High-end appliances are recognized by the market

2012 was a year of high-end home appliance highlights and steady development. In the home appliance market, large-capacity smart refrigerators for human-machine dialogue, smoke stoves with linkage control, automatic air conditioning for room temperature adjustment, and face recognition High-definition and large-size smart TVs have become the new darling of the market and have become the main force in guiding the development of the home appliance industry.

In order to better understand the development trend of high-end products and guide the trend of consumption upgrades, on January 17, China National Grid held the “2012-2013 China High-end Appliance Trends Release and the Fourth 'Red Top Award' Award Ceremony” in Beijing.

A total of nine representative high-end home appliance products won the 2012-2013 Chinese high-end home appliances “Red Top Award”. They are: TV category - LG 84LM9600; refrigerator category - Casa Di Bronce; wine cabinet Class - Casa di Boffin dual temperature zone large wine cooler; Red Top awards air-conditioning award-winning products - Haier Di Hao air conditioning; gas water heater - Haier JSQ20-12N1; heat pump water heater - Wanhe auxiliary air source heat pump water heater KR23/200Q100-A; range hoods - invisible boss 8000; washing machine type - Siemens WM14S4670W 3D variable speed energy-saving washing machine; purifier class - Sharp KC-W380SW-W.

High-end household appliances conversely entered the growth phase. The growth rate of the home appliance industry slowed down significantly in 2012. However, in the primary and secondary markets, the proportion of high-end products continues to increase due to the growth in demand for replacement. The quality is high, the appearance is novel, and energy-saving and environmentally friendly. High-end household electrical appliances have become the protagonists of the market; in the past, the low-end third- and fourth-tier markets, under the advancement of urbanization, have now ushered in a consumption upgrade period, and the consumption capacity of high-end home appliances is gradually being released. In addition, Haier et al. The brand's third and fourth-level market product structure adjustment strategies have also been further improved during the year.

At the ceremony, Zhou Qun, general manager of GFK China, gave a keynote speech on “The Trend of Development of China's High-end Home Appliances Market.” He said that market stability is one of the basic characteristics of the development of high-end home appliances. The continuous emergence of innovative technologies has enabled high-end home appliances to maintain a stable or even growing market share of high-end products. From the perspective of the global market, even in the period of macroeconomic ups and downs, the high-end market has not been significantly affected, but it has remained stable.

According to third-party monitoring data, from January to November 2012, the high-end products of color TV sets, washing machines, and refrigerators have shown positive growth in the 1234 market, especially in the market where the overall market is declining. The four-level market is even more outstanding and highlights. Take color TV and washing machine products as an example, 7.0-7.4 kg of high-volume products have increased by 12.62% and 14.52% in the third and fourth-tier markets, respectively; 55-inch and higher smart TVs have increased by 568.55% and 489.01% in the third and fourth-tier markets, respectively. .

Consumers valued the brand reputation, technology content, energy conservation and environmental protection properties awards ceremony, and released the "2012-2013 China High-end Consumer Appliances Survey." The survey data showed that the nature of “high-end home appliances” has changed slightly in consumers’ minds. In 2009, when consumers were purchasing high-end products, “brand reputation” accounted for 65.9% of the major considerations and “good after-sales service”. It accounted for 53% and “energy conservation and environmental protection” accounted for 48.5%; in the 2012 survey, the top three attributes were “brand reputation” 81.9%, technical content 75.2%, and “energy conservation and environmental protection” 71%.

From the shortlisted and eventually won the "Red Top Award" brand, are well-known brands with high reputation, brand reputation has become the first factor in the eyes of consumers in high-end home appliances, but also the necessary conditions for the "Red Top Award" .

Increasing technological content is not only the need for companies to get rid of low-end markets, but also one of consumers' expectations for high-end appliances. Lu Shenghua, Editor-in-Chief of the China National Grid, said that the high-end home appliance products selected this time reflect the trend of technological progress during the year, and it is also a manifestation of the transformation and upgrading of home appliance companies and the increase of investment in R&D.

In recent years, under the guidance of various forms of consumption such as the “energy-saving benefits”, the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection has been deeply rooted in people’s minds, and 71% of surveyed consumers have put forward resource-saving requirements for high-end household appliances.

From four consecutive surveys, it has also been found that the proportion of consumers who choose “individual design” attributes is also rising. In 2010, 33.5% of consumers thought that high-end home appliances should have “personalized” design attributes. In 2012, this proportion increased to 47.6%, which also indicates that more and more consumers want to buy unique products. Refuse homogeneity and popularization.

High-end product trends: High IQ, high prices, low energy consumption for four years, consumers are constantly changing and growing, in order to adapt to new market demand, high-end products are also changing.

Washing machine products show the trend of steam laundry, automatic intelligent laundry detergent loading, large capacity, and low energy consumption; refrigerator products are energy-saving, air-cooled, frost-free, freshness-keeping technologies, and intelligent trends; TV products are large-scale, high-definition, and intelligent. Favored, small household appliances, automatic coffee machines, robotic vacuum cleaners have emerged, kitchen appliances are also toward humane, embedded development.

Taking the brand as an example, in 2012, Haier introduced the "Broadband Fluoride-Free Frequency Conversion Technology" of Di Hao Air Conditioning, Casa Di launched a smart dual temperature zone wine cabinet with built-in Wifi control module, Sharp released 99% of the air can be cleared The air purifier of PM2.5 and formaldehyde and other harmful substances, LG world's first 84-inch Ultra Ultra HD 3D TV also entered the market.

High-end, high-end home appliances with high-quality design also mean higher retail prices. However, according to the survey, in recent years, consumers’ price sensitivity to high-end home appliances has declined, and the expected price of high-end home appliances has increased. According to the survey data, in 2010, 23.3% of consumers thought that high-end home appliances should be “highly priced”, and in 2012, they rose to 38.5%. Lv Shenghua believes that China’s home appliance market is a fully competitive market. Consumers are increasingly sophisticated and rational in their consumption of home appliances. Consumers agree that “one penny or one goods”; on the other hand, the competition in high-end home appliance market is not based on price. But to highlight value for money.

Taking a range hood as an example, comparing the 2011 and 2012 surveys, the proportion of consumers' expected prices was increased from 22.5% to 28.2%, and the share of 8001-10000 yuan increased from 2.9% to 4.3%. .

With the advancement of urbanization and the further improvement of residents' income levels, high-end home appliances in China have entered a period of vigorous growth and the prospects for high-end markets are expected to expire. Xu Dongsheng, secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that although there have been some domestic home appliance manufacturers launching a series of high-end products, there is still a certain gap between our products in terms of technology, industrial design, marketing, etc. compared with products in mature European markets. "Therefore, in the next phase, I expect our home appliance companies to practice their skills and design and produce more and better home appliance products to meet consumer demand for high-end appliances through technological innovation and technological advancement."