Slow recovery of sequelae of home appliance stimulation policy

Home appliances to the countryside, energy subsidies, old-fashioned exchange policies make the appliance market: demand overdrafts, overcapacity, inventory backlog, lack of strength, the market entered a period of deep adjustment.

The adjustment will be slow and long, but the dawn has already emerged: continuous sales of inverter air conditioners, increase in proportion of cabinet air conditioners, maintenance of high product prices, and once again the popularity of first-tier cities... In the coming cold year of 2013, the air-conditioning industry is stimulating by policies. Slow recovery under "Sequel."

Selling more than sales: bright spots behind the depression

The cold weather air conditioning market in 2013 continued the depression of the previous cold year and revealed some bright spots.

According to the monitoring data from the National Information Center, air-conditioning sales in major cities in China increased by only 2.92% year-on-year in the cold year of 2013, but sales increased by 10.26% year-on-year. This shows that the air-conditioning industry is still walking down the pipeline after the cold year of 2012, and the market demand has not rebounded significantly; however, the sales price of the products remains high, indicating that the high-end products are showing a momentum of sales.

The data shows that in 2013, the sales of air conditioners in the cold year was 38.2 million units, which was basically the same as the 2012 cold year. Sales of wall-mounted air conditioners increased by 0.05% year-on-year, and sales increased by 5.27% year-on-year; sales of cabinet air conditioners increased by 17.90% year-on-year, and sales increased by 21.02%.

Cai Ying, deputy director of the Information Resource Development Department of the National Information Center, believes that the current domestic air-conditioning market has not yet emerged from the shadow of the 2012 cold year, demand is still weak, the industry is still in the adjustment period, but some market highlights with adjustments appear: First, sales growth is far Higher than the increase in sales; Second, the product structure adjustment continues to progress in depth.

Inverter air conditioner has become a protagonist product upgrade is accelerating

Compared with the same period of last year, inverter air conditioners accounted for 51.64% of air conditioner sales, which was 4.34 percentage points higher than the 2012 cold year. Inverter air conditioner sales volume increased 10.37% year-on-year, and sales increased 20.30% year-on-year, both of which were significantly higher than the overall level.

In less than six years, inverter air conditioners have increased their sales volume from 6.96% to more than 50%, becoming the protagonist of the domestic air-conditioning market, and a “famous” to promote the upgrade of domestic air conditioner production and consumption levels. The industry believes that the new energy efficiency standard for inverter air conditioners will be formally implemented on October 1 this year, and many companies have already done product switching and layout in advance. The market share of inverter air conditioners is expected to continue to increase in the next cold year.

The sales of high-quality, high-price air conditioners represented by cabinets have steadily increased. This is another significant feature of the 2013 air-conditioning market in the cold year. In 2013, year-on-year sales of counters increased by 17.90% year-on-year, and sales increased by 21.02% year-on-year, far higher than the overall sales volume and sales growth of air conditioners.

This shows that although the overall scale of demand has not been significantly improved, the consumption level of air-conditioning has been in an accelerated upgrade phase, and the concept of high-quality, high-price consumption has gradually been accepted by consumers. Data shows that the price level of air-conditioning in key domestic markets has increased from 3541 yuan per unit in 2012 to 3,789 yuan per unit, an increase of 7 percentage points over the same period last year.

From "Hundred Flowers" to "The Giant Separatist"

The fierce market turmoil in the stimulus policy has spawned a large number of small and weak air-conditioning companies in the third and fourth-tier markets, creating a false illusion of “hundred flowers bloom”. With the withdrawal of stimulus policies, the future air-conditioning industry will continue to increase the degree of concentration, the brand eliminated the situation intensified, the air-conditioning industry to move toward the "big separatist" situation.

Jiang Feng, chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, believes that only the “giant” has the strength to adjust product structure and application of innovative technologies. The trend of the future development of air conditioners should be based on the premise of ensuring energy conservation and environmental protection, focusing on intelligence, comfort, and integration with the Internet of Things, smart cities, and smart grids.

Jiang Feng said that domestic air-conditioning production enterprises will enter a new round of market competition, brand, product, technology, material technology, quality, channel construction, cost control, after-sales service and other comprehensive factors will become the key to competition.

The air-conditioning industry has entered the mature period of the market. Unlike opportunities under extensive growth, future growth depends on industrial upgrading and technological upgrading. In the new market changes, air-conditioning companies can only adjust and innovate actively and continuously to adapt to new consumer demands and gain structural growth opportunities.