Anker products are mainly found on Amazon. The company sells a variety of technical goods – from cables and power adapters to power banks, headphones and webcams. But who is actually behind Anchor?
Why an American-Chinese company is baptized by the name may not be obvious at first glance. Perhaps it is simply because an anchor stands for security, as it keeps a ship in place. In a figurative sense, this would then mean that an Anker product guarantees the customer reliable quality. It is much more likely that the name refers to electrical engineering, where the rotor of an electric motor is referred to as an armature.
A billion-dollar company by accident
In any case, the story of Anker is astounding and reads a little like that of the rags-to-riches. Steven Young, founder of Anker Innovations Ltd., was never a dishwasher, but worked as a software developer for Google in the noughties. The word about the millionaire shouldn’t be taken too literally either. After all, Anker’s turnover in 2020 was not millions, but one billion dollars.
A success story, and yet, strictly speaking, Anker is the result of a coincidence. In order to support his girlfriend, who ran an online shop at the time, with the logistics, Young developed the appropriate software. After a short time, however, several hundred orders had to be processed per day. For Young it was almost an awakening experience. So on July 1, 2001, he quit Google, borrowed money from his family, and founded Anker with his girlfriend, who is now his wife.
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Anker’s product range is constantly growing
The business idea back then was simple. At first, Anker only sold replacement batteries for laptops that could compete with the manufacturer’s originals in terms of quality. The company initially relabeled purchased parts, but soon, encouraged by its success, began producing in-house. Today, around ten years later, the company says it has more than 30 million customers in more than 100 countries.
Until the end of 2016, Anker sold exclusively through Amazon, so its success was closely linked to that of the online retailer. In the meantime, however, Anker has also opened up to other sales channels – and the portfolio has also changed. The manufacturer no longer only sells batteries for mobile computers. The appearance of the smartphone came at just the right time, because even mobile phones now need a battery. And if it can no longer be replaced by a layman, an anchor power bank saves the customer’s day, that’s the idea. In general, today Anker offers just about every accessory that can be connected to anything via USB, from chargers to hubs to webcams.
Today, with all of its products, Anker is one of the largest manufacturers of smartphone accessories, offering its products in over 100 countries worldwide. In the meantime, however, the company also offers numerous other products such as power storage devices or 3D printers. Some classes of devices are sold by Anker Innovations under other brand names. For example, there are headphones from Soundcore, devices for the smart home from Eufy, and portable consumer electronics from Nebula, such as mobile projectors.
However, Anker’s biggest hit so far is not hardware at all, but smart charging technology. It’s called PowerIQ, communicates with both iOS and Android-based devices and thus recognizes the highest possible, i.e. the fastest, charging speed.
Customer satisfaction and success with the trade press
And customer satisfaction also seems to be high, at least if you can believe the reviews on Amazon. The “Happy Card”, which is included with every product, shows that for Anker, dissatisfied customers are still customers and not troublemakers. The front of the folded card reads “Happy?” and a sun emoji, while the back reads “Unhappy?” and a dark cloud shows. Advice on what to do in each case follows inside the card. Young’s maxim shows that Anker takes the concerns of its dissatisfied customers very seriously. “Quality comes before sales” the self-made man repeats almost like a mantra in interviews. And in fact, Anker products always do well in tests by trade journals.
Today, Anker has more than 2000 employees in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA. The head office is now in Hong Kong because initially too much time was lost transporting the goods produced in China. The company also operates external locations, for example in Munich.