In 2016, the refrigerator industry is still exploring the pressure of horizontal adjustment. Under the influence of the two forces of increasing upstream costs and sluggish demand in the terminal market, refrigerator companies have been gaining momentum to break through through the enhancement of multi-dimensional strength such as products, technology, brands and channels. Although the strength of each is different, but the goal of each other is highly consistent: through accelerating the pace of transformation and upgrading, constantly explore and cultivate new market growth space.

On May 26, under the guidance of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association and the Information Resources Development Department of the State Information Center, the 2017 China Refrigerator Industry Summit Forum was held in Beijing with the theme of "People's smart refrigerator" and co-sponsored by China State Grid and Jingdong Appliances. Haier, Midea, Rongsheng, Meiling, Bosch home appliances, Casati, Samsung, LG, Siemens Home appliances, Panasonic, Sharp, Whirlpool, Xinfei, Hisense, Dido, Auma, TCL, Skyworth, General, Huari, Rongzhida, Wanbao, Konka and other mainstream refrigerator brand representatives gathered together to sort out the development of the industry and consumer trends. Further explore the transformation and upgrading of the refrigerator industry, and seek new impetus for future market growth.

The market is facing multiple challenges, the dominant brand is prominent

Affected by the domestic macroeconomic situation and industrial environmental factors, the domestic refrigerator market closed with negative growth again in 2016. According to the total number of omni data, the national refrigerator sales last year were 33.95 million units, down 0.6% year-on-year, and sales were 90.3 billion yuan, down 1.9% year-on-year.

Entering 2017, the domestic refrigerator market is still facing downward pressure. Owei cloud network data show that from January to April 2017, domestic refrigerator sales were 9.1 million units, down 2.6% year-on-year, and sales were 25.8 billion yuan, down 0.2% year-on-year. Under the multiple factors of rising raw material costs, tightening of the real estate market, upgrading of energy efficiency standards, and rapid switching of product technology, refrigerator companies are facing a severe test.

In the recent visit and research of the State Grid, most refrigerator companies said that the cost increase caused by the rise in raw material prices is about 18 points. The new version of the refrigerator energy efficiency standard level 1 energy efficiency consumption is reduced by 40%, and the corresponding cost of a single unit will increase by about 400 yuan. In addition, with the gradual tightening of the real estate market, the market increase brought by newlyweds and new homes is also lackluster.

Although the overall decline in the domestic refrigerator market has not changed, the market share of mainstream brands is rising against the market. State Information Center data show that in 2016 Haier refrigerator sales market share increased by 1.92%, the United States refrigerator market share increased by 2.21%, Haier, the United States, Rongsheng, Meiling "four golden flowers" accounted for 65.77% of the market share, an increase of 5.32%.

CAI Ying, deputy director of the information resources development Department of the State Information Center, said that multiple negative factors coexist with the improvement of brand concentration, indicating that the level of competition in the domestic refrigerator market is improving, the survival pressure of small and medium-sized brands is increasing, and the possibility of brand structure adjustment and elimination is increasing.

CAI Ying, deputy Director of the Information Resources Development Department of the State Information Center

Although the refrigerator industry is highly competitive, with the migration of consumer groups, market demand has gradually entered the era of quality.

Owei Cloud network in January to April 2017 offline monitoring data show that the proportion of refrigerator sales in the price segment below 2000 yuan is 30.6%, down 5.5% year-on-year. Contrary to the trend of declining sales of low-cost products year by year, the market sales of high-end products are gradually rising. At present, the market size of products in the price segment of 2000-4000 yuan is relatively stable, accounting for more than 30%. The sales volume of refrigerators in the price segment of 4,000-6,000 yuan and more than 6,000 yuan accounted for 15.7% and 16.5%, respectively, an increase of 2.0% and 2.7%.

Guo Meide, vice president of Aowei Cloud network, believes that with the improvement of consumption level, consumers begin to pursue the enjoyment of quality after their basic needs are met, which brings new development opportunities to the transformation and upgrading of the refrigerator industry.

