The washing machine market enters a period of adjustment technology and brand competition

Yesterday, the "2012 China Washing Machine Industry Development Summit Forum" organized by the National Information Center and China National Grid was held in Beijing. At the same time, the "White Paper for the 2012 Chinese Washing Machine Market" was released. "White Paper" data show that from January to July 2012, washing machine sales decreased significantly. The possibility that production companies want to significantly increase their sales scale through national policies will become very small in the near future. Manufacturers should gradually reduce the degree of policy dependence and take a healthy path of relying on technological innovation and brand building to achieve sustainable development.

Industry adjustment led to a noticeable drop in washing machine sales

"White Paper" data show that from January to July 2012, the cumulative sales of domestic washing machines in the domestic market were close to 11.49 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 23.89%, and sales were about 25.7 billion yuan, a decrease of 20.72% year-on-year.

As for the reasons for the decline, Cai Ying, Assistant to the Director of the Information Resource Development Department of the National Information Center, believes that as the overall market was stimulated by policies such as “replacement of new products” and “home appliances to the countryside” in previous years, some consumer electronics consumer demand was released ahead of schedule. , but the pull of policies has been weak since 2011.

Judging from the specific market performance, in addition to the slight increase in sales volume in the fourth-tier cities, the sales volume of washing machines in other cities decreased from January to July 2012. The first-tier cities saw the largest decline, with a year-on-year decrease of 27.07%.

However, the sales growth rate of the four levels of cities is higher than the growth rate of sales, Cai Ying analysis, from this feature we can see that the increasingly fierce competition in the washing machine market, all levels of the market has become a business must fight. After years of market guidance, the product structure has also been continuously upgraded. Especially in the third and fourth-tier cities, the growth rate of high-end products is already higher than that of the first- and second-tier cities. In the future, it will be a regional market where washing machine companies will compete.

Consumption upgrade promotes the proportion of high-end products

"White Paper" data shows that from January to July 2012, the proportion of high-end products from the market, compared with the same period in 2011, the proportion of sales and sales increased by 3.31 and 3.86 percentage points. After popularity in recent years, high-end washing machines accounted for 26.46% of the overall urban washing machine market from January to July 2012. From the average price point of view, the high-end washing machine prices also rose 5.64% year on year, an increase of not less, which also shows that high-end washing machines are increasingly accepted by the average consumer, but also become the main manufacturers push the product. At the same time, the significant increase in the proportion of large-capacity washing machines, from the sales data, from January to July 2012, the proportion of the above 6KG capacity segment has accounted for nearly 50% of total sales.

According to the analysis of the general manager of Gome's white power division, Chu Yongbing, as the pace of life continues to accelerate, people are beginning to reduce the frequency of laundry more often. In addition, the living area is also increasing, and consumers have more capacity for washing machines. The high demand has led to a continuous increase in the mainstream capacity of the washing machine market, which has also contributed to the continuous increase in the sales volume and market share of large-capacity washing machines. Gome also provided consumers with a variety of high-end washing machine product choices at this washing festival.

Technology and brand become the focus of competition

Due to entering the adjustment period, the washing machine industry will gradually bid farewell to traditional competition methods of fighting scale and price, and turn to the technical connotation and technological innovation of competing products, so that the product structure will be further adjusted, because the market demand created by technological innovation is also Will bring consumption increase.

Lv Shenghua, Editor-in-Chief of China National Grid, believes that with the new subsidy policy tilting toward energy-efficient home appliances, companies should gradually realize that only the core competitiveness is based on the development of energy-saving and environmental-friendly new technologies and new products, such as saving electricity and saving water. In order to maximize the benefits of energy-saving subsidies, the sustainable development of the company can be achieved. Specific to the washing machine products, the key R&D directions mainly include six aspects of energy saving, water saving, green environmental protection, intelligence, healthy washing, and new laundry fields. Among them, healthy washing will become a new hot spot in the industry in 2012.

Lu Jianguo, director of the detection department of the China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute, also stated that washing machine companies should establish global R&D advantages and have the ability to integrate key component resources before they can win market opportunities in future industry adjustments.

With the deepening of energy-saving policies, leading companies with research and development advantages can gain an advantage in the competition. At the same time, as the country's standard requirements for washing machines' main and special parts and components increase, some SMEs will face technical and cost problems. As a result, the gap between brands in the washing machine industry will increase and the polarization will gradually form. This will have a profound impact on the brand pattern of the washing machine industry.