Household appliance transformation and upgrading stimulate consumption potential (economic focus) Household appliance industry | Intelligence | Economy

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From January to June this year, enterprises in the home appliance industry achieved a revenue of 914.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%; Realized a profit of 67.49 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%. Looking towards the future, as the pace of promoting stock updates, expanding high-quality supply, and guiding home appliances to rural areas continues to accelerate, the development potential of the home appliance industry will be further stimulated.

Precise path planning and mop self-cleaning, upgraded sweeping robot makes daily cleaning easier; The air purifier equipped with a brand new sensor not only has low noise and energy consumption, but also can remotely remove formaldehyde and supply air with just one click; Real time video guidance, automatic steam cleaning, and the new steaming, baking, and frying all-in-one machine make kitchen novices fall in love with cooking... Walking around the home appliance market, different categories are dazzling, and new ideas are emerging.

The continuous innovation of various major electric brands reflects the surging vitality of the home appliance industry. As a traditional advantageous industry in China, the home appliance industry is also an important engine for stabilizing industrial growth and promoting consumption. What new characteristics have emerged in the home appliance industry since the beginning of this year? Where should we start to better stimulate the role of the home appliance market in promoting consumption and expanding domestic demand? The reporter interviewed industry experts and some home appliance companies.

Enhance innovation capability

Developing Whole House Intelligence

Data shows that from January to June this year, enterprises in the home appliance industry achieved a revenue of 914.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%; Realized a profit of 67.49 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%.

Where does the growth resilience of the home appliance industry come from? Continuous innovation towards the mid to high end.

"Since the beginning of this year, there has been a strong demand for high-end product orders. In the second quarter, online sales of intelligent air purifiers increased by 8.6% year-on-year, mainly contributed by mid to high end models priced above 3000 yuan." Introduction by Lu Yi, Product Manager of Xiaomi Environmental Appliances.

"At present, China's home appliance market has entered a stage of upgrading with high-end characteristics," said the relevant person in charge of Hisense Video Technology Co., Ltd.

In the view of Xu Dongsheng, Vice Chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, since the beginning of this year, the trend of structural transformation and upgrading in China's home appliance industry has become more obvious. The supply of high-end products characterized by green intelligence is sufficient and effective, driving the stable and progressive operation of the industry.

Entering the Huawei Ark One Space Intelligent Open Laboratory, with a handheld intelligent central control screen, the whole house appliances can be interconnected: when watching TV, one click can activate the viewing mode and enjoy immersive audio and video; When sleeping, voice wakes up the AI assistant to remotely control lights, air conditioning

"From smart home appliances to whole house intelligence, the growth space of the home appliance industry is constantly expanding." Shao Yang, President of Huawei Terminal Co., Ltd.'s whole house intelligent product line, said that relying on the HarmonyOS ecosystem, various smart devices in residential spaces are organically connected, better meeting people's needs for intelligent living. As of the end of June this year, Huawei's All Home Intelligence has exceeded 200 stores nationwide, and over 5800 smart products can be connected to All Home Intelligence.

Haier has established the "Three Winged Bird" brand for whole house intelligent scenarios, and Midea has released the "Midea Meijia" whole house intelligent product system... "Multiple intelligent products are collaborating, and stronger intelligent capabilities are being integrated, making smart home appliances more user-friendly." Xu Dongsheng said that the transformation of whole house intelligence has not only brought personalized and customized experiences to users, but also become a new engine driving the growth of the home appliance industry.

Promote stock updates

Improve the application ecosystem

Data shows that from January to June, sales of household appliances and audiovisual equipment reached 427 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 1.0%, down from 3.9% in the whole of last year. "The efficiency level of major home appliance enterprises has significantly improved, but there is still room for further expansion of home appliance consumption," said Xu Dongsheng.

"The penetration rate of mature home appliance categories in our country is relatively high, and the industry demand is more from stock updates." said Xu Jianwei, a researcher at the Industry Institute of the China Academy of Macroeconomics. With the continuous improvement of the durability of household products, the product update cycle is longer. If the new functions of products cannot effectively improve consumer pain points, the demand for updates and replacements will shrink.

