In China's home appliance market, Hitachi's deep quality problems are moving away from the mainstream brand camp.
A few days ago, the State Administration of Market Supervision notified the first quarter of 2018 of product spot checks that a Hitachi washing machine product was found to be unqualified. This is just a microcosm of Hitachi’s major home appliance products that have repeatedly passed the quality blacklist in the Chinese market. In 2017, the Hitachi rice cookers and air purifiers were found to have quality problems in the inspection of imported goods by the Directorate General. At the same time, Hitachi’s air conditioners and refrigerators were also detected by the relevant departments in 2017.
According to the Ove Cloud Network and Zhong Yekang report, Hitachi’s home appliance products have fallen out of the mainstream of the Chinese market. Analysts inside the industry said that for China, the world’s largest consumer appliance market, Hitachi has invested less energy, goals and The positioning is not clear, and the market adaptability is not strong. Under the background of more fierce market competition, there is not much opportunity for Hitachi Home Appliances in the Chinese market.
Regarding product quality, development of the Chinese market and other issues, a reporter from China Business Daily wrote a letter to Hitachi on the previous day, and no relevant reply was received at the time of writing.
Quality problems continue
Recently, the State Market Supervision Administration notified the second batch of 27 product quality supervision and spot checks in 2018. The spot checks involved 6 types of products such as electronic appliances, electricians and materials, and inspected 2000 batches of products produced by 2000 companies. , 1636 batches of qualified, product inspection pass rate of 81.6%; detected 370 batches of unqualified, unqualified product detection rate of 18.4%.
Among them, a fully automatic washing machine produced by Shanghai Hitachi Household Appliances Co., Ltd., because the 'continuous disturbance voltage' problem was listed as an unqualified product, and at the same time the sampling of similar products from well-known home appliance brands such as Haier, Midea, Whirlpool, and Samsung was announced. Are all qualified.
In recent years, Hitachi’s home appliance products have repeatedly passed the quality blacklist in the Chinese market. The reporter discovered that the Hitachi rice cookers and air purifiers had products that were not found in the 2017 “Notice of Inspection of Imported Goods in the Inspection of Imported Goods” issued by the AQSIQ. qualified.
Specifically, a total of 126 batches of imported rice cookers were spot-checked throughout the country, and 17 batches of unqualified ones were detected. The unqualified detection rate was 13.5%. Rice cookers with Hitachi model number RZ-KG10Y were one of them, and failed items were ' Signs and instructions, components'; In addition, Hitachi failed air purifiers involved EP-H300, EP-A3000 two models, unqualified items were 'signs and instructions, rated voltage and rated voltage range' and 'signs and instructions , components, cumulative purification, purification energy efficiency, noise'.
In fact, Hitachi's air purifiers have suffered from continuous product quality problems. Several models have been found to be unqualified by related quality inspection departments. It should be noted that in addition to washing machines, Hitachi includes other major air conditioners and refrigerators. A piece of home appliances is also stuck in a quality dilemma.
In April 2017, the Guangdong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce announced the list of defective products identified in the first batch of 2017. Among them, a model KF-26GW/J air-conditioner produced by Hitachi Household Electrical Appliances (Wuhu) Co., Ltd. exists. Two defective indicators for protective parts and grounding measures of live parts; another split wall-mounted air conditioner (indoor unit: KFR-36G/L, outdoor unit: KFR-36W/L) The protection of components ''power connection and external cords', and 'grounding measures' three indicators failed.
In the following month, the Guangdong Administration for Industry and Commerce prosecuted Shanghai Hitachi Household Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd. for sale on the ground of 'sales of products that did not meet the national standards for safeguarding human health and personal and property safety, and industry-standard products'. R-S300C Hitachi refrigerator, at the same time confiscated the illegal income 97530.71 yuan, and a fine of 760500 yuan by 1.5 times the amount of the value of goods.
There are opinions in the industry that the quality problems of Hitachi's home appliance products in the Chinese market have continued to occur, and there has been a certain link between the investment in technology research and development, manufacturing, and quality control of home appliances.
