'In the future, China's gas water heater market will look very good,' said Liu Guoqing, director of the Vantage Water Heater Sales Center. Facing the grand market that started slowly, Vantage accelerated the market layout of the gas water heater industry.
The first camp
According to data from Ove Cloud Network, the retail sales of China's water heater industry reached 74.9 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. With the increase in market volume in the next three years, the water heater industry is expected to reach a scale of 100 billion. With the improvement of the domestic gas pipeline network layout The rapid growth of gas water heaters, the gradual decline of electric water heater sinking, which also attracted many brands attention, Vantage is one of them.
'Since entering the industry in 1998, Vantage has accumulated for more than 20 years. At present, our gas water heaters have an annual production capacity of 2 million units, with an annual sales volume of about 1 million units. 'The Vantage headquarters in Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China The home network reporter saw Liu Guoqing, director of Vantage Water Heater Sales Center. His office has a new layout plan for the park. 'With the increase in wall-hung boilers and other new products, Vantage plans to build a new workshop and warehouse in the park. Platform, and we will also build a new R&D building that will recruit talented people and lay a solid foundation for future development.
Liu Guoqing believes that the water heater is equal to the smoke stove market, and even more potential for growth, but the current Vantage water heater market is not good enough, 'In the field of smoke stoves, Vantage has entered the top three market. But the water heater, we still have Better upside. Vantage's strength is combustion technology. With the heavy fuel market, Vantage Gas Water Heater has achieved billions of retail sales from its initial few billion yuan, and firmly believes in future growth.
In recent years, Vantage has been increasing R&D investment. According to Liu Guoqing, '2017, Vantage's R&D investment has increased by about 30% year-on-year, and we have made a qualitative breakthrough in basic technology, process design and appearance.
In the case of gas water heaters, Vantage focuses on promoting comfort in terms of comfort, safety and energy efficiency. 'From a comfort standpoint, the biggest breakthrough is the introduction of zero cold water technology. Before users could drain some cold water to bathe. However, zero-cold water technology resolves this pain point; when water is switched, users are most likely to feel the fluctuation of water temperature. Now, after technical optimization, Vantage will reduce the temperature difference to within the range of body sensation and experience more comfort. For high-rise households, if Water pressure is not enough and the water will be small and slow. The waterfall series designed by Vantage will make the water volume stable and large, allowing users to enjoy a five-star bathing experience at home. In addition, we have also developed a low-pressure compensation technology to deal with gas peaks and respond to strong winds. The high wind resistance technology of the Cigarette Pipe inverting, the quiet combustion technology that can reduce the noise to 40 decibels, and the micro-flame technology that prevents the hot water in summer baths, greatly improved the comfort. 'When it comes to Vantage's technological progress, Liu Guoqing is on the lookout. 'In terms of security, Vantage has more than 30 security technologies and has newly developed dual security alarms that can detect carbon monoxide and natural gas leaks; In terms of energy saving, Vantage drew on the pre-mixing technology of the gas gathering stoves to achieve full mixing of gas and air, improved combustion efficiency, and reduced harmful exhaust emissions. In short, Vantage entered a new world in gas water heater technology research and development.
At present, Vantage Gas Water Heater targets the target population in the 'informed class'. 'In the gas water heater market, foreign brands have always had an advantage, and our goal is to target the mid-to-high end market for a 'strategic competition' with foreign brands. According to Liu Guoqing, Vantage began a large-scale upgrade of its products last year. 'For example, the price of zero-cold water products remains high. In order to allow more users to experience the advantages of zero-cold water products, we will launch a popular version of zero in the second half of the year. For cold water products, the price will be very competitive in the field of zero-cold water products; for example, our new products have greatly improved product stability through measures such as structural optimization of accessories upgrades. After optimization, the failure rate of new Vantage water heaters has dropped to '10,000 yuan. A 'level, but a more stable and high-quality user experience, led to an increase in the average price of our products by 15%.'
In addition, Vantage has also expanded its appearance and subsequent service on water heaters. 'For example, we have launched a lifetime warranty service for water heaters; we have introduced high-value products.' Liu Guoqing said, 'Our goal is to be a high-end brand of water heaters. To achieve a true high-end appearance, high-end craftsmanship, high-end performance.
