The appliance market is hot and young consumers favor "health+intelligence" products

The consumer market is hot during the Spring Festival holiday, and the home appliance market has seen a high increase in sales. The reporter of Securities Daily recently visited many home appliance retail stores in Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and other places to learn that migrant workers have become the main force of purchase, and young people tend to buy "health+intelligence" products when purchasing home appliances.

"Consumers' awareness of health is gradually strengthened. 'Healthy' home appliances with green environmental protection materials and functions of sterilization and disinfection are very popular with consumers and become popular products. In addition, smart home appliances are also popular with consumers by virtue of intelligent design, personalized service, voice control, remote operation and other attributes." The salesperson of Nanjing Jingdong Electric Xinjiekou store told Securities Daily.

"It's too cold in the countryside in winter, so I bought air conditioners and electric heaters for my parents during the Spring Festival. I want to buy floor washers and air fryers for new homes in the city." Mr. Zhao, who works in IT in Nanjing, told the Securities Daily.

According to the data, during the Spring Festival in 2023, the passenger flow of Suning E-Buy's nationwide comparable electrical appliance stores was slightly higher than that in 2019, with sales growth of 5%. The sales of health appliances, including water purifiers, sterilizing refrigerators, disinfection cabinets, etc., increased by 154% year-on-year, the sales of projectors increased by 126% year-on-year, and the sales of kitchen household appliances, such as air fryers, barbecues, electric steamers, and steamers, increased by 145% year-on-year. The sales volume of heaters, oil heaters, skirting heaters and other products increased by 315% year-on-year, and the sales volume of air conditioners increased by 215% month-on-month.

The relevant person in charge of Suning Easco said: "From the perspective of store consumption, health and smart home appliances are relatively popular, and the demand for smart large-capacity refrigerators and freezers increased by 98% year on year. The order volume of high-end products such as Cassati, COLMO, Hisense Bright has doubled, and the sales of high-end 'home appliance packages' of more than 50000 yuan have increased significantly."

So, can this health appliance consumption boom continue for a long time? "The heat will not decrease in the short term, but will continue. In the long term, it depends on the competitiveness of enterprises." Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said, "In the future, the home appliance industry will show a comprehensive functional and vertical development trend. Home appliance enterprises will compete on the vertical track and the subdivision track. Home appliance enterprises that really have core competitiveness and market advantages will often get better development potential in the market."

Speaking about the future development trend of home appliances, Ding Shaojiang, an industry and economics observer and founder of nail technology, told the Securities Daily: "Home appliance manufacturers should improve the level of product premium, achieve product differentiation, and then enhance product competitiveness and profitability."