White Shark Targets Europe’s Gaming Market

Šmit Electronic has spent a decade building White Shark into a gaming brand positioned between low-cost peripherals and the best-known premium names. The company is investing more heavily in testing, product procedures, and data-driven selection. Its goal is to combine serious specifications with accessible pricing and turn a regional brand into a stronger European player.

A decade after the launch of White Shark, Šmit Electronic is no longer merely distributing gaming peripherals. It is building a European brand around product testing, controlled development and aggressive value positioning. Speaking to ICTbusiness Media - ICTbusiness.info & ICTbusiness TV, Stjepan Šmit of Šmit Electronic says the company entered gaming almost by accident, but its expansion has since been driven by a deliberate effort to improve quality, formalise internal processes and move beyond a regional market.

The company’s experience predates White Shark. Its SBOX brand will celebrate its twentieth anniversary next year, and the first gaming products appeared as a small extension of that portfolio: several mice, keyboards and headsets sourced through existing manufacturing partners. “By 2015, we realised gaming was becoming unavoidable and that we had a genuine opportunity,” Šmit says. White Shark was established in 2016, while the strongest acceleration came during the pandemic. The gaming business grew by about 150 percent in 2021 and by a further 70 percent in 2022, giving the company the scale to enter most European markets.

White Shark now competes between entry-level products and the best-known premium brands. That segment has changed considerably. Several German and Dutch brands that once had a strong position have weakened or disappeared, while Chinese competitors have become more visible. “We turned what started as a small brand into a strong B-tier player, and now we are creating a premium line,” Šmit says.

The strategy is not to replicate the pricing of the market leaders. Šmit Electronic wants to offer comparable components, specifications and reliability at a substantially lower price. “Our objective is to deliver the same level of quality for at least half the money,” he says, adding that some products sell for one-third or even one-quarter of the price of comparable models from global brands. He acknowledges that established manufacturers invest more heavily in proprietary sensors, chips, industrial design, and software ecosystems. That explains part of the price difference, but he argues that users can still obtain equivalent core performance and durability.

Achieving that balance requires a development process that is far more demanding than selecting an item from a factory catalogue. The company orders samples from multiple manufacturers, compares dozens of versions, requests modifications and repeats testing before authorising mass production. “We sent one mouse back to the factory three times before we considered it ready,” Šmit says. Products are evaluated both internally and by external testers, sometimes through several rounds. A new keyboard cited by Šmit has so far received no score lower than nine out of ten.

Hardware selection is only one part of the work. Software must be adjusted, compatibility checked, packaging and documentation reviewed, and suppliers monitored. Šmit says the procurement workflow now contains fourteen main stages, each with checks. “We added two more steps in the past six months because experience showed us they were necessary,” he explains. The business is also developing three AI agents. One is intended to support assortment decisions by comparing products, pricing, technical characteristics, and user reviews. Negative feedback will be especially important because it can reveal weaknesses that are not visible in specification sheets or initial tests.

SBOX operates under a different market logic. Its portfolio of mounts, stands, cables and bags is more stable and requires less intensive annual development. Some models have remained commercially viable for ten or fifteen years. “We have been number one in that category for years, and the market already knows us,” Šmit says. A campaign linked to the football championship helped the company sell two containers of a wheeled floor stand with a retail price of 399 euros, showing that demand extends beyond low-cost accessories.

Barracuda has meanwhile been positioned as a more affordable gaming brand designed to respond to growing Chinese competition, while White Shark is moving upwards. “Our ambition is to make White Shark one of Europe’s leading gaming brands,” Šmit concludes. Reaching that position will depend on whether the company can preserve testing discipline, use data more effectively, and continue proving that a brand from this region can compete across Europe without abandoning accessible pricing.