Energy-efficient products lead the ice wash industry

Since June 2013, the ice-washing industry experiencing short-term recovery has been affected by factors such as the weakening of the macroeconomic environment and the withdrawal of energy-saving subsidies, and it has begun to show a downward trend of development. It is expected that the ice washing industry will enter a period of deep adjustment in the second half of the year. At the same time, due to the implementation of energy-efficiency standards in the washing machine industry on the 1st of October and the release of safety and energy efficiency standards for refrigerators, energy-efficient products in the ice-wash industry will continue to lead the market, and the original brand pattern of competition will also be expected to undergo a deep-adjustment period. Further improved.

Market: Industry Depth Adjustment

With the withdrawal of the energy-saving subsidy policy, the ice-washing industry has undergone severe shocks, and the depth adjustment of the industry will be inevitable in the second half of the year.

In the first half of 2013, the ice-washing industry, which had been trapped for a long time, experienced a brief recovery. According to the monitoring data of Zhong Yikang, as of May 2013, the retail sales of refrigerators and retail sales have increased by 16.19% and 26.91% respectively; the retail sales of washing machines and retail sales have increased by 8.29% and 17.76% respectively. In this regard, Cai Ying, Assistant Director of the Information Resource Development Department of the National Information Center, pointed out that the reason why the ice-washing industry can achieve recovery growth in the first half of the year was mainly due to factors such as the overall improvement in the macroeconomic level and the effect of the energy-saving project. .

However, this prosperity did not last long. The reporter learned from the interview that on July 1, the latest release of the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was only 50.1%, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous month, hitting a four-month low, approaching the 50% line. . In response, an industry source told reporters that behind the sharp slowdown in the Chinese manufacturing industry in June, China's manufacturing represented by home appliances and automobiles is under pressure from orders and stocks. Will enter the downlink channel.

In fact, the ice-washing industry in a period of policy vacuum is experiencing severe shocks. Data from the 23rd week (June 3 to June 9) of Zhongyekang showed that refrigerators and washing machines all experienced a significant decline. The year-on-year growth rate of retail sales was -29.5% and -31.4% respectively; Week 24 (June 10) From June 16 to June 16, the volume of ice-washed retail sales rebounded temporarily, with an increase of 35.3% and 52.0% respectively. However, by the 25th week (June 17-June 23), retail sales of refrigerators and washing machines fell sharply, year-on-year. The growth rates were -25.9% and -24.1%, respectively.

In response, Zhang Xiaoli, an analyst at GfK, told reporters that the current downturn in the ice-washing industry is showing that the white-electricity industry has entered a period of deep adjustment after the policy is withdrawn. He believes that due to the fact that many domestic and foreign institutions have lowered their GDP forecasts in China, the overall trend of the ice washing market is not optimistic. In the second half of this year, under the combined influence of weakening macroeconomic environment, withdrawal of stimulus policies, and lack of overseas demand, the growth of domestic and foreign sales of home appliances has been sluggish. It is expected that the retail sales of ice-washing products will decline slightly throughout the year. At the same time, under the influence of favorable factors such as upgrading of consumer demand and transformation of industrial structure, high-end refrigerators and high-end drum washing machines with 3 or more doors will maintain a good momentum of development. In addition, after the protection of the umbrella of the policy, small businesses that are in difficulty in business will face the fate of being eliminated or merged by the market.

Product: Energy-efficient structural subversion optimization

In the second half of the year, the centralized implementation of energy efficiency standards in the white electricity industry will have an impact on the structural adjustment of ice-washed products.

In 2013, the high-end ice-washing was still the focus of attention of manufacturers. Refrigerators' "large-capacity, energy-saving, and green-friendly" and "water-saving and energy-saving" washing machines have also become consumers' urgency. Regarding the improvement of the energy efficiency of ice-washed products, the implementation of the energy-saving subsidies policy has played a key role. According to data from Zhongyi Kang, as of May 2013, the proportion of retail sales in the energy-saving refrigerator market has increased from 16.8% at the beginning of the policy implementation to 73.3%; the energy-saving washing machine accounted for 68.2% of retail sales in May 2013. It can be said that the energy saving and subsidy policy has promoted the subversive optimization of the energy efficiency structure of ice-washed products.

