North American market is estimated to be reduced in the coming years. The subsidiary DJI North America was opened in July 2012.
Back in 2006 Frank Wang was a student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Originally DJI was centred on building flight control systems for model helicopters, which Wang had loved since childhood. But as multi-rotor drones began to gain popularity, Wang deftly turned the company toward that market. Before the Phantom, most highly capable consumer drones were sold to serious hobbyists and required a lot of assembly and know-how. The French company, Parrot, had a simple, popular unit with its A.R. Drone, but that was not a very powerful craft. The Phantom represented the first relatively cheap drone that came ready to fly out of the box, but boasted top of the line flight control systems. Phantom debuted in January 2013 and was a huge success. The latest DJI bestsellers (Mavic Pro and Mavic Air) are simple enough for beginners, but powerful enough to interest serious hobbyists, professional photographers, and filmmakers.
Mavic Air, was introduced in January 2018. It is a premier foldable drone that can fit into a backpack or even a jacket pocket. When flying there are only 21 minutes of battery life, so it is worth buying into the extended version of Mavic Air, ‘Fly more Bundle’, with three extra batteries. The basic version of DJI Mavic Air has a retail price of $800. The ‘Fly more Bundle’ version has a retail price of $1,000.
With nearly 6,000 employees, DJI now has offices in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Tokyo, and Kobe.
DJI is also currently raising a new round of funding at a $15 billion valuation and Wang, who owns about 45 per cent, will be worth about $6.7 billion.
Shenzhen-based DJI has about 70 per cent of the commercial and consumer drone market worldwide (a larger portion of the consumer market than for the commercial market). Federal records also suggest that DJI is quickly expanding its US market share, thanks in part to a new process speeding up federal exemptions for companies that intend to use drones previously vetted by regulators. The FAA has granted nearly two times as many commercial drones exemptions for photo and video drone use than any other market, with inspection and monitoring trailing as the second largest use of drones. A drone costing just a few thousand dollars can deliver high wow-factor shots that were impossible to get before, or could only be captured using expensive cranes, stabilizing equipment, and a manned helicopter.
Footage from a drone has been used in movies such as The Hunger Games, Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises.
Industry experts say basic drones such as DJIs are likely to drive the US commercial market for the foreseeable future, meeting business demand for uses such as aerial photography for site inspections, real estate promotions and video production.
The US market for more sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is being limited by FAA policy that restricts commercial drone flights to lineof-
sight operations at altitudes of 500 feet (152 meters) or less. Those rules are complicating efforts by e-commerce giants Amazon.com and Google Inc.
to develop high-tech drones capable of delivering packages over long distances. Those limitations effectively rule out larger UAVs, which are not going to be cost-effective with that sort of restriction. This is really going to drive products towards the lower end of the market.

Questions
You are hired by Peter Wang as a specialist in marketing.
You have been asked to answer the following questions:

1. What are the main differences in the customers’ needs and values in the consumer (retail) and commercial (professional) drone market?

2. What are the main reasons for Chinese manufacturers’ and especially DJI’s competitiveness in the drone market?

3. How should the combined DJI M600 Pro and Hasselblad H6D-100c product (with a minimum price of $30,000) be marketed worldwide?