The data shows that the air-conditioning market did not advance as rapidly as in the same period of last year. The transformation of products to mid-to-high-end and the cultivation of new growth points will become the main task of many companies in the air-conditioning market this year.
Slowing growth in the first quarter
This year, the air-conditioning industry may not be able to advance all the way as it did last year. According to AVC data, air-conditioning retail sales totaled 12.6 billion yuan in January-February, down 4.0% year-on-year, and retail volume 3.2 million, down 11.7% year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, the total retail sales of air-conditioners was 33.9 billion yuan, up 14.9% year-on-year, and retail volume was 9.15 million units, up 9.5% year-on-year. In March, the decline in January-February was driven by the increase in the overall market volume, but it was higher than last year. The year-on-year growth in retail sales in the first quarter still declined.
Ove Cloud believes that from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, air conditioner sales showed a year-on-year slowdown. Taking into account factors such as real estate control, capacity expansion and intensified competition, this year's air-conditioning industry entered an adjustment period. From the perspective of the regional market, real estate The impact of regulation on demand in first-tier cities showed that cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou experienced a year-on-year decline in comparison with the same period of last year. Conversely, the main growth areas were concentrated in the second and third tier areas, especially in the provinces with a low level of 100 households; The brand's pressure on second- and third-tier brands is increasing day by day. The concentration of top3 brands continues to increase. In order to capture more market share, the average price of second-tier brands has increased by less than first-tier brands.
Rising prices have become a trend
Ovid Cloud expects that the industry will enter the shift period in 2018. It is estimated that the annual retail volume will be 53.13 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 5.4%, and the retail sales will be 186 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%.
Industry analysts pointed out that under such circumstances, the oligarchic trend in the air-conditioning industry market will become increasingly apparent, and cost pressures will also boost the upgrading of the industrial structure. The era of high-speed expansion of online channels has passed. At the same time, the era of air-conditioning market price increases is approaching. , High-end market is increasingly valued.
According to the monthly retail monitoring data of China Yikang Line, the average price of the air conditioner market in the cold year of 2017 was 3,762 yuan, which represented a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. Among them, the average price of mid- to low-end categories rose the most.
Recently, in the "Let China Manufacturing once again be great," the second session of the China Manufacturing Innovation Forum and the Zhigao 4·19 Super Brand Day kickoff meeting, Li Xinghao, chairman and president of the Zhigao Group, said in an interview that due to rising raw material costs, This year, Chigo's air-conditioning prices have been adjusted several times, and prices are increasing every month. It is only a step-by-step price increase, not a single step. 'Compared to the beginning of the year, Chigo's air-conditioning prices have risen by more than a dozen points.'
Finding new growth points worldwide
According to the annual report of Chigo Holdings, the revenue achieved last year reached 10.737 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. In Chigo, sales in Europe, Oceania, and Oceania increased by 50.1%, 31.1%, and 11.8%, respectively.
In the future, Chigo Air will move toward high-end, smart, and globalization. 'Chigo will continue to focus its resources and efforts on promoting the growth of smart air-conditioning products.' Li Xinghao said.
Another air-conditioning giant, Gree, actively set up its own brand in overseas markets and began to vigorously promote central air-conditioning.
At the recent Canton Fair, Gree exhibited the GMV6 artificial intelligence multi-connection, which is the core technology of Gree's artificial intelligence central air conditioning. This technology can be combined with the weather forecast, the electrical energy feedforward control strategy of compressor refrigerant migration characteristics, can Predict the future weather temperature changes in advance, further intelligently control the compressor oil temperature heating zone, reduce the on-time of 80% of the electric heating, and achieve standby power consumption of the outdoor unit as low as 1W.
Gree related sources told reporters that Gree is currently implementing central air-conditioning, and hopes to account for half of the sales in the global market. In the future, the introduction of Gree's own-brand central air-conditioning in overseas markets will be the focus of overseas expansion.
It is reported that before this, Gree adopted the OEM approach in many areas of overseas markets to seize market share, but in recent years, Gree air-conditioning words are appearing more and more in overseas markets.