However, with the withdrawal of the energy-saving subsidy policy, some people in the industry are also worried that the market may experience a decline in energy-saving products. However, judging from the current data, in the field of refrigerators, the policy exit will have less impact on high-end refrigerator products than the overall market. The target customers of multiple refrigerators are high-end consumer groups with low price sensitivity. According to data from Yikang, the high-end refrigerator retail sales in the past three weeks increased by 34.1%, 253.0% and -12.8% respectively, which was significantly better than the overall performance of the refrigerator market in the past three weeks (-29.5%, 35.3%, -25.9). %). At the same time, in the field of washing machines, the trend of changes in the retail volume of drums and washing machines is more synchronized, with the former fluctuating slightly more than the latter. The year-on-year growth rates of the drum washing machines in the last three weeks were -30.5%, 100.4%, and -27.3% respectively. The year-on-year growth rates of Washing Machine washing machines in the past three weeks were -29.6%, 43.2%, and -23.2%, respectively.

At the same time, the centralized release of energy efficiency standards in the white-water industry in the second half of the year will also have an impact on the structural adjustment of ice-wash products. The reporter learned from the interview that on July 1st, the website of the National Standards Committee announced that the new energy efficiency standard for washing machine products will be implemented on October 1, that is, the current level of energy efficiency of the washing machine will be reduced to 5, existing 2 Level 5 to Grade 5 products cannot be posted "China Energy Efficiency Labels" and are gradually eliminated by the market, which indicates that the competent authorities will restrict the energy-saving retrogressive behavior of washing machine products in the market from the standard system. In addition, the revision of the safety and performance standards of the refrigerator industry, which has attracted much attention from the industry, will also have a direct impact on the refrigerator products. Wu Xiaoli, an engineer at the China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute, told reporters that after the above two standards are implemented, they will impose higher requirements on production companies, help promote the development of technology-leading products in the market, and further promote industry upgrading. Under the trend of easing consumption, it is expected that the proportion of inverter refrigerators in the high-end market will increase.

Brand: Chinese and foreign confrontation is gradually heating up

In 2013, the confrontation between Chinese and foreign brands “negative” will gradually become more intense in the market with limited increase.

During the one-year energy-saving subsidy policy period, domestic brands of energy-efficient products have an absolute advantage. The top ten refrigerator products are domestic brands; in the field of washing machines, domestic brands also occupy the vast majority of finalists. According to the data from Zhongkang, as of May 2013, the domestic brand retail sales and retail market share of the refrigerator market reached 80.19% and 68.5%, respectively; the domestic brand retail sales and retail market share of the washing machine market reached 62.96% and 51.42%, respectively. It can be said that domestic brands have become the biggest beneficiaries of this policy dividend.

In the field of refrigerators, companies currently represented by Haier, Rongsheng, Midea, Meiling, and Hisense still occupy a large market share. As the "big brother" of the refrigerator industry, Haier's performance has been steadily rising. According to the data from China Excel, as of May 2013, Haier still ranked first in the industry with 25.79% and 27.78% market share of retail sales and retail sales, respectively. In this regard, the investment adviser Ren Minqi told reporters that the strong innovation, technology leadership and design close to the needs of Haier is the main reason for the "dominant" status. As the “dark horse” of the refrigerator industry, Rongsheng's performance in the past two years also made the industry admires. According to statistics, as of May 2013, Rongsheng ranked second in the industry with retail sales and retail sales 12.05% and 10.28%, respectively.

Compared with the domestic brands of the refrigerator industry, the “barrels” between Chinese and foreign brands in the washing machine sector are much more intense. Although foreign brands are slightly inferior in retail sales, foreign brands are still strong in high-end washing machines due to long-term accumulation in product quality, industrial design and after-sales services. From the top five companies in terms of retail volume, Haier, Little Swan, Sanyo, Panasonic, and Siemens accounted for 66.35% of the market; from the top ten companies, the pattern of “two worlds” between Chinese and foreign brands is also very high. obvious. However, compared with the refrigerator industry, the brand pattern of the washing machine industry is still scattered, with the exception of Haier's market share of retail sales and retail sales accounting for 27.78% and 26.92%, ranking first, and the market share gap between other companies is not large. The pattern is very fierce.

Taking a look at the development trend of the brand pattern of the ice-washing industry in 2013, the confrontation between the Chinese and foreign brands' "negative growth" will gradually become hot in the market with limited increment. The successive release and implementation of industrial energy efficiency standards will also have a certain impact on the brand pattern. Industry insiders told reporters that on the one hand, the new standard can improve the technical level of the ice-washing industry as a whole. If some companies fail to meet the required standards, they will face a crisis of elimination; on the other hand, the quality of ice-washed products will further increase, and the new standards will help Yu Bingjian formulated new development strategies and actively participated in market competition.