Whether it is the accelerated coverage of natural gas pipelines, the multiple positive changes in the energy structure, or the general trend of consumer upgrades, all of these provide strong growth support for gas water heaters that are more mature and pay more attention to user comfort.
Looking back at 2017, even the toughest regulation of the property market has failed to stop the upturn of the gas-fired water heater market which is closely related to it. The gas-water heater which is still in fast track has shown a continuous upward trend from market capacity to product upgrading And the opportunity.According to the "Aiken appliances" incomplete statistics, in 2017, gas water heater market size is about 15.28 million units, retail sales of about 31.4 billion yuan, an increase of 7.61 %% and 14.18% respectively over the previous year. The continuous development of the quantitative market and the accelerated upgrading of the internal product structure have injected vitality into the industry.
Due to the general environment, the performance of different regions of the market
Although the overall market maintained a relatively steady growth, it was subdivided into various regions, but there was a polarization of 'twinkling ice and water.' On the one hand, it has been a setback since the beginning of 2017, The first and second tier cities such as the capital city, the Yangtze River Delta metropolitan area and the Pearl River Delta metropolitan area, which are dominated by gas-fired water heaters, have become increasingly saturated stock markets, which have generally fallen into the downturn of sales growth or the sales decline year-on-year .
Natural gas pipelines are rapidly covering all parts of the country
But on the other side, it is gratifying to see that under the 13th Five-Year Plan for energy structural reform, the construction of natural gas pipelines in China is accelerating toward the county level and even to townships. This has brought huge incremental space for the gas water heater market. Public information shows that in 2017, all regions have strengthened the process of regional pipeline construction. Yunnan completed the first natural gas-to-countryside project in January and will promote such projects as the Red River, Tengchong, Shidian, Longling, Xiangyun and Fumin during the 13th Five-Year Plan period 8 branch natural gas pipeline construction; Kunming completed the replacement of natural gas in the main city in April 2017 and will promote 20 township gas supply tasks throughout the year; Hengxian project in Guangxi approved in March 2017; Guizhou newly added 20 projects in 2017 County natural gas pipeline, planning and construction by 2020 eight branches covering the province failed to natural gas in five prefectures and cities; and strive to achieve by 2020 "gasified Jiangxi, county ventilation."
The continuous increase of pipe network coverage stimulated the continuous expansion of gas water heaters in many provinces, of which the market size of heat-combustion heat in Honghe and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan increased by more than four times in the first half of 2017. The growth rate of Bijie in Guizhou and Qingyuan in Guangxi was 1 to 3 times.It is foreseeable that, with the first and second tier cities in real estate transactions cooling, the new demand decline in the future gas water heater sales of this category will be the main frontier to the broader market extension and transfer 34.
Increasingly competitive 'oligarchy', domestic brands to gain the upper hand
Policy frequent blessing Dongfeng, gas water heater market territory and the total year after year to expand, so attractive 'cake' naturally attracted more and more coveted this brand, or packed together or continue to overweight, trying to borrow the wind Set sail, but after thirty years of accumulation and precipitation, gas water heater market has long been different from the past.Technical complexity, the increasingly standardized standards, gas water heater has built a higher market access threshold. 'Not every business can participate in, want to catch the fish in troubled waters, it is difficult for the climate.' A water heater brand director so frankly.
Especially in 2017, raw material prices and environmental storms and other heavy pressure, so that the small brands into the trend have been cleared out, the market share to a strong leading enterprises to focus.According to the National Information Center data show that the gas water heater industry in the top five Brand market share accounted for 64.87% .But unlike the electric water heater industry has formed Haier, the United States, AO Smith, the Big Three dominate the stability of the ranking is not fully customized gas water heater, the market competition in 2017 further white-hot, whether it is High-end Japanese brands entrenched in the forest, the rate of AO Smith in Europe and the United States department, or more popular with many domestic brands are competing plus code, the first attempt to seize market Heights.
2017 brand structure of China's gas water heater industry
Among them, the performance of the most active, when the rapid rise of local businesses and a strong expansion in 2017, focusing on high-end kitchen side Fang too to a 'magnetized thermostat' ripped open the long-term foreign brands dominated the high-end water heater market , And successfully gained a place in the market; accelerate the transformation of high-end Vantage, but also the water heater business as a key breakthrough in the direction and set up a separate gas water heater project department, with 25 years of professional combustion technology, and strive to open up the market for high-end gas water heater The United States, Haier, as the representative of the all-around players in the water heater business in recent years, the momentum of sustained development is even more to be underestimated.Yealth data, as of November 2017, the United States in the water heater market Of the retail sales accounted for 18.15%, not only stable Super AO Smith, Haier is currently ranked No. 1 and only 0.58% of the weak gap; Haier is more focused on high-end brand transformation and has been fruitful in 2017 to nearly 20 % Of the price increase has become a water heater product price increase the largest brand.In addition, the long-term gas appliance industry with million and Macro, then Relying on its large-scale advantages, it will continue to maintain its leading position in the industry with double-digit and steady growth in 2017. Among them, Wanhwa, a joint venture established by Wanhe and Bosch, will be put into operation in May 2017, which will help the company achieve high-end Layout, and enhance profitability, we can see that local enterprises are gradually entering the high-end market through product innovation, structural adjustment and resource integration and have made a big impact on foreign brands in the overall sales share.
Haier upgrade 'zero cold water' products, plus high-end market burning heat
The face of domestic brands pressing harder and harder, in the past dominate the high-end market of foreign brands are no longer sit back and relax, a new round of deeper and broader market competition already started .In 2017, the first year, Lin spent 1.5 billion Yuan Fengxian Industrial Park officially put into use, all of the production will help gas water heater annual production capacity exceeded 1 million units.In addition, the forest is also planned within three years in the country to build more than 30 experience centers, experience center water ventilation, so that consumers near Distance to experience the forest products AO Smith also clearly felt the pressure of other brands, and take the initiative in October 2017 in the terminal launched a 'copper out of material' new promotional activities, showing you want to snatch more High-end market determination.
