Small household appliances are experiencing a cold winter, and the bad news is that no spring

2022 is the most difficult year in the three years of the epidemic, and also a year to see the sky through the clouds. In this year, many people experienced the longest closure, which had a huge impact on their work life and economic income. When people can't earn money, they naturally have no desire to consume, so that the development of all walks of life has entered a low period. Many enterprises have tightened their belts and are ready to survive the cold winter.

For the small household appliance industry, this year is also turbulent. Although the overall development situation is relatively low, there are also some highlights. The strong growth momentum of new categories of products and the rapid development of new channels such as Tiaoyin have added some color to this year.Now, the three-year epidemic has finally come to an end. Next year will be a year of rapid economic recovery. I believe that the small household appliance industry will also usher in a more exciting tomorrow.

The turbulent 2022

According to the overall data of Ovi Cloud's omni channel promotion, in 2021, the total retail sales of small kitchen appliances (rice cookers, induction cookers, electric pressure cookers, soybean milk machines, wall breaking machines, mixers, juicers, electric kettles, frying machines, electric steam stewing pans, health pots, and desktop electric ovens) in 12 categories will be 237.44 million, down 13.5% year on year; The total retail sales were 51.4 billion yuan, down 14.1% year on year. Last year did not continue to grow at the peak of 2020, but the market went downhill rapidly.

Since the beginning of 2022, this downward trend has continued. In addition to the rising prices of raw materials, many small household appliances have increased in price. The average online retail price has increased by 6.6% year-on-year, making it more difficult to increase sales. Secondly, the turbulence in Russia and Ukraine has made the global economy tense. Although it has not caused much impact on the domestic economy, it has also led to the low consumption desire of a small number of people. They are not too optimistic about the next economic situation and dare not consume at will, which also has a big or small impact on the development of the small appliance market.

In the first quarter, the total retail sales of 12 categories of kitchen appliances were 11.7 billion yuan, down 19.1% year on year. If air fryers are included, the total retail sales will reach 13.5 billion yuan, down 11.1% year on year. Although the overall market is declining, new products such as air fryers still maintain a good growth momentum. In addition, the online channel of electric steamer also achieved a year-on-year growth of 49.84% in this quarter, and the market scale of new platforms such as Tiktok, Kwai and Pinduoduo has also been expanding, reaching nearly 30%.

The rapid development of new categories and channels has brought new hope to the market.

Unfortunately, in April, a serious epidemic broke out in Shanghai, and Beijing has also successively banned hall food. Many people have switched to the home mode. Although this has brought some growth opportunities to the small household appliance market, the effect is far less significant than that in 2020. More strict control, coupled with the impact on everyone's income, many people have no idea of online shopping, which has accelerated the decline of the small appliance market. Even with the promotion of the 618 Shopping Festival, the overall situation in the first half of the year was still very unsatisfactory.

The total retail volume of 13 categories including air fryers in the first half of the year was 111.36 million, down 13.2% year on year; Affected by the increase of average product price, the total retail sales reached 26.38 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.9%. The number of online small home appliance brands decreased from 1910 at the end of last year to 1568. It can be seen that the first half of the year was really difficult for small home appliance brands, and even 618, a large-scale program, failed to bring about a big turnaround.

Surprisingly, it was the school beginning season in September that brought about a turnaround for the small household appliance market. The notice issued by the Ministry of Education requires that the labor class will become an independent course in primary and secondary schools, and that primary and secondary students learn to cook. After the notice was issued, many parents raised their hands to support them and began to purchase various kitchen appliances, bringing a short outbreak period to the small appliance market. In addition, the sudden upsurge of camping and surrounding tourism during the National Day holiday also brought growth opportunities to the market. The data shows that the online retail sales of small appliances during the National Day holiday were 1.32 billion yuan, up 6% year on year, and the average retail price was 212 yuan, up 10.1% year on year.

