On March 9, 2018, the China Environment and Health Appliance Summit was held in Shanghai. Ji Bing, general manager of the AO Smith Air Products Division, said in an exclusive interview with NetEase.com that in the new consumer era, people's attention to 'health' reached At an unprecedented height, AO Smith will use innovation as the starting point, continuously optimize products and services, and create a healthier air-to-air experience.

The following text bytes are selected from the interview record:

'Aiken's Power Grid': The quarter is always good. At this AWE, what new products do we present? What are the technological innovations and breakthroughs in these new products?

'Ji Bing': Based on the addition of formaldehyde technology, we introduced the formaldehyde purifier, formaldehyde fresh air blower at 2018AWE by A.O. Smith.

The main difference between our formaldehyde purifiers and other similar products on the market is that: First, we achieved digital display of formaldehyde. Before many products may be advertised in addition to formaldehyde, but it does not allow consumers to really know the concentration of formaldehyde in the room. The value, we have done this; Second, we have achieved a true and effective addition of aldehydes, able to reduce formaldehyde to a lower safety value than the national standard. If the digital display of formaldehyde is achieved, then the aldehyde removal ability of the product becomes intuitive. It can be seen that the aldehyde removal performance of the product is a challenge. Most of the experiments we conducted found that in a closed 10-hour room, if the formaldehyde concentration reaches twice the national standard (the national standard is 0.1 mg/m3), a better air purification is achieved. Although it can barely reduce the formaldehyde concentration to the national standard value, it is difficult to reduce it to a lower safety value. Because the lower the formaldehyde concentration, the faster the volatilization rate, the formaldehyde treatment capacity of an ordinary air purifier is much lower than the formaldehyde release rate. Continue to reduce. Many relevant international standards require the concentration of formaldehyde to be best controlled at 0.03mg/m3. For old and weak children, this concentration is really safe. Launch of the new formaldehyde purifier filter upgrade and optimize the carbon filter structure and developed a new formula, the adsorption efficiency of up to twice the original, high-speed adsorption can release formaldehyde, formaldehyde concentration to 0.03mg / m³ such top international safety standards.

Another new product that we have launched is the new formaldehyde blower. In the past, many new fans were used to solve the problem of insufficient oxygen or excessive carbon monoxide in the room. Because of their small air volume, it is difficult to reduce indoor formaldehyde through indoor and outdoor air replacement. Concentration of gaseous pollutants. Our new formaldehyde blower is small in size, but the air volume is very large, and the noise is also very low. The maximum noise is about 38 decibels. This product is also equipped with formaldehyde digital display technology. Can also achieve the effect of reducing formaldehyde to 0.03mg/m3.

'Aiken's Power Grid': Is the addition of formaldehyde purifiers and new fans now the future of AO Smith's nucleus? In addition, the appearance of the air purifiers introduced this time is comparable to what we introduced before. The product has a lot of fashionable appearance. Can the design concept be shared?

'Jibing': We launched the first generation of products in 2015, and more focused on the core functions, such as the first large CADR value. At that time, domestic air purifiers included many imported ones, which were mostly small CADR values ​​of one or two hundred. The foreign air purification is mostly designed to eliminate pollen, bacteria, etc. It does not require a large amount of processing capacity to meet local requirements. As China's smog became very serious around 2011, a large number of imported products were imported domestically. However, it does not apply to the heavy smog pollution in China. The first generation of products introduced by us focuses on how to remove domestic heavy pollution more effectively. Before many regions in the North broke out of PM2.5, such a product can be very effective. The quality of indoor air quality has been excellent, and once it was launched, it gained a good reputation and market share.

With the effective implementation of the government's measures to combat pollution, the demand for defamation has gradually weakened. With the release of the second child and the increase in health awareness, the rise of real estate has made everyone's demand for removal of formaldehyde more prominent. This is also based on deep insight into market demand. , we introduced the addition of aldehyde purifiers and new fans, this product is also our AO Smith focus on building innovative products this year, promote the iterative upgrade of empty net products.

Returning to the issue of design, after successfully launching the first generation of products, we quickly found out through user research that consumers, especially young consumer groups, put forward higher requirements for the product's face value. We designed this More harmonious, stylish appearance. So we are not behind closed doors, but from the relevant market research to find improvements and perform design on the product, to better meet consumers.

'Aiken's Power Grid': A.O. Smith's current product positioning, can the differentiation strategy be briefly shared?

'Jibing': Our A.O. Smith company's philosophy is still to focus on innovation. All new product launches are based on breakthroughs in some core technologies and industry problems. It is not just a simple change of appearance or a little gimmick.

Since entering China, we have decided to make a mid-to-high end market. On the one hand, high-end people want to buy good products instead of cheap ones. This concept is consistent with our entire concept of product development, because we have invested a lot of The energy to do product development, to overcome industry problems.

Our philosophy is to be the best in the industry and win respect from the industry. Under this concept, our brand, our products, and our positioning are all born.

'Aiken's home network': Where is the channel advantage of your company's empty net products?

'Ji Bing': Our AO Smith's retail channel has been in China for nearly 20 years. We have built tens of thousands of stores across the country and more than 10,000 shopping guides. We have very well both in KA and in our own channels, including online. Strong channel advantage.

Our company has eight categories, compared to electric water heaters, gas water heaters, boilers, clean water, our empty net is probably the youngest one. Currently more is based on the existing channel advantages, making it the most efficient and helping this The category has grown rapidly. From 2015 to 2017, in just over two years, our offline share has achieved the second largest net-net industry.

Aiken Power Grid: In recent years, due to air pollution, air cleanliness and the new wind market have all developed rapidly. Foreign brands are also growing. Foreign brands also have different characteristics in the domestic market. I would like to ask What are our strengths compared to other brands in the AO Smith brand?

'Jibing': Our A.O. Smith is a technology-led company. Our strengths are reflected in this. We have a strong R&D team, constantly challenge industry problems, and solve industry problems.

Because in recent years, the economy of the fog and fog, the purifier industry in and out of the brand is very much. Every year the fog comes in, come in a hundred or two. Then the fog has passed, and quit one or two hundred. In the home appliance circle It is also relatively rare. Everyone may think that the threshold of this industry is relatively low. This random change in the entire industry will also be misleading to consumers. It is considered that this thing does not seem technical or worthless. After all, consumers are not experts. Can't really understand this industry.

As a practitioner of air purification or fresh air industry, in order to really solve the problem of indoor air cleanliness, there are still many industry problems that need to be overcome.

Our own position is to solve the industrial problems with technology as the guide. At the same time, we don’t make cars behind closed doors. Through various summits, forums, and exhibitions of various industries, we hope to reach consensus with the industry and jointly push this industry into a healthy direction. The OEM's "quick-money" branded product disrupts the entire market. We do not agree with this kind of quick success and instant operating model.

We hope to work together to solidify this industry, really understand the pain points of consumers, and be able to really come up with effective solutions to allow consumers to recognize this category, and only then can we really do this industry. We spent nearly six billion yuan An environmental electrical factory was built in Nanjing Shushui, which specializes in the manufacture of water purifiers and air purifiers. It shows that we are serious about doing this industry. We want to do it for a long time, not to buy a hammer.