Is it true or false that community water dispensers are crowding the domestic water purifier market?

In some residential areas in the north, people often sell water cards. Community water dispensers are becoming a "good business". Similarly, for the healthy drinking water of residents, will the emergence of community water dispensers replace household water purifiers? With this question in mind, a reporter from China Home Appliance Network interviewed two water purifier manufacturers, Wanhe and Jiuyang.

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Cost, convenience and safety determine that the community water dispenser is only a supplement

"From the perspective of the development trend of water purification equipment and user demand, we believe that the community water dispenser can not replace the domestic water purifier, but can only be used as a supplement to domestic water purification." The relevant person in charge of Wanhe water purification products told us, "There are three reasons: first, the domestic water purifier is more convenient and can be used at any time without leaving the house. Second, the actual use cost of the domestic water purifier is lower. Taking a water purifier of about 1500 yuan as an example, according to the minimum standard for three years, the cost of filtering 10L of purified water per day is about 1.5 yuan, and many domestic water purifiers also have the function of double water outlet, which can realize the use of purified water for washing dishes, vegetables, etc.; and the water for community water dispensers The cost varies according to the terms signed between the user and the supplier, and the cost per 10L of water is about 2-4 yuan. Even if the cost of replacing the core of the domestic water purifier is subsequently considered, its annual cost is lower than that of the water selling equipment in the community. Third, it is also easy to overlook that the water quality of domestic water purifiers is safer, the water environment is more stable, the water users are mainly at home, and pay more attention to product maintenance; The community water vending machines are mostly outdoor, which may be damaged and aged due to various external or human factors, and the filter element of many water vending equipment is not replaced in time, resulting in water quality safety can not be guaranteed. "

The person in charge of Jiuyang water purification products further explained that community water dispensers and other products are generally referred to as public direct drinking water platforms in the industry, "They and household water purifiers adopt the same water purification and filtration technology, but the use scenarios and water output are different. The water output of household water purifiers mainly meet the daily drinking, cooking and other water consumption, while the community water dispensers have a large number of users, and have a large demand for water output. In a densely populated community, it may even meet the water intake needs of many users in a short time; and how long its water purification filter element is replaced depends more on the equipment The responsibility of the supplier to the user. "

In fact, the reporter of China Home Appliance Network found that the filter element of the community water dispenser was not replaced in time, and the water card could not be refunded, which has become a problem of "wrangling" between many residents and the property. A consumer told us that, "The water dispenser installed in the community was sweet and delicious in the first two months, and it didn't scale after it was boiled. But after more than two months, we found that the water flow became smaller, the taste became worse, and the boiled water began to scale. The property claimed that there was a record of replacing the filter element, but the filter element was obviously aging and yellowing after the water dispenser was opened. Contact the equipment provider and they also refused to refund the residents' card." By contrast, The use of domestic water purifiers is more reassuring.

According to Jiuyang, at present, there are more than 90 refrigerators, washing machines and other products owned by 100 households in China, and 122 color TV sets owned by 100 households, while the number of domestic water purifiers owned by 100 households is less than 20. After the baptism of the epidemic, it is an opportunity for the water purification industry to improve household penetration. "During the epidemic, we found that the health demand of consumers was soaring, while the search volume and purchase volume of domestic water purifiers remained high among the healthy household products. According to the White Paper of Epidemic People released by Nielsen, 93% of respondents said that they had purchased or planned to purchase domestic water purifiers, which was far higher than other health products. We believe that water purifiers have gradually become a necessary product for families."

However, the price of filter element replacement is not transparent, the price of door-to-door maintenance personnel is quite different from the price of e-commerce, and the unclear matching between filter element and product is also the common distress of domestic water purifier users. In response, Wanhe said that at present, most of the water purification brands need users to call the brand after-sales service hotline to wait for the after-sales personnel to bring the core to the door for replacement. This method not only transfers the door-to-door cost of the service personnel to the user's core replacement cost, but also has poor timeliness and uncontrolled service quality. In addition, some of the service personnel charge indiscriminately, resulting in a large difference between the price of the door-to-door core replacement personnel and the price of online products; Therefore, in recent years, when developing products, enterprises such as Wanhe have taken into account the combination of products and services to simplify the process of product core replacement, so that consumers can change the core independently. At the same time, they use intelligent WiFi connectivity and other functions to help users monitor the life of filter elements in real time through the network, and actively push the purchase link, so that users can jump to the filter element purchase page of the corresponding model through their mobile phones, place the order with one button, and change the filter element independently, Realize the transparency of filter element price and improve consumer experience.

