In 2023, compared with the rebound in consumption in catering, tourism and other fields, the home appliance market is still in the process of slow recovery.

Despite this, driven by the demand for consumption upgrades, home appliance companies continue to optimize and upgrade their original products, and product design is indeed moving towards high quality, low carbon, energy saving, and healthy production.

Looking back at the changes in the mainstream consumer market for home appliances this year, the demand for mainstream consumption still exists and is strong, and the demand is changing and differentiated.

GfK monitoring data shows that in the first three quarters of 2023, 43 major categories in China's home appliance market achieved a total retail sales of 652 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7% compared to the same period last year. It is estimated that in 2023, China's home appliance retail sales will reach 880 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%, which is at a relatively high level in the past five years.

Social e-commerce is also changing the competitive landscape of the online market. Taking the hot-selling floor washing machine this year as an example, data shows that the cumulative sales of social e-commerce in the first nine months of this year reached 3.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 94%. In the entire online channel, the proportion of social e-commerce has reached 41%. Although the current sales of TVs, refrigerators and other products through social e-commerce channels are less than 5% of the overall online market, their year-on-year growth rates have reached three digits, and the growth rate is very impressive.

Industry analysis shows that black and white goods with strong stock market attributes have achieved good growth this year, indicating that consumption in China's home appliance market this year is more inclined to the rapid release of the backlog of rigid consumer demand, while household appliances that represent consumption upgrades are The weak performance shows that the current market consumer sentiment is still relatively conservative.

With the rapid development of large-scale models and the smart home industry entering the Smart Home 3.0 era, whole-house intelligence has not only become an area for mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and Honor, but also traditional home appliance companies such as Midea, Haier, and Supor are also vying for deployment. , seek change quickly.

Green smart home appliances usher in a development period

In recent years, electronic products have been developing toward digitalization and intelligence. There is strong potential for upgrading consumption from "have" to "excellent". However, they still face problems such as extended replacement cycles, low penetration rates for some groups, and poor recycling channels.

According to GfK Global Consumer Survey, the number of major appliances in China is approximately 2.5 billion, of which approximately 200 million are expired or approaching expiration but are still in use.

This year’s Central Government Document No. 1 proposed to encourage qualified regions to carry out new energy vehicles and green smart home appliances to the countryside. Driven by relevant departments, various localities, industry associations, and enterprises have cooperated to promote green smart home appliances in rural areas. In June this year, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a document to promote the consumption of green smart home appliances in 2023. In October this year, the Ministry of Commerce organized the "2023 National Quarter-Minute Convenience Life Festival" to promote green smart home appliances into communities. Encourage the holding of home appliance promotion activities in the community, and promote the replacement of old green smart home appliances with new ones through government support, corporate promotions, etc.

It is worth noting that the Central Economic Work Conference not long ago emphasized the need to cultivate and develop new types of consumption including digital, green, and health. Currently, due to the changes in young consumers' life concepts and the upgrading of their demands for health and intelligence, especially in the past two years, my country's home appliance market is shifting from supply-driven to demand-driven. How to better adapt to new needs and solve new pain points has become A "new path" to stimulate consumer demand in the field of home appliances.

Export growth depends on emerging markets

Compared with previous years, this year's home appliance companies have made greater moves to break out of the market, and my country's home appliance export boom has increased significantly. Especially in the second half of the year, as overseas home appliance market demand gradually boosted, the decline in inventory led to a significant recovery trend in home appliance exports. Behind its accelerated investment and financing actions, it is accelerating its impact on commercial and overseas "new battlefields" and exploring more "new blue oceans" such as smart homes, new energy, automobiles and machines.

According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in November 2023, affected by Christmas promotions and a low base in the same period last year, home appliance exports increased by 13.4% year-on-year to US$7.24 billion, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-on-year growth. From January to November this year, China's home appliance exports amounted to US$80.47 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%, and growth is expected throughout the year.

