In the Chinese city of Xi’an, Han Luyi runs a small store inside a shopping mall that sells drones made by the world’s biggest consumer drone maker. Shoppers stop by and ask questions: Why is this toy so expensive? Can a drone lift me up and make me fly? “Most Chinese people don’t know anything about drones,” said the 22-year-old Ms. Han, who opened the shop in August. Her store is one of the distribution partners of Chinese drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co., which controls roughly two-thirds of the world’s consumer drone...
As competition intensifies in the US , the world 's biggest drone market with 700k sales , drone manufacturers view Asia as the " new frontier " as predictions of sales increase from the current 40k to 3.1 m units by 2019 . In an effort to educate Asian consumers , the world 's leading consumer drone manufacturer , DJI , valued at $ 8bn , is opening flagship stores , offering non - flying lessons and building sales channels but the company needs to move quickly , according to analysts , before they also increase their presence .