Guo Meide, vice president of Aowei Cloud Network

In addition, with the recovery of the global economy and the stabilization of the RMB exchange rate, the export volume and export volume of refrigerator products in the beginning of 2017 have seen double-digit growth. According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs, the cumulative export volume of refrigerators from January to April 2017 was 9.16 million units, an increase of 16.94%. From January to April, the cumulative export volume of refrigerators was 1.217 billion US dollars, an increase of 21.50%, and the average export unit price increased by 4%.

Wang Lei, vice chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that although the overall situation of the domestic refrigerator market is still unclear, there are signs of warming from the export data of the refrigerator industry, and the most difficult period of the industry may have passed. In the future, consumption upgrading is the biggest driving force for the growth of the refrigerator market for a long time to come. If enterprises can grasp the trend of consumption upgrading, pay close attention to the differentiated market, and develop differentiated products that can meet consumer demand, they can smoothly through the market consolidation period.

Wang Lei, vice president of China Household Electrical Appliances Association

Channel integration helps the online expansion of regional market opportunities

In the case of the overall volume of the domestic refrigerator market, the online market continues to advance, providing a strong support for the stable development of the refrigerator industry. Aowei cloud network data show that in 2016, the online refrigerator market sales of 9.55 million units, an increase of 54.6%, sales of 16.8 billion yuan, an increase of 57.5%.

Zhang Lixin, director of Jingdong Home Appliance Ice washing operation Department, said that the growth of the online market will continue to be maintained, on the one hand, the main consumer groups of traditional channels gradually turn to and get used to online shopping home appliances, while high-income consumer groups and young new forces are promoting the upgrading of the online product structure, on the other hand, with the increase of the sinking of e-commerce channels and the continuous improvement of relevant services and after-sales services. It will also bring considerable growth to refrigerators and even large household appliances.

In recent years, the major domestic home appliance retailers have accelerated the pace of channel sinking, digital stores, logistics warehousing, integrated services, etc., continue to improve, which will help home appliance enterprises to further expand the three or four markets and township, rural markets. Jingdong appliances data show that by the end of 2016, more than 1,700 nationwide, covering 450,000 administrative villages of "Jingdong help service store" sales accounted for 30% of Jingdong electricity business, in the exploration stage of Jingdong appliances stores also with nearly a thousand stores continue to penetrate to all levels of the market.

In addition, the State Grid in the recent visit and research learned that compared with the stable development of the first and second tier cities, the third and fourth tier cities and county economies also have great development potential. The relevant person of noble electrical appliances said that at present, the development of the primary and secondary markets is relatively stable, the rural and township population is gradually hollowing out and constantly gathering to the counties and cities in the region, and the county market is likely to become the next power point of the home appliance industry.

On May 24, The General Office of the State Council issued several Opinions on Innovation-driven Development at county level (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which clearly pointed out that counties are supported to carry out comprehensive innovation with scientific and technological innovation as the core, create new development engines, cultivate new development momentum, and promote the coordinated economic and social development at county level. The "Opinions" also pointed out that support urbanization areas to integrate various innovative resources, promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries such as manufacturing and processing, increase the promotion and application of key technologies in industries such as new generation information networks and smart green manufacturing, and cultivate industrial clusters with core competitiveness; We will support the development of tourism agriculture, experience agriculture, creative agriculture, e-commerce, logistics and other new forms of business, promote innovation in business models, and follow the path of modern agriculture with high output efficiency, product safety, resource conservation, and environmental friendliness, so as to increase farmers' income and enrich themselves.

In the future, the development of county economy, the concentration of population and the adjustment of population structure, and the improvement of residents' income level will provide huge space for the growth of green, healthy, intelligent and high-end products.

The product structure continues to upgrade and the intelligent ecology continues to expand

At the refrigerator Summit held on May 26, the participating companies generally believe that the adjustment of product structure driven by consumption upgrading is the most important driving force for the sustainable development of the refrigerator industry. Focusing on product quality and technological progress, and constantly meeting differentiated market demand is the only way to smoothly pass the market consolidation period.