The Chinese market is facing many challenges
According to the official website, Hitachi provides a wide range of products and services in the Chinese market, including electrical appliances, U.S. appliances, and digital imaging. Among them, electrical appliances include air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, air purifiers, rice cookers and other white goods.
The reporter learned from the report of the Orwin Cloud Network that Hitachi did not appear in the online TOP5 brand list of the online and offline market share of the washing machines, refrigerators, and home air conditioners in 2017; moreover, Hitachi’s related products did not appear in the offline market. Retail sales TOP20 model list. The major products ranked in the forefront of the market, mainly the United States, Haier, Gree, Little Swan and other domestic brands, Hitachi washing machine performance is not like the Japanese brand Panasonic.
In addition, the Zhong Yekang report showed that in 2017, the domestic competition of domestic rice cookers (online and offline) has further intensified, the number of participating brands has decreased, and the concentration of the top three brands has increased. From the perspective of the competition of double-line retail sales, the US Supor and Jiuyang occupy the top three positions in order of absolute advantage. The online market share is 35.4%, 26.1% and 9.6% respectively. Panasonic ranks fourth in the fourth place. Hitachi is not in the top five. On the other hand, competition in the air purifier online market has intensified, the number of brands participating in the market has increased significantly, and the concentration of the top three brands has declined. However, the Hitachi brand has not reached the list. It is not as good as domestic brands Xiaomi and Yadu.
In an interview with reporters, Zhang Jianfeng, the deputy secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that in the Chinese market, Hitachi mainly produces air-conditioning products. The technology and quality of this product are good. Other products are doing less and doing relatively poorly. 'However, Hitachi's air-conditioning products have not performed well in recent years. According to the data I understand, the market ranking is beyond the top fifteen.'
Zhang Jianfeng believes that Hitachi has no movement in the Chinese home appliance market and its target and positioning for the Chinese market are not clear. 'For China, the world's largest consumer appliance market, Hitachi's energy, including financial and human resources, I feel seriously inadequate. , not commensurate with its brand and status. '
In response, household appliance industry observer Liu Buchen also told reporters that Hitachi’s home appliance products have rarely appeared in our lives, which reflects Hitachi’s exit from the mainstream brands of the Chinese home appliance market. Meanwhile, Liu Buchen pointed out that in the Chinese home appliance market, Japan The brand declined, and the performance of Korean brands was not satisfactory.
'I think this is a precursor. Japan and South Korea's home appliance brands may be squeezed out by Chinese brands in the Chinese market. In overseas markets, Chinese brands will slowly take a dominant position. Among them, the Hitachi appliance brand in the Chinese market opportunities Already no more. For Hitachi, Panasonic, these Japanese home appliance brands, I do not think that their development in the Chinese market, they do not have a very good product. 'Liu Buchen said.
It should be noted that in the Chinese home appliance market, Japanese brands including Hitachi are currently facing many challenges. Zhang Jianfeng said that in addition to the pressure of competition from Chinese brands, the adaptability of Japanese brands to the Chinese home appliance market is still not strong. To be honest, in the past, Japanese home appliance brands faced fierce competition from South Korean brands, and now they are still facing the pressure of the rapidly rising Chinese brands. 'Japanese brands are more difficult to develop in the Chinese home appliance market.'
In addition, the above-mentioned interviewed experts all mentioned that Hitachi’s home appliance has not performed well in the Chinese market and has a great connection with its transformation. 'In the past technology era, the Japanese home appliance brand has mastered advanced technology and earned high profits. 'Zhang Jianfeng pointed out, 'But now facing the competitive pressure of the entire industry, as well as thinning industry profits, Japanese brands seem to have little interest in the appliance sector.'
In fact, as early as the end of 2016, Hitachi formally established the '2018 China Business Strategy' and set China's regional sales target for the year of 1818 to 1.1 trillion yen (approximately RMB 66.3 billion yuan), mainly focusing on strengthening product manufacturing. , Promoting social innovation undertakings to promote. For China, an important overseas market, Hitachi said that it closely follows the Chinese government's strategic plan of 'beautiful China', 'healthy China' and 'Internet powerhouse', and also provides a series of related solutions and services. .
"China Business News" http://www.cb.com.cn/itjiadian/2018_0421/1232144.html