Small appliance market cooling reveals danger and innovation becomes the consensus of enterprises

Small appliance have always been a favorite category of consumers in e-commerce promotions, and this year's "618" Shopping Festival is no exception. Driven by the emerging consumption concepts and demands, Small appliance are welcomed by consumers, especially young people, because of their small power, full functions, low price and beautiful appearance. However, in recent years, the consumer market of Small appliance has also experienced ups and downs. How can Small appliance develop more healthily and sustainably?

"Free trial of millions of home appliances", "super low price", "Super member subsidy"... More than half a month before "618", major e-commerce platforms have begun to fully prepare for the promotion of Small appliance. According to data from JD, four hours before the opening of the "618" pre-sale this year, the pre-sale orders of two hanging air conditioners, ultra-thin refrigerators and other Small appliance increased more than five times year-on-year. As young people with emerging consumption concepts gradually become the main consumers, Small appliance with fashionable functions and exquisite appearance are often "on the list" of e-commerce platform sales. Why are consumers willing to pay for Small appliance? How was the user experience? What is the key to the future development of the industry? With these questions in mind, the Economic Daily reporter launched an investigation.

Pay for convenience and creativity

In the early morning, the smart speaker on the bedside table received instructions as scheduled: the bedroom lights lit up, the curtains slowly opened, and soft music flowed from the speaker. As a result, 25-year-old Chen Jiaying began her day of vacation. After waking up, she went to the kitchen to put the prepared miscellaneous grains into the electric cooker, cut a few fruits, and threw them into the juicer. Then, she activated the living room's sweeping robot to clean the entire room, and then walked into the bathroom to use a small beauty instrument to clean her face

Nowadays, in the eyes of many young people, all kinds of Small appliance have become necessities to improve household efficiency and quality of life. Multi functional cooking pots, air purifiers, electric mops... a wide range of Small appliance appear in various life scenes, reflecting the change of young consumers' life attitude and consumption concept. "Convenience and free hands are the primary factors for me to choose Small appliance," said Chen Jiaying.

According to the Insight Report on Small appliance Market trend in 2022 released by 36 Krypton Research Institute, young people prefer to make efficient use of their leisure time and do as many things as possible to please themselves in the limited rest time because they need to focus on the workplace and the profession. Research data shows that over 90% of young people have used "lazy people" services such as takeout, running errands, and housekeeping. Compared to this, "lazy people" products have more room for growth.

In addition to being practical and convenient, the endless creativity is also an important reason for young consumers to pay for Small appliance. The air frying pan has become popular because of its novel function and the principle of less oil cooking. Compared with the traditional oven, the air frying pan is not only smaller in size and shorter in cooking time, but also can make food produce crispy appearance and taste through the flow of hot air, which has less calories than fried food. In recent years, it has become a trend among young people.

"I enjoy the process of cooking. I was excited when I found some food bloggers on the Internet making various kinds of food with air frying pan. After placing an order, the use experience exceeded expectations." Li Wei, the "post-95s", has lived in Beijing for 10 years. After several physically and mentally exhausted moves, his focus on home appliances is to be compact and convenient. Small kitchen appliances, such as air frying pan, juice extractor and health preserving pot, specially designed for "one person eating", well meet his desire to pursue quality of life under limited conditions.

At the same time, Small appliance have also attracted many young consumers by virtue of their creative appearance design. In Chen Jiaying's view, Small appliance are not only practical tools, but also decorations and ornaments. They should be coordinated with the overall style of the house and have a certain ornamental value. Under the same conditions, I would choose a more attractive product, and it doesn't matter if it's a bit expensive, "said Chen Jiaying.

However, relatively cheap prices are still a major advantage of Small appliance. During the warm-up period of "618" this year, not only some e-commerce platforms launched full reduced Voucher, but also some businesses gave a certain degree of discount and price protection services. Take a product on the hot sale list of Tmall platform air frying pan as an example, the original price is 309 yuan, and it only costs 99 yuan after adding full or reduced discounts.

"Traditional household appliances are mainly used to meet the public needs of families, such as televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc., while Small appliance are more used to meet personalized and diversified needs, which in turn will accelerate the category innovation of Small appliance." Zhang Jianfeng, secretary-general of the China Household Appliance Business Association, said.

Market cooling reveals risks and opportunities

The market of Small appliance was once booming in 2020. At that time, affected by the COVID-19, people spent more time at home, and the demand for Small appliance such as cooking and cleaning also increased significantly. With the help of online channels such as live broadcast e-commerce, it accelerated the formation and development of the "housing economy".

The "Report on China's Home Appliance Market for the First Half of 2020" released by the China Institute of Electronic Information Industry Development shows that under the impact of the epidemic, the retail sales of China's home appliance market decreased by 14.13% year-on-year in the first half of 2020. However, the Small appliance category showed a strong "pressure resistance" ability, and the online sales growth of several new kitchen Small appliance categories further improved. Among them, the sales volume of frying and grilling machines increased by over 70% year-on-year, and the sales volume increased by over 80% year-on-year. Among the leading enterprises of kitchen Small appliance, in 2020, Jiuyang's operating revenue increased by 20.02% year on year, and its net profit increased by 14.07% year on year; Xiaoxiong Electric's operating revenue increased by 36.16% year-on-year, and its net profit increased by 59.64% year-on-year.