With the increase of national disposable income and the expansion of young consumer forces, home appliance consumption has changed from popular consumption to improved consumption. At the same time, the rise of the middle class has also promoted the development of household appliances consumption in the direction of quality and branding. These factors together promote the refrigerator product structure to high-end, large capacity, intelligent, beautiful, environmental protection, health direction upgrade.

Offline monitoring data show that with the large volume of the overall market trend, the average volume of refrigerator products has increased from 250L in 2013 to 321L in 2016. The proportion of products over 400L also increased from 27.65% in 2013 to 53.5% in 2016. In addition, the penetration rate of air-cooled, variable frequency and smart refrigerators also continued to climb in 2016, reaching 80.8%, 53.9% and 10.8%, respectively, with year-on-year increases of 13.5%, 8.3% and 7.2%.

In addition, in the new generation of renewal needs, consumers' demand for health has gone beyond freezing and refrigeration to extend the storage time of food. Guo Meide believes that how to optimize the storage process, ensure the minimum loss of food nutrients, and increase the monitoring of the internal storage environment of the refrigerator will become the next demand point.

In fact, in order to meet the updating needs of consumers, mainstream refrigerator companies have been constantly innovating and upgrading in terms of product technology, design, taste concept and so on. The refrigerator can not only automatically scan the bar code to identify the origin, nutrition, shelf life and other conditions of the ingredients, but also automatically identify the air quality in the refrigerator through VOC odor freshness recognition technology, and automatically carry out sterilization and purification; Midea i+ smart 3.0 refrigerator only needs to scan the user's body to obtain basic indicators such as height and weight and recommend healthy recipes accordingly; Whirlpool Sixth Sense smart refrigerator can realize intelligent mode selection, load judgment, intelligent alarm, etc., giving the refrigerator the ability to think. In addition, Meiling refrigerator 0.1 degree frequency conversion technology, Junsheng refrigerator full-time super silent technology, TCL refrigerator integrated frequency air cooling technology, Bosch home appliances zero Vita fresh-keeping technology, Samsung's three-cycle frost-free technology, LG's "perspective window door in the door", Hisense's T-door design, etc., all provide strong support for the improvement of consumer experience.

Although the intelligent transformation of the refrigerator still has a series of problems such as slow development and landing difficulties, in the view of many home appliance industry people, the future expansion of the refrigerator market lies in the intelligent upgrade around the improvement of the user experience, and the integration of the family food ecological chain is built on the basis of healthy ingredients.

Li Lu, general manager of TCL White Goods Division, believes that intelligence is the future trend of the refrigerator industry, and it is also a continuous accumulation, adjustment and improvement of the development process. Previously, the reason why home appliances were intelligent on the surface was the lack of intelligent technology and user experience thinking. With the maturity of various intelligent technologies and the return of user thinking, the refrigerator intelligent ecological circle will become the next outlet after air cooling and frequency conversion.

On May 22, Jingdong has teamed up with 18 refrigerator companies to launch the "Jingdong Smart Refrigerator Alliance" and launched Jingdong's own brand smart refrigerator, aiming to open up the closed loop of the refrigerator and fresh food supply chain through the "multi-scene, multi-terminal" intelligent business strategic layout. At the same time, through the cooperation of hardware manufacturers and platforms, the business model of "terminal + data + content + service" has been formed.

Lu Shenghua, editor-in-chief of the State Grid, said that the technology and model innovation of the intelligent ecological chain is a beneficial exploration of the refrigerator industry to seek new market growth points, and the effect still needs time to confirm. With the improvement of domestic consumption level, people pay more attention to the improvement of quality of life brought by the product itself and the satisfaction of the consumption experience brought by the service. Whether it is a technological breakthrough or a model change, enterprises should continue to meet user needs and improve consumption experience under the premise of ensuring the quality of refrigerators. On the other hand, the impact of technology iteration and channel change on the refrigerator industry will be further highlighted, and the competition in the refrigerator industry will also enter a new process.