Re-heating of the 2017 water heater industry, electric heating, and burning heat became the key words that could not be bypassed, stimulating the overall scale of the water heater industry to increase upwards. China Yikang statistics show that in 2017, the total size of China's water heater market exceeded 40 million units, and retail sales reached 668 Billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 9.7%. Among them, the retail sales of electric water storage and water heaters was 30.2 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year; the retail sales of gas water heaters was 34.4 billion yuan, an increase of 13.9% year-on-year. Overall, gas water heaters are Fast rise channel, electric water heater running more stable.
New Army Incoming Multiple Forces Game
In recent years, the prosperity of the water heater industry has continued to improve, and has led to the arrival of new food eateries. Apart from Wanhe, Wanjiale, Linne, and other professional water heater manufacturers, there are also new recruits who have pushed into this position. Li Guangbin, manager and manager of thermal products, told China National Grid that the current water heater industry has four major camps: the professional kitchen brands represented by Wanhe, Wanjiale, Boss, Fangtai, and Vantage, Haier and Midea. Appliance brands, emerging small and medium-sized brands, and Xiaomi and other Internet cross-border brands.
In Li Guangbin's view, the newly-inducted small and medium-sized brands do not pose a real threat to them. 'These brands basically adopt the method of OEM production and will not master the core technology in the entire industry', but he does not say that cross-border Xiaomi. The sense of crisis caused by the type of enterprise. He admitted: 'Millet's cross-border companies have both Internet thinking and technology, which is worth our attention. ' For Haier and Midea, this kind of integrated household appliance brand, Li Guangbin said with full confidence : 'Not to be afraid of them, they are far less professional in terms of product professionalism, we have a long-term accumulation.'
Professional brands are waiting to be met. There is an integrated home appliance brand known as the "catfish that stirs the market," which is also ambitious.
Shi Jizhe, hot water product operation manager of Midea Group Water Heater Division, told reporters: 'In the face of integrated home appliance brands, they (professional brands) will be under greater pressure because their businesses are too single and they are unable to invest a lot of resources in building their own channels. At the same time, there are not so many funds invested in technology research and development. Although they have deep deposits, the U.S. water heaters have already mastered the core technologies of electric heating and burning, core components have been self-manufactured, and R&D investment has been increasing year by year. Therefore, we have a To the confidence. '
Another water heater brand, Macross, believes that comprehensive home appliance brands will exert certain pressure on them, but MACRO will turn this pressure into momentum to make it more professional. “The industry specializes, who It is difficult to eat anyone, and there is more benign competition between the two camps and they can jointly promote the development of the industry. 'Wu Zhenggeng, general manager of the Wanjiale Hot Water Division, said in an interview with the China State Grid Corporation.
In addition to domestic brands with increasing influence, the water heater industry is worth noting that there is also a foreign brand power that cannot be ignored. In fact, according to China National Grid, A.0 Smith, Linne, and other foreign brands occupy water heaters for a long time. The industry has a large market share. However, some changes have taken place. In recent years, with the development of domestic brands, the gap between domestic brands and foreign brands has gradually narrowed. An industry source disclosed to reporters whether electric heating or burning Hot, the market share of foreign brands has shown a declining trend, the domestic brand growth is more obvious.
The above-mentioned industry analysts also analyzed that: 'R&D capabilities of domestic-funded brands are not weak. When their technological capabilities are similar to or exceed that of foreign brands, the foundation on which foreign brands now rely is lost. Moreover, foreign brands, especially Linnei, Energy efficiency, etc. rarely do market promotion, in the future its brand awareness is not dominant.
According to Liu Guoqing, director of the water heater sales center of Vantage Co., Ltd., in the future, Vantage will seize the high-end market share occupied by foreign brands, while in the low-end market, Midea, Haier will further squeeze the market share of professional brands. At the same time, he believes, The newly-entered SMEs have not had much market opportunities because of their technical strength, lack of financial strength, and limited ability to lay out their outlets. This can cause impact on professional water heater brands. One is Internet companies and the other is integrated household appliance companies.
'Burning into electricity back' channel new changes
For a long period of time, electric heating dominated the water heater industry in our country. However, in 2017, the hot fuel successfully reversed the 'overtaking' and ran ahead of electric heating.
Recently, when China National Grid visited a water heater company, many water heater companies also communicated to reporters the development trend of the industry's "burn-in".
'As the country accelerates the construction of the natural gas pipeline network, the trend of the whole water heater industry is 'burning into electricity and cooling back', the proportion of the burning heat market is gradually increasing, and the proportion of electric heating is relatively lower,' Liu Zhenggen told reporters.
The 'long' burning heat and the 'dispelling' of electric heat are played in parallel in the industry. However, it should be noted that 'recharging' does not mean that the scale of electric heat is shrinking and subsides. In fact, it also maintains growth. It is only compared to In terms of a substantial increase in heat, the growth rate of electric heating is even smaller.
Moreover, Shi Jizhe believes that electric heating will still increase steadily in 2018. However, as the coverage of natural gas pipeline networks increases, the scale of burning heat will continue to exceed that of electric heating in 2018.
Although the burning of heat is continuing to invade a wider range of markets, the parallel is that electric heating still has a lot of market space.
'On the one hand, the complexity of the Chinese market determines that gas water heaters cannot completely replace electric water heaters, especially in the tertiary and rural markets where a large number of natural gas pipelines cannot be laid, and electric water heaters still have a certain degree of great advantages and are vast. The market makes up space, even in the relatively mature primary and secondary markets, most households that install two water heaters will also reserve a quota for electric water heaters. ' Analysis of the industry pointed out.
In 2017, the aspect of the water heater industry saw a number of new changes in the channels, in addition to the scale of the fierce battle between fuel and electric heating.
First, on the online channels, as the e-commerce dividends have faded, the heads of several water heater companies have stated that the current flow of the water heater industry's online channels has basically reached a limit, and sales are no longer as explosive as the previous years. However, it is still worth looking forward to that there is still much room for improvement in the average price of online channels. According to corporate responses, the current average price of the water heater industry is about half of the average price under the line.
In addition, outside the retail channel, the channel width of the water heater industry is widening, and the channel pattern is becoming increasingly diversified. According to Li Guangbin, Wanhe water heaters infiltrate the depth and breadth of channels, real estate, gas companies, building materials markets, home stores , Home improvement companies and other channels highlight the importance.
In fact, this is not an example. When many water heater manufacturing companies are vigorously expanding real estate companies, gas companies, home improvement companies, building materials markets, home stores and other commercial channels: Water heater manufacturers cooperate with real estate developers to make their own Products enter the engineering market across the country. Meanwhile, as the real estate decoration rate gradually increases, water heater manufacturing companies are actively planning to cooperate with home improvement companies. In addition, water heater manufacturing companies are still in the gas pipeline and building materials markets, home shopping work hard.
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In the current water heater market, the two types of water heaters, burning heat and electric heat, account for most of the market share of the entire industry. Industry insiders estimate that the combined ratio of burning heat and electric heat reaches 90%. Burning heat and electric heat are the focus of major water heater manufacturers. Concerned categories, but specific to each company, the actual layout and force situation is different.
Liu Zhenggen told reporters that the burning of hot water is the top priority of the Macro Water Heater business. MACRO has formulated a strategy for water heaters to be strong and hot, and to make electric heating.
In addition, Liu Zhenggen told reporters that although foreign brands are also constantly