Structural adjustment of air conditioners stimulates new consumer era

In the past ten years, China's air-conditioning industry has experienced a prosperous year in 2004. In the evolution of scale, product, brand, and pattern, it has undergone a decline due to the economic crisis, an increase in the concentration of industrial policies, and a market adjustment period. At the close of the cold year of 2013, the air-conditioning industry has shown an unprecedented new situation. What does it bring to the company's future development and how does the company seize new market opportunities?

Ten years of cooling and heating, fusion the future. On August 22, 2013, the China Air Conditioning Industry Summit Forum (10th) sponsored by the Information Resources Development Department of the National Information Center and the China National Grid met its tenth year in Beijing. Midea, Haier, Hisense, Chigo, Oaks, Changhong, Chunlan, Galanz, Marshal, Meizhi, Highly, Suning, Jingdong, Tmall, etc. In the industry after the stormy air-conditioning upstream and downstream manufacturers, industry agencies and media friends from all walks of life meet again, to jointly explore the development of the air-conditioning industry meter.

The air-conditioning industry entered the adjustment period after experiencing a low point in the 2012 cold year, which led to a relatively stable market in the cold market in 2013. The “White Paper on Refrigeration Year 2013 China Air Conditioning Market” published on the forum showed that sales volume of air conditioners in key domestic cities in 2013 increased by 2.92% year-on-year, and sales increased by 10.26% year-on-year, indicating that market demand did not rebound significantly, but on the other hand, The proportion of inverter air conditioners rose, the scale of cabinet air conditioners increased, product prices remained high, and the first-tier city market became a focus of attention again, etc. Cai Ying, deputy director of the Information Resource Development Department of the National Information Center, stated that the market characteristics of the 2013 cold year predicted that in the coming years The major competition points in the air-conditioning industry will focus on product structure adjustments, technology updates, core technology acquisition, and meeting diversified demands. The Chinese air-conditioning industry is entering a period of deep adjustment. This may be an opportunity for domestic air-conditioning companies to increase their competitiveness.

Air-conditioning consumer demand is still relatively weak

According to the monitoring data of key cities in the National Information Center, the sales of domestic air-conditioners for the cold year of 2013 (August 2012-July 2013) increased by 2.92% year-on-year, and their sales increased by 10.26% year-on-year. Sales of wall-mounted air conditioners increased by 0.05% year-on-year, 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% year-on-year. In the cold year of 2013, the sales volume of air-conditioners in major domestic cities was about 28.2 million units. If we add sales of about 10 million units in rural and township markets, the overall sales of air-conditioners in the 2013 cold year is about 38.2 million units, which is basically the same as the 2012 cold year. .

Based on this analysis, 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 along with adjustments show: First, sales growth is much higher than the increase in sales; second is the product Structural adjustment continues.

In addition, the proportion of sales in the sub-class market in the cold year of 2013 showed new features. The data shows that, unlike the cold year of 2009-2012, the first-tier cities in the cold year of 2013 ended the decline in their share of previous years and began to show a significant upward trend. The sales accounted for 63.73%; while the sales volume in the third and fourth-tier cities was comparable year-on-year. Maintaining growth, but the proportion of the overall market has basically remained at a stable level of around 15%, and the rate of increase has slowed down; secondary cities still show a continued decline in sales in previous years.

Cai Ying said that from the changes in the proportion of sales at different levels, it can be seen that the obvious increase in the sales scale of the three or four-tier cities formed by policy promotion in previous years has started to slow down, and the overall consumer demand in the three or four levels of cities has been in policy in recent years. The stimulus has basically been released and it is difficult to play a more significant role in promoting scale in the coming years.

Unlike three or four cities, after a few years of precipitation in a first-tier city, newly-built houses, second-hand houses, newly-married couples, and normal replacements all stimulated a stable level of air-conditioning consumer demand, and they have a high level of brand, quality, and appearance. It is required to promote the overall level of the air conditioning industry. The first-tier city market will present another kind of competition situation in the next few years. This kind of competition is not only on the scale, but also on the quality, and its importance will be more prominent.

Air-conditioning consumption really entered the era of frequency conversion

Although the overall sales scale of major cities in the frozen year of 2013 has not significantly improved, there are new bright spots in consumer demand. The sales of variable frequency air conditioners and sales have continued to rise. This is a clear feature.

Compared with the same period of last year, sales of inverter air conditioners in the domestic market in the cold year of 2013 increased by 10.37% year-on-year, and sales increased by 20.30% year-on-year, which was significantly higher than the overall level. Inverter air conditioners accounted for more than 50% of total air conditioner sales, reaching 51.64%. It is 4.34 percentage points higher than the 2012 cold year.

At present, inverter air conditioners have occupied more than half of domestic air conditioner sales, and domestic air conditioner consumption has really entered the era of frequency conversion. In this process of transformation, manufacturers and distribution channels have contributed their own strength, especially production enterprises, in the application of new technologies, product updates. , Marketing and other aspects have made arduous efforts, using less than 6 years, the proportion of inverter air conditioner sales from only the overall size of 6.96% to more than 50%, and promoted the overall domestic air conditioning production and consumption levels to upgrade.