Taking air purifiers as an example, "with the continuous improvement of air quality and stricter control of formaldehyde release from building materials, the demand for formaldehyde removal from products is gradually weakening." Lu Yi said that the company is currently developing more types of gas sensors and filtration technologies, while adding intelligent standby functions to reduce the frequency of filter replacement and lower operating costs.

More brands are using integration to revitalize traditional home appliance products. The Casarte Nebula air conditioner integrates functions such as air conditioning, humidifier, purifier, disinfection machine, air fan, etc., achieving one unit available all year round; Hisense integrates an ultrasonic eyewash device on top of its existing products, which can wash clothes as well as glasses and jewelry... "The integration of functions is not just a random combination of individual household appliances, but a maximum satisfaction of user needs based on specific operating habits in specific scenarios." Xu Dongsheng said that integration is releasing more growth space for traditional household appliances.

"The continuously expanding new product categories, new scenarios, and new applications are the potential for growth in the home appliance industry." Xu Jianwei said that currently, intelligent innovation is active in the home appliance field, but different brands of home appliance products lack connection or even compatibility in the application ecosystem, becoming a shortcoming that hinders home appliance consumption.

With the increasing number of intelligent devices, connecting ecological islands and achieving cross brand interconnectivity has become an inevitable trend in the development of smart home appliances. "The construction of smart home is inseparable from the participation of home appliances, home appliances, communications, the Internet, content service providers and other parties." Xu Dongsheng said that in June this year, the China Home Appliances Association and the China Communications Standardization Association jointly released the White Paper on Smart Home Connectivity in China, further promoting smart home connectivity standards from "yes" to "good".

Expand high-quality supply

Expanding rural markets

As the main field of traditional consumption and an important driving force for restoring and expanding consumption, how to view the growth prospects of household appliance consumption?

"From the perspective of industry trends, the market penetration rate of smart products in major home appliance categories such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines is increasing year by year," said Xu Dongsheng. According to relevant data, the scale of China's smart home appliance market exceeded 550 billion yuan in 2021, exceeded 650 billion yuan in 2022, and is expected to exceed 730 billion yuan in 2023.

"Compared to some developed countries, there is still a gap in the level of ownership of smart home appliances per hundred households in China, and there is great room to improve its penetration rate. The growth potential and driving force of home appliance consumption are great," said Xu Jianwei.

Entering the stock market, how can the home appliance industry move from high-speed growth to high-quality development, and better stimulate the potential of home appliance consumption?

On the one hand, continuously expanding high-quality supply, promoting the upgrading and value-added enhancement of smart home appliances.

"With the continuous optimization of the competitive landscape in the home appliance industry and the further increase in industry concentration, driven by leading and innovative enterprises, the proportion of green and intelligent home appliance products has significantly increased, providing solid support for expanding home appliance consumption." Xu Jianwei proposed that in order to adapt to the upgrading of home appliance consumption, precise policies need to be implemented in areas such as exchanging old appliances for new ones, promoting intelligent integrated home appliances, and recycling waste home appliances.

Recently, the Notice on Measures to Restore and Expand Consumption clearly proposed to promote smart home appliances, integrated home appliances, functional furniture and other products, and enhance the level of smart and green home furnishings. He Yaqiong, Director of the Consumer Products Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the next step will be to support the user centered development of the home appliance industry, achieve real-time demand response, full process real-time visualization, and seamless resource integration, and continuously launch more scenario based, intelligent, and serialized home appliance products.

On the other hand, we will continue to expand the rural market and accelerate the promotion of green and intelligent home appliances to rural areas.

With the continuous improvement of farmers' income and living standards, the rural market is becoming a new growth point to stimulate the demand for household appliances. Data shows that in the first five months of this year, the sales revenue of replacing old appliances with new ones and promoting green and intelligent appliances to rural areas increased by 83.7% and 12.6% year-on-year, respectively. Xu Jianwei proposed to accelerate the construction of multi-level consumption centers, vigorously promote green and intelligent home appliances to rural areas, and better improve the after-sales service system for rural home appliances.