According to industry online data, from January to October 2023, China exported 58.081 million household air conditioners, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%; refrigerator exports were 36.323 million units, a year-on-year increase of 22.2%; washing machine exports were 31.79 million units, a year-on-year increase of 36. %. Among them, the favorable exchange rate and lower shipping prices have made the export price of air conditioners more competitive than that of domestic air conditioners abroad.

In fact, Chinese home appliance companies have entered the mid- to low-end market with cost-effective products in the past, and now they are increasingly driven by R&D and gradually entering the mid-range market.

Industry insiders believe that as many domestic home appliance brands continue to make breakthroughs in core technologies, companies' ability to reduce costs and increase efficiency has gradually emerged, and their overseas competitiveness has continued to improve. The expansion strategy of Chinese home appliance companies will develop from product overseas to manufacturing overseas. In the future, as many domestic home appliance brands continue to make efforts in technology research and development, Chinese home appliance products will gain more market share, voice and initiative in the international market.

Internet celebrity small appliances "cool down"

In the past few years, under the influence of multiple factors such as the "lazy economy", "stay-at-home economy" and "single economy", small household appliances have become the traffic password of major social platforms. At that time, many netizens shared the exquisite life that small appliances brought to them, such as "getting up early and using a wall-breaking machine to squeeze a cup of juice", "making homemade yogurt for a healthy life", "if you don't know how to cook, you can use the air fryer to fry fancy food" "wait.

In 2023, the popularity of small household appliances is declining, and the once-sold air fryer "topped" the Xianyu idle household appliances ranking list.

Relevant data statistics show that during the "6·18" period in 2023, the retail sales of 14 categories of small kitchen appliances, including rice cookers, electric kettles, grilling machines, electric steamers and stew pots, and health pots, reached 2.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.3%; Retail sales reached 11.16 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 16.5%. The overall retail sales of omni-channel kitchen appliances from January to June this year was 27.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.5%.

According to AVC's online monitoring data during the "Double 11" period in 2023, online retail sales of small kitchen appliances were 4.22 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.7%; online retail sales were 21.9 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 12.2% The average online retail price was 193 yuan, down 5.1%. Consumers’ purchasing needs are rational and cautious. Aowei Cloud said that among all categories of small kitchen appliances, nearly 57% of categories have experienced industry average price reductions.

According to media reports, “The industry generally believes that compared with large appliances, small household appliances have lower technical and financial thresholds.” In addition to low technical thresholds and short product life cycles, lack of quality and cost-effectiveness and changes in consumer demand are also the reasons for the "quick flameout" of small home appliances.

Consumption trends are improving

In 2023, as social life returns to normal, social scenes return, and home scenes decrease significantly, the demand for cooking appliances and environmental home appliances will also decrease significantly. At the same time, the market size of the personal care and ironing categories has also increased significantly driven by rising social demand, and the personal care category has performed particularly well.

Data for the first three quarters show that hair care products and electric shavers have achieved high growth due to the support of social needs, with sales increasing by 30.6% and 19.5% year-on-year. In the future, as the consumption concept of "Yuyiji" continues to strengthen.

Looking at the home appliance market in 2023, we can see the same consumption trend from the cooling of Internet celebrity small home appliances to the phenomenon of white appliances, kitchen appliances and black appliances: most consumers have become more rational, focusing on just-need consumption, and reducing No unnecessary expenses.

GfK pointed out that the current consumer sentiment in the Chinese market is still conservative. The price war cannot achieve the purpose of stimulating consumption, but rather offsets each other's profits. Although low prices after full competition are indeed more beneficial to the people, excessive focus on price competition will focus sales on a few leading sellers. At the same time, it will bring about unfavorable factors such as high diversion costs for enterprises, reduced profits of the channels themselves, and reduced consumer shopping experience. Boosting consumption has had a negative impact.

Analysts believe that the performance of China's home appliance market in 2023 is less than expected, partly because people's expectations for a rebound in home appliance market retail this year are too high and they ignore the necessary process required to restore consumer confidence.

Judging from the sales in September and October this year, home appliance retail has returned to the growth curve. Although slow, the overall trend of the home appliance market in 2023 is improving.