Consumers experience the rate of gas water heater new products
The competition for "strong survive" intensified and the gap between mainstream brands narrowed steadily In 2017, Wanhe and Macro continued to rank No. 1 camp with an annual sales volume of over 2 billion RMB, but with stronger overall strength, Market reaction faster beauty, there is a strong force in the forest, have quickly approached the first camp, has become the biggest threat to Wanhe, MACRO.The third camp in Haier, Vantage, cherry, fierce competition and Are evenly matched, while the striker as a regional brand, subject to inadequate volume, channel constraints within the limited resources, in the fierce market competition has emerged in the style of micro-phenomenon.
In the future, in the face of a rising market and predictable growth potential, industrial resources in the gas water heater market will continue to be tilted to large enterprises and big brands. This will also help the entire industry enter a healthier and more stable development track.
The overall average price rose sharply, product mix accelerated
The domestic and foreign brands have successively added the new offensive in the high-end market, which directly led to a sharp rise in the overall average price of gas water heater products. According to the data from January 2008, the average retail price of gas water heaters rose 11.92 percentage points to 2938 yuan.Although taking into account the monitoring samples in the Yikang to chain stores, the price coefficient will be high, but such a large increase confirmed the gas water heater is accelerating the adjustment and upgrading of product structure.According to the "Aiken appliances" statistics In 2017, the overall average price of gas water heater products in our country remained roughly at around 2,055 yuan, up by 6.15% over the same period of last year.
High prices require technical hard support. In 2017, the larger gas-fired water heater products sold better in 2017, with sales of more than 13L (including 13L) products exceeding 50%. Gas water heater 's security problem has been solved,' constant temperature 'as the product standard,' big rise 'has begun to dominate the market, reflecting the user to the higher comfort of bathing at the same time, the temperature of the seasons, automatic rise , Power-off memory, antifreeze self-starting, intellectual control wind pressure, water and gas double valve, voice broadcast and more intelligent function applications, but also to a great extent improve the user experience.
In the cutting-edge technology, energy-saving, environmentally-friendly 'condensing' technology has become the representative product of high-end gas water heaters due to losing market power in 2017 and more in line with the actual needs of users 'zero water' technology. Show that since 2017, 'zero cold water' products are on sale in less than 60 models, accounting for 1.3% of the overall thermal model, but their retail sales have reached 5.6%, largely contributing to the gas water heater market To the high-end direction.
In addition, in order to meet the gradual rise of young consumers after 80,90, in addition to improving the inherent performance of the user experience, make great efforts, the brand manufacturers are also increasing emphasis on the appearance of the product value, although the market is still the traditional white mainstream , But obviously more colors are available for consumers to choose from, including silver, white, gray, gold, red, black, brown, blue and so on, rich color matching and more delicate, changeable and fashionable appearance, Pleasing the pursuit of personality of the new generation of consumer groups.
Vantage TA2 has a high value of gas water heater new products
Rapid growth of electricity supplier, deepening the omni-channel layout
In addition to the policy dividend and product structure upgrade opportunities, channel extension and expansion there is also a huge imagination.As mentioned earlier, the gas water heater market in 2017 showed 'a 12 market slowdown, 34 level Market rise. "This is the local domestic brands, both in terms of channel construction or product prices, are clearly more preeminent advantages. 'Like Haier, the United States and other brands, their basic delivery of water heater products can be covered Western township level, while long-term primary and secondary markets as the main foreign-funded brands obviously can not do. "A home appliance industry so frankly.
In recent years, major e-commerce companies, including Jingdong, Suning and Gome, have accelerated the pace of channel sank. Digital stores, logistics and warehousing , And continuous improvement of integrated services, which greatly helped the gas water heater industry to further develop 34 markets and rural markets. In 2017, in the sales channels of gas water heater, the rapid growth of the electricity supplier provided a surging trend for the overall development of the industry power.
According to publicly disclosed earnings report, Midea's total retail sales in the first half of 2017 exceeded 20 billion, an increase of more than 80% over the same period of last year. Its online sales accounted for more than 25% of its domestic sales. Earnings per share of M & An increase of 131.26%; Haier's e-commerce business also maintained a 56% higher growth.
Of course, in addition to supporting business performance, the e-commerce segment is more valuable in terms of understanding the needs of users, achieving accurate marketing and improving operational efficiency. In 2017, the huge number of users has been accumulated online and offline Of the mainstream brands, began to explore digital and precise marketing based on user and big data.For example, the United States is actively promoting the 'omni-channel layout of online users and orders + offline stores + logistics warehousing.' 000 and also started a new Retail model of the attempt, on the one hand, the official mall micro-store fully landed, the national core stores, core channel outlets will be opened through 10,000 and the official mall shop, build million and their own mall system; the other hand, there are 23 lines The dealers set up regional stores in the POP of Jingdong and formed the shelves for sale. The newly developed "Cloud Marketing" system has been successfully implemented in 34 regions.
This online and offline products to open up, users get through, order access to the omnichannel retail mode, you can pre-sale, sale, sale for consumers to create a more convenient and seamless experience for brand manufacturers, expanding sales At the same time, it can further increase the loyalty and favorability of the brand in consumers' minds, and thus form a virtuous circle of 'strongman and strongman', and this just further corroborates the author's point mentioned in the previous article and is more mature in the future Of the gas water heater market, will eventually grasp the more complete product distribution, channel layout more extensive business hands.