Experienced a surge in raw material prices, the mainstream brand price competition intensified, escalation in consumption escalation and other factors mixed, the refrigerator industry in our country in 2017. According to Orville cloud data show that in 2017 China's refrigerator market volume of 33.76 million A slight decrease of 0.6% as compared with the same period of last year. The scale of retail sales was 93.9 billion yuan, up 3.9% from the same period of last year.

In addition, data from the online industry also show that in 2017, the total output of the refrigerator industry was 75,162,000 units, up slightly by 0.8% over the same period of last year. The total sales volume was 75,072,000 units, up by only a slight increase of 1.2% over the same period of last year. The domestic sales decreased by 5.3% from the same period of last year.

This is in stark contrast to the 20% or more increase in the air conditioning industry. Even with the slight increase in the volume of the washing machine industry, the trend of the refrigerator industry in 2018 has drawn particular attention.

Consumer upgrades promote fresh-keeping technology iteration

In recent years, consumer demand for refrigerators has undergone significant changes. According to a joint survey conducted by the 2017 Joint Premier Awards, consumers are most concerned about the purchase of refrigerators: fresh-keeping technology, energy saving and environmental protection, and smart Control, in which the preservation of the attention of the technology up to 41.3%.

Focused on new product R & D in the refrigerator business is also aware of this issue. Compared to the competition in previous years such as smart, multi-door, frequency conversion and other fields, since 2017, the mainstream brand's new high-end products release have paid more attention to the preservation technology.

Taking the US refrigerator as an example, following the release of its series of products, the main product of Thermo-Humid Control and Precision Control, the "Fresh One-Week" series has been released and the new product has been returned to the essence of food preservation through "independent microcrystalline cabins, Air duct, top of the wind back to the wind, "the triple design and protection of core technologies, so that meat ingredients to 'chilled not frozen, ready-cut fresh meat' and 'long-term preservation of the week, nutrition is not lost' the ideal result.

In order to meet the needs of users' fresh storage, Haier introduced a full-area fresh-keeping refrigerator with both refrigerated and frozen fresh foods, and the freezer fresh-keeping technology equipped to solve the problem of 'heating' existing in defrosting ordinary air-cooled refrigerators and becoming the market in 2018 New way to open.

In addition, Meiling M fresh raw refrigerator is also committed to the water-activated fresh-keeping technology, the technology can vibrate food moisture, activate water molecules, resulting in resonance, fission and penetration, effectively solve the traditional refrigerator 'preservation time is short , Thawed blood and more, poor bagging 'pain point, and ultimately achieve long-term preservation.

Refrigerator appearance and door structure after years of upgrading tend to be gentle, air-cooled and frequency conversion technology such as the basic completion of the popularization of the product highlighted the contradiction between the layout of differentiated products is particularly important, so Covey forecast, 2018 refrigerator industry Will focus on fresh technology iterative battle, the more cutting-edge preservation technology will help refrigerator brands compete for high-end market share.

Two-line integration of product structure led to changes in the situation

Although the overall scale of the refrigerator industry is not optimistic, the online platform is still showing a bright spot in 2017. According to Orvital cloud data, in 2017, the sales volume of online platform for refrigerators reached 12.23 million units, up 28.1% from the same period of last year with a sales volume of 23.1 billion Yuan, an increase of 37.6%.

Now 90 has become the main consumer of our country, the data show that there are 90 people in every 6 people in China, their shopping habits are affecting the future direction of the home appliance industry, channel development, especially the current online platform has experienced several years of high-speed After the development, it started to enter a period of steady growth. In the face of the slowdown of Internet + Bonus, the refrigerator industry started the new retail model of online and offline integration ahead of schedule.

In December last year, Jingdong Appliances and Five Star Appliances have reached a strategic cooperation in unbounded retail business, which means that e-commerce enterprises are strengthening the integration of water testing and physical stores and developing the offline experience and online purchase as the online and offline experience retail model A normalized channel model.

2018 coincides with the tenth anniversary of the policy of home appliances to the countryside, experienced a long consolidation period of 34 markets will gradually enter the upgrading boom, refrigerator business for the third and fourth tier markets continue to deepen the layout to Jingdong and five-star new retail model It will also bring new ideas to the channel changes in 34 markets.

Two-line integration can not be separated from the relying on the corresponding product system, Orville cloud network analysis shows that in 2018, low-cost direct-cooling small-volume products have entered the shrinking period; on the open door products out of competition from the low-priced situation, popular in high-end products ; Cross-end high-end products compared to 2016 mainly concentrated in the low-end market, high-end low-end layout in 2017, 2018 will usher in the high-end market competition; In addition, ultra-thin and free embedded products, space savings and high Price match, will become the new high-end consumer hot spots.

For the size of China's refrigerator industry in 2018, Aowei cloud network forecast data show that in 2018 the refrigerator market is expected to retail volume of 33.96 million units, an increase of 0.6%, an estimated retail sales of 96.4 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6% .Price, The average online price increased 4.0% YoY and the average offline price increased 7.0% YoY.

However, judging from the current raw material prices, the manufacturing cost pressure in the refrigerator industry still persists in 2018, and the Matthew effect of competition in the refrigerator industry that is "strong and strong" will become even more obvious. With the upgrade in consumption, Demand for more diversified and personalized, user-centered innovation is triggering a new consumer experience, but also for the refrigerator industry in 2018 to create unlimited possibilities.