Hair pressure boiler market
At the same time as the development of the gas water heater market, Vantage also attaches great importance to the growth space of the boiler. 'We have introduced five automated boiler production lines, which have already begun production,' Liu Guoqing mentioned.
For Vantage, the wall-hanging boiler market not only originates from their optimistic view of the 'coal to gas' market, but also because of the broad space of the 'post-coal reform' era. Liu Guoqing provided a set of data from Shanghai, '2017, Shanghai. The total market share of gas water heaters fell by 18%. However, the sales volume of wall-hung boilers increased by 118%. This has conveyed an important message to us - the possibility of the growth of the boiler market.
He pointed out that the boiler was initially targeted at the middle class, but as the number of entering brands increased, the overall price of the boiler market showed a declining trend and the consumption level gradually expanded. Secondly, the increase in consumer income was a major trend. The lower the price of the product, the higher the income, the increase in the number of people who can accept the boiler; Third, with the continuous improvement of income, consumers' requirements for comfort and quality will be higher and higher, which will result in the purchase of fireplaces. The growth of the wall-hung boiler market in Shanghai reflects the natural demand for heating and bathing functions of boilers in areas with strong economic capabilities, high requirements for living comfort, and strong ventilation capabilities. Spontaneous market behavior. 'In addition, the country’s clean coal energy reform policy has led to an explosion in the boiler market. On the one hand, it has promoted the popularization of knowledge at the consumer level. On the one hand, many people and funds have flooded into this area. Naturally, it will catalyze more advanced technologies, promote industry standardization and industry maturity. Although there were some problems in the initial period due to the good and bad of the successful bid brands, with the market Shuffling, the share of centralized, large enterprises adhere to the quality as long as the line, after the replacement of the retail, consumer upgrades, updates iteration will get a long-term positive, even if the policy out, leaving the market is also very broad. '
During the 'coal reform' policy, the market gap was large enough and Vantage could seize the opportunity to expand the boiler industry scale, 'Liu Guoqing said. 'After the 'coal reform' policy is withdrawn, it relies more on the spontaneous demands of the market. We are more concerned about the heating effect of wall-hung boilers, and think that wall-hung boilers are not as comfortable as water heaters. However, with the advancement of technology, the bathing experience of wall-hung boilers is becoming more and more comfortable, which will form an alternative to gas-fired water heaters. In fact, Europe 90% of households have wall-hung boilers, basically no gas water heaters, and a small number of electric water heaters. The European market can be considered as our future reference sample.
In addition, Liu Guoqing mentioned the possibility of the country shifting from central heating to household heating. 'Now, the central heating in the northern region is modeled on the Russian model. However, there are many drawbacks to centralized heating. The most important is the high cost, such as the absence of people. The room, the room has also been heated, not easy to control. And decentralized heating can be opened or closed in each room, to facilitate the use of energy according to the user's own situation. Currently, in the north after the 'coal to gas', centralized heating gas The cost has been greatly increased, but the country's subsidies have temporarily curbed the dramatic increase in the cost of central heating. If the policy is withdrawn, considering the cost increase, some residents may prefer to separate heating.
'At present, the state is also vigorously expanding its gas supply, such as the large-scale natural gas energy contract with Russia, and the accelerated development of the South China Sea oil and gas fields, all of which will benefit the development of China's gas appliance market. In short, this market will look very good in the future.'
In order to cope with the growing market of gas water heaters, Vantage has separated the water heater category from the original kitchen and electricity department, and comprehensively sorted out the production R&D, regional framework and distributor structure. 'At present, we have transformed the water heater category from production to the terminal. Platform, In this way, not only the product technology is more professional, but also the channel assets and terminal display are more specialized. After a series of adjustments, in the first quarter of 2018, the sales of our water heater products have increased by 50% compared with last year. '
'Before, in the sales channel, Vantage's kitchen and water heaters shared a display platform. Now, if conditions allow, we try to achieve two independent areas of kitchen electricity and water systems, its purpose is to demonstrate the professionalism of various categories. Currently, Vantage has Attempts to establish four water system flagship stores to showcase our water heaters, wall-hung boilers, water purifiers, air energy and water products, and plans to build 60 hot water heating stores and 300 professional terminals in 2018.
With the deepening of consumption upgrades, Vantage has taken the upper elevator in the industry and will be able to successfully upgrade in the future. Let us wait and see.