After the trend of "planting grass" has cooled down, how can the small home appliance market exert its strength?

The industry's growth rate is slowing down and the market is facing changes

After the trend of "planting grass" has cooled down, how can the small home appliance market exert its strength?

Yogurt machine, egg cooker, soybean milk machine, air frying pan, health preserving pot... These small household appliances with small appearance, rich functions and relatively cheap prices have set off a wave of "grass planting" in the past few years. Many young people think that this is synonymous with the delicate "lazy life".

However, during the interview, the reporter found that some small household appliances have become idle due to reasons such as infrequent functions, inconvenient cleaning, uneven product quality, and difficulties in maintenance.

Experts point out that after the small home appliance market is saturated with demand, the iterative upgrading of product technology has not yet effectively stimulated the demand for new products, which will affect consumers' choices. Some small home appliances, due to the lack of real high-frequency usage scenarios, will also lead to insufficient development momentum in the future. The key to breaking the situation lies in enhancing the innovation capability of enterprises.

Accurately meeting needs and enhancing life happiness

After getting up, first use a wall breaking machine to squeeze a glass of juice, and then put whole wheat bread into the breakfast machine, paired with tomatoes and bacon rolls to make a sandwich. A lazy breakfast is ready; Before going to work, turn on the sweeping robot, and during your free time, you can also take time to check the cleaning status; After returning home, use different types of washing machines to clean clothes, turn on the night light and prepare to fall asleep... In the short videos of many lifestyle bloggers, small appliances have occupied an important position in home life.

The small household appliance that I use the most frequently is an independent dryer, "Zou Yi, who works in Guangzhou, told reporters. The weather in Guangzhou is humid, and since she started using a dryer, her anxiety about drying clothes has been alleviated a lot." The clothes that are close to me are dried and dry, making them more comfortable to wear

Hu Hui, who works in Beijing, bluntly stated that cleaning after work is a test of willpower, so she specifically acquired a sweeping robot to free her hands. Now, she no longer needs to worry about the house being covered in hair and cat hair. This is simply a must-have for lazy people! "Hu Hui smiled.

The "2022 China Small Home Appliance User Data Insight Report" released by the 36 Krypton Research Institute points out that nowadays, many young people are hardworking "lazy people" with strong learning and abundant income. This "lazy economy" has to some extent contributed to the rise of the small home appliance industry. According to Tianyancha data, there are currently over 1.438 million small home appliance related enterprises in China.

The exquisite and unique appearance design of small household appliances has also attracted more and more young people to join the "grass planting" team. Liu Liu rented a 30 square meter small apartment in Beijing, and the overall decoration atmosphere leans towards a minimalist wooden style. Therefore, based on the furniture design of the entire house, she prefers home appliances with a simple style and a sense of design. I usually choose products with low saturation colors and warm texture, "Liu Liu told reporters.

Small household appliance consumption is becoming more rational

Small household appliances have a low price threshold and novel features, but after impulsively placing an order, I realized that many products have a high idle rate, and even after careful calculation, I haven't spent less. "Hu Hui said that now she will be more rational when purchasing small household appliances.

In fact, taking kitchen small appliances as an example, according to the comprehensive channel monitoring data of Ovi Cloud Network, during the "618" promotion period this year, the retail sales of 14 categories of kitchen small appliances, including rice cookers, electric kettles, frying machines, electric steam stewers, and health pots, reached 2.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.3%; The retail volume reached 11.16 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 16.5%. From the perspective of this big promotion data, the consumption of small household appliances is clearly becoming more rational.

The reporter found on a second-hand trading platform that nowadays, many sellers will hang up small appliances they have used before and attach words such as "almost new" and "urgent sale of ashes". Various "roast" about small household appliances are also often seen on the Internet, among which the "lightning spot" that many people care about is that they are not commonly used and do not meet their own needs.

In addition, the reporter also found in the interview that compared to large appliances, some small appliances may have problems with product quality and after-sales maintenance, which has become one of the reasons why many consumers "hesitate" when purchasing small appliances.

On the Black Cat complaint platform, there are many complaints about the quality and after-sales issues of small household appliances, including abnormal noises, incorrect products, and no support for 7-day return without reason.

We should strengthen differentiated innovation based on real scenarios

In 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, the "home economy" was booming, catalyzing the saturation rate of the small home appliance market. But this trend of increase has undergone a transformation in 2021. In 2021, the market size of the small home appliance industry reached 101.7 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of only 0.99% - this is a set of data from the "2022 China Small Home Appliance Industry Panorama Map". Overall, the industry's growth rate has slowed down.

There are various reasons for the changes in the small home appliance market, "said Ding Shaojiang, a senior industrial economic analyst, From the perspective of the industry itself, on the one hand, the demand for traditional small appliances such as rice cookers and induction cookers is saturated, and the iterative upgrading of product technology has not yet effectively stimulated the demand for new products. On the other hand, emerging and popular small appliances, after experiencing a brief surge during the epidemic, lack real high-frequency usage scenarios, reduced home time for young people, and uneven product quality, resulting in insufficient development momentum in the future

At the same time, relevant data from Ovi Cloud shows that the small home appliance market has also experienced a phenomenon of consumer differentiation towards both ends, with products either highly cost-effective or with more high-end quality.

Lai Yang, Executive Vice President of the Beijing Association of Business Economics, believes that on one hand, this indicates that as the market share of small household appliances increases, consumer demand has been iteratively upgraded, and simple marketing and promotion can no longer significantly stimulate the purchasing desire of the public; On the other hand, it reflects that the consumption of home appliances in China is no longer a display of conspicuous consumption, and consumers are more pursuing intelligent and high-quality home appliance products. He believes that the key to the breakthrough of small home appliance enterprises lies in how to strengthen innovation and research and development efforts, and get rid of the price war caused by category homogenization.

General Ding believes that the small home appliance market attracts attention through functional segmentation. However, in real life, its application scenarios are not daily enough. Therefore, enterprises should try to focus on specific scenarios and target audiences to make products, and strengthen differentiated innovation based on real life scenarios.

At present, top small home appliance enterprises are committed to creating a 'moat' for brand and technology competition, and strengthening the layout of offline channels. Small home appliance enterprises starting from OEM are also increasingly emphasizing the construction of their own brands to enhance their profitability, "said Ding Shaojiang.