However, after the National Day holiday, the more severe global epidemic has poured ice water into the small home appliance market. Large scale epidemics have broken out in Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Chongqing, and the Double 11 Shopping Festival has been greatly affected. The retail sales of the small home appliance market fell 4.8% year-on-year to 18.49 million units, and the retail sales barely equaled last year to 4.31 billion yuan. Originally, if we continued the growth momentum of the 11th National Day and added a series of preferential policies of the 11th National Day, small household appliances would be expected to have a wave of outbreaks at the end of the year. However, the outbreak of the epidemic was too fierce and cruel, which completely disrupted all assumptions.

Of course, the market is not in a desperate situation. With the promulgation of the "New Ten Rules for Epidemic Prevention", all parts of the country have successively lifted control over the epidemic, and actively promoted the resumption of production and economic development. It is believed that the small household appliance market will also recover rapidly, and perhaps next year will usher in new growth opportunities. At present, the market still has great development potential.

The performance of traditional electrical appliances continues to be sluggish, and new categories become new lovers in the market

From the perspective of products, we can draw such a conclusion in 2022. Traditional kitchen and bathroom appliances are in a long-term growth dilemma, and there is no big growth point in the short term. New categories of goods become new lovers in the market. Efforts to inject vitality into the market will become the key to driving market growth.

Data shows that the retail sales of rice cookers from January to September this year were 9.33 billion yuan, down 2.5% year on year; The retail volume was 32.47 million, down 4.5% year on year. Among them, the retail sales of products with prices below 200 yuan accounted for 36.3%, down 6.8% year on year; Although the price of products above 500 yuan has a small share, it shows a certain growth trend. The whole rice cooker market is gradually moving towards high-end, resulting in a sharp decline in retail sales and an insignificant decline in retail sales.

It can be seen from the development status of various products that the traditional home appliance market has already become saturated and the growth space is relatively limited. Although a small number of consumers will have the demand for iterative replacement, it is difficult to bring new increment to the market. Therefore, brands must make products more intelligent and powerful to attract more people to renew. For example, the induction cooker is equipped with the function of fine temperature control to better control the fire power when cooking; The thermos can increase the thermostatic function, so there is no need to worry about the water temperature being too cold or too hot. However, the products with stronger functions are also more expensive. For example, the ordinary hot water bottle costs only 50 or 60 yuan, and the thermostats cost more than 100 yuan. The high price has become a barrier to everyone's renewal. It is hard to find new breakthrough points in the short term.

Such products as air fryers and electric steamers can just fill the current demand gap of consumers. They can easily make fried and steamed food at home without having to stir fry or stir fry every day. Secondly, this kind of products can also produce rich food, such as fried chicken, French fries, etc., to meet the diversified needs of consumers. In addition, the product is easy to use and has low fat, healthy and other labels, which attracts more and more consumers to buy. Next year, with the economic recovery and the restoration of everyone's purchasing power, these new categories of electrical appliances may have a stronger growth trend.

2022 will be an extremely difficult year for many industries. The repeated and continuously intensifying epidemic situation will not only seriously affect the normal production and sales of products, but also the market will not have much vitality due to the depressed consumer sentiment. Against this background, the overall decline of the small household appliance market is also in the process of clearing up, while the air frying pan, electric steamer and other products can still maintain a large growth rate, which is enough to see that the products really have great potential. The small household appliance market is not in a declining situation. Once the market slows down and the product functions are continuously improved and strengthened, there is still an opportunity to revive growth.

2023 is bound to be a year of rapid economic recovery, the full release of everyone's consumption capacity, and the pent up emotions of the epidemic for three years will break out in this year, which will bring many development opportunities to all walks of life. Therefore, small household appliance brands should seize the opportunity to make the market hot again in this changing year by improving the functional quality of products, promoting high-end upgrading, or taking cost-effective promotion strategies. In the future, small household appliances will gradually become high-end, and it will be more difficult to promote sales growth after the average price increases. Therefore, 2023 will be a particularly critical year for the small household appliances market, a year to restore market vitality and pave the way for high-end.