China National Grid Editor-in-Chief Lu Shenghua believes that the new energy-efficiency standard for inverter air conditioners (GB21455-2013) was formally implemented on October 1 this year. This standard introduces the APF evaluation index and puts forward more comprehensive requirements for the energy-saving level of inverter air conditioner products. Many air conditioners The company has already made product switching and layout in advance. With the opportunity of the new standard, the market share of inverter air conditioners in the colder year of 2014 is expected to continue to increase, but the scale of the original extensive expansion is limited, and adjustments will be brought about in the market structure and product structure. .

High-quality, high-price consumerism is recognized

The steady increase in the sales of air conditioners with high quality and high prices, typical of lockers, is another notable feature of the air conditioning market in the cold year of 2013. This also shows that companies have adapted to changes in end-use consumption levels through product mix adjustments.

After years of market cultivation and the rapid development of the domestic real estate market in recent years, the housing conditions have improved markedly, and the consumer demand for counters in key domestic markets has gradually increased. At present, among the major categories, the cabinet’s contribution to sales is outstanding. .

Data show that in 2013, the sales volume of counters increased from 16.26% in the 2012 cold year to 18.62%. The sales ratio increased from 31.17% in 2012 to 34.26%; the total sales volume of counters increased by 17.90% year-on-year. ,Sales increased by 21.02% year-on-year, much higher than the overall increase in air-conditioning sales and sales. This shows that in the domestic air-conditioning market, although the overall scale of demand has not been significantly improved, the level of consumption has been gradually escalating. Changes in the consumption structure will inevitably lead to changes in product structure, and brand competition will be fiercer.

With the deepening of product structure adjustment, the domestic air-conditioning market price level in the cold year of 2013 continued the operating trend that began in the cold year of 2011, and the concept of high-quality, high-price consumption was gradually accepted by consumers. The data shows that the average price of wall-mounted air conditioners in the domestic key air-conditioning market rose from 2,908 yuan/unit in the 2012 cold year to 3,059 yuan/station; the average price of the counters increased from 6,788 yuan/unit in the 2012 cold year to 6,968 yuan/station; the overall air-conditioning price The level rose from 3541 yuan per unit in the cold year of 2012 to 3,789 yuan per unit, an increase of 7 percentage points year-on-year.

From the perspective of industry development, the overall price stability and increase in the air-conditioning market play an important role in the digestion of production companies, the amortization of cost increases, and the maintenance of profit stability. The stable price level also shows that the market competition of production companies is more rational and the effect of product mix adjustment in the air-conditioning industry is apparent. Therefore, adjusting the structure and stabilizing growth will be the core goal of the future development of the domestic air-conditioning industry.

Product Structure Adjustment Drives New Growth in the Future

By sorting out the development characteristics of the air-conditioning industry in the cold year of 2013, one main line is clear, that is, under the premise of steady demand that may become the norm in the next few years, focusing on products and technology itself will be the key driving force for corporate growth in the new consumption era. .

It can be foreseen that the overall demand for the domestic air-conditioning market will develop in the direction of adjusting product structure and application of new technologies. The trend of technological development of air-conditioning products may be focused on areas such as intelligence, comfort, and other aspects of quality improvement under the premise of ensuring energy conservation and environmental protection. The combination of air-conditioning products and the Internet of Things, smart cities, and smart grids will achieve breakthroughs. The sales scale of high-end air conditioners and cabinets will increase. Currently, new products on the market, such as “one night of electricity” air conditioners, air quality expert air conditioners, “smart eyes” air conditioners, internet of things air conditioners, and cloud air conditioners also highlight these technological trends.

Domestic air-conditioning production enterprises will enter a new round of market competition. Brands, products, technologies, materials and processes, quality, channel construction, cost control, and after-sales services will become the key to competition. In particular, the impact of e-commerce channels on terminals needs to be heightened. According to the latest monitoring data from Ovid Consulting, cumulative sales of home air conditioners online during the period from January to June 2013 were 934,000, accounting for 3.8% of the total market sales. 2.7 billion yuan, accounting for 3.2% of the total, sales volume and sales increased by 491% and 414% respectively, indicating that although the proportion of e-commerce channel air-conditioning sales is still small, the growth momentum is very rapid.

Under the influence of multiple market factors, the future air-conditioning industry will continue to increase the degree of concentration, "home appliances to the countryside" formed by the air-conditioning industry, "flowers contend" pattern will change, in the brand out of the situation to stimulate the situation, the brand pattern will appear greater changes.

Recalling the development of the air-conditioning industry in the past decade, from the 2004 sales volume of 23.59 million units in the key cities in the cold season to the 28.2 million units in the cold year of 2013, the image of changes in numbers implies an extremely complicated transition course in the industry. Jiang Feng, chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, pointed out that after this decade of development and precipitation, the Chinese air-conditioning industry has entered a mature period of the market. Unlike the opportunities under the extensive growth of the past, future growth depends on industrial upgrading and technological upgrading. . In the new market changes, air-conditioning companies must actively and continuously adjust and innovate to meet new consumer demand and gain structural growth opportunities.