In addition, in view of the fact that the filter elements of different brands or different models of the same brand reported by some users are not common, the relevant enterprises told us that because the filter elements are maintenance consumables, the water purification enterprises will maintain stickiness with users and continue to make profits through the maintenance of the filter elements. Therefore, in order to protect their own interests, each brand will separate the filter elements from other brands, which is a normal business behavior. The filter elements of different models of the same brand will be different from each other due to the change of the function, performance, volume and other parameters of the product during the update iteration, which will lead to the nonuniformity of the filter element performance requirements. However, at present, the water purification enterprises have been considering the development of a modular general product platform. On the basis of the uniform and stable structure of the filter element, they can change other parts of the product to achieve the differential requirements of different models, To ensure that the filter element of most products is universal, and reduce the inconvenience in the configuration of consumers. These are the work that the industry has done in a down-to-earth way to address the consumption pain points of domestic water purifiers.

Innovate and accelerate the construction of a new ecosystem of domestic water use in China

The person in charge of water purification products in Jiuyang pointed out that most of the small household appliances in the kitchen can not be used without water, and drinking water purification has become an indispensable demand in the kitchen scene in China. Under the background of increasing attention to water quality and health, Jiuyang is also accelerating innovation to meet the diverse needs of Chinese families for water purification products. "Some consumers reported that the household water purifier is idle. Through the survey, we found that the traditional household water purifier has a relatively simple function, which can only purify water. In addition to the restrictions of 'low water flow rate', it can not well meet the needs of users for cooking, boiling soup, drinking water and other scenarios. Therefore, while paying attention to and meeting the basic needs of consumers for 'water quality safety', we are also exploring new breakthroughs in the value of water purification products under the kitchen scenario and increasing users Viscosity and frequency of water purifier. For example, in view of the 'slow flow rate of water from the water purifier', our new product has created the '3L/min large flow warm water' mode, which can better meet the needs of water for cooking and soup making, with short water receiving time and saving heating time; For example, for families with children, parents need to make milk powder for their children or fill a bottle of warm boiled water to go to school. Our product has developed a two-in-one function of 'purification and heating'. There are five optional water temperatures, including warm water, 45 ℃ milk powder, 80 ℃ coffee, 90 ℃ tea, and 100 ℃ oolong tea. The flow of hot boiled water can reach 1.5L/min, which is fast and less waiting; In addition, we have innovatively developed the dual bacteriostatic faucet water purifier in the bathroom scene to meet the needs of children's brushing and washing health under the epidemic situation, and carried out product innovation based on the segmentation scene and crowd. The development of these new functions has greatly enhanced the use scenarios of domestic water purifiers and avoided the idleness of products. "

"At present, the group standard T/CHEAA 0011.7-2022 Household Appliances Safety Service Life Part 7: Household Water Purifier" It is clear that the safe service life of the water purifier is 8 years, but many Chinese families have the habit of using the product all the time when it is not bad. However, after several years of use, some users found that the filter element was aging but could not be replaced, because some small brands and even miscellaneous brands could not afford to prepare the filter element for several years; Even for large brands, there are risks and pressures in the long-term storage of filter elements, which may lead to the embarrassment of domestic water purifiers without cores to replace after several years of use, "the head of Wanhe Water Purification Products told us, "In response to this phenomenon, in addition to enhancing the versatility of filter elements among iterative products, Wanhe is also considering the development of a long-acting filter element for about 8 years for high-cost RO filter elements, so as to align the safe service life of the machine with the service life of the filter element." In addition, Wanhe is also promoting the iterative development of products in the direction of functionalization and intellectualization of water purifiers, "For example, our water purifier has changed from pure water in the past to functional water, adding minerals, hydrogen-rich water, bubble water and other functions; for another example, we will use AI algorithm to optimize wastewater discharge, extend the service life of filter element, and also solve consumers' worries about the high waste water ratio of water purification products. We believe that with the development of new technologies, household water purifier products will be favored by more and more consumers."

According to the omni-channel summary data of Ovi Cloud, affected by multiple factors such as repeated epidemic, the real estate market is not optimistic, consumer confidence is insufficient, and door-to-door installation is affected, the retail sales of water purifiers in China will reach 18.5 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 18.7%, and the retail sales will reach 7.39 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 20.2%. It can be said that 2022 will be a very challenging year for the water purifier market. In the new year, with the improvement of the external market and economic environment, and the in-depth exploration of the needs of enterprises for users, OVI expects that China's water purifier industry will achieve a slight increase in 2023, while catering to the needs of people for heat purification integration, large hot water flow and healthy water, and accelerating the creation of products with high reputation around users will become the core driving force for the growth of the industry.