13x price difference "roll" big brands? Chinese AI glasses go overseas, TikTok revenue exceeds $7.5 million!

For a long time, we believed that smart glasses could only compete in the high-end market. They represent the future of interaction, but their high price point has kept ordinary consumers at bay.

However, during the 2025 Black Friday sales event, NovaSight, a brand from Shenzhen, China, burst into the public eye in a nearly disruptive manner. With a smart AI audio glasses priced at under $60, it turned AI glasses into everyday items on TikTok.

Image source: TikTok Shop

Data shows that NovaSight experienced exponential growth during Black Friday, with monthly sales skyrocketing from $50,000 to $1 million—a 20-fold increase. As of now, its cumulative gross merchandise value (GMV) on TikTok Shop has efficiently surpassed $7.5 million.

Today, let's get to know this brand that is on the path of 'tech equality'.

Image source: TikTok Shop

From Zero to One: An 'Outsider's' Breakthrough Path

In 2023, Rong Jianhua, with almost zero e-commerce experience, led the NovaSight team into TikTok Shop, choosing Southeast Asia as their first battlefield.

Initially, they tested the waters with smart watches, learning platform rules while mastering content pacing, overseas warehousing, and fulfillment logic. By 2024, they had fully streamlined the closed loop of 'product—store—strategy.' Market feedback was direct: a single store once achieved over 2,000 orders per day.

The real turning point came in 2025, when AI glasses entered the US market—the strategy honed in Southeast Asia finally met the most suitable product.

Image source: TikTok Shop

The breakthrough came in 2025. As giants like Meta educated the market, awareness of AI glasses significantly increased, but their high prices (e.g., Meta's flagship model at $799) left a huge gap for affordable alternatives.

NovaSight seized this opportunity, stripping away premium features like AR large screens and complex sensors, focusing only on three essential functions: 1080P first-person view recording, real-time translation in 160 languages, and Bluetooth calling. With a retail price under $60—13 times cheaper than Meta—the brand completely opened up its market.

Image source: TikTok Shop

How to sell a pair of glasses on TikTok

Many 3C brands going overseas first think of finding top influencers, running hard ads, and listing specs. NovaSight took a completely opposite approach.

Instead of spending their limited budget on top influencers who charge tens of thousands of dollars, they built a matrix of nearly 2,700 mid- and small-sized creators. As shown in the chart, almost all the creators on the top 10 brand affiliate list have fewer than 100,000 followers.

Image source: Kalodata

These creators come from all walks of life—construction workers, moms, skiing enthusiasts, cyclists. They interpret the same product from their own perspectives, forming a multi-dimensional, high-density word-of-mouth network.

As users scroll through videos, they don't see rigid ads, but real experiences of 'someone like me'.

Image source: Kalodata

TikTok creator @novlab is a great example. Although he only has 11,000 followers, in the past 30 days he has generated a total transaction volume of $76,800 through 55 live streams, with an average order value of about $48.78.

With over 360,000 live stream views, it's clear how directly high-frequency live streaming in real scenarios converts for affordable AI glasses.

It's evident that such 'small-scale, high-engagement' creators are often better at driving precise purchase intentions than top influencers.

Image source: kalodata

Additionally, NovaSight's content strategy on TikTok differs from the common practices of traditional 3C brands going overseas.

When promoting overseas, traditional 3C brands often focus on showcasing technical specifications to prove product performance. In contrast, the NovaSight team's content emphasis is on presenting usage scenarios.

This is mainly because AI glasses were not an essential product for the general public at that time; consumers would not actively search for them like they do for earphones or power banks. No matter how many specifications are listed, it is difficult for someone seeing it for the first time to immediately understand why they need it.

So NovaSight adopted a strategy that can be called 'concrete scenario marketing'.

Image source: TikTok

They do not pursue perfect ad scripts, but instead test a vast number of real-life scenarios: how a roofer can film hands-free from a first-person perspective while working at heights; how a stay-at-home mom can record life fragments hands-free while taking care of her child...

The team repeatedly emphasizes the real experience of 'after actually testing' in their content. This unfiltered presentation format has a conversion rate several times higher than traditional hard ads.

A video by TikTok influencer @jonnyshops is the best example.

This comparison video, released in May this year, directly shows the influencer comparing his own $500 Meta glasses with the NovaSight alternative priced under $60, testing them side by side. From video quality to the 160-language translation function, each aspect is compared without complex camera work or editing—only genuine first-person footage and straightforward experience sharing.

As of mid-July, this video had received 2.13 million views, bringing NovaSight $31,100 in direct sales.

Image source: kalodata

In terms of rhythm control, NovaSight does not rely solely on a single viral video. Instead, it uses batches of creators and scenarios to test multiple selling points simultaneously—such as 'cost-effective alternative,' 'work safety assistance,' 'tech novelty toy,' etc.

They quickly replicate well-performing creative ideas to more creators and reinforce high-conversion shots and scripts in subsequent content, building a sustainable content matrix rather than a one-time hit. During last year's Black Friday, the team brought back previous viral creators for second-round content, achieving over $1 million in GMV for a single product.

Image source: kalodata

In terms of results, this approach validates a logic: when a new category is not yet recognized by the public, 'being seen' is more important than 'being introduced.'

And the authentic, raw, unfiltered perspectives of ordinary people on TikTok are precisely the most efficient way to make an unfamiliar product seen.

Conclusion

Going back to the question at the beginning: Can smart glasses only take the high-end route? NovaSight gave a negative answer with $6.23 million in GMV.

Today, the global AI glasses market is at a turning point from geek toys to mass consumer goods. IDC predicts that global AI glasses shipments will exceed 10 million units by 2026, and the growth rate of AI audio recording glasses exceeds 100%.

In this incremental market, the high end has Meta, the low end has white-label brands, but the middle ground of 'mass-market price + solid functions + authentic content' is far from saturated.

Today, the global AI glasses market is at a turning point from 'geek toys' to 'mass consumer goods.' IDC predicts that global AI glasses shipments will exceed 10 million units by 2026, and the growth rate of AI audio recording glasses exceeds 100%. In this incremental market, the high end has Meta, the low end has white-label brands, but the middle ground of 'mass-market price + solid functions + authentic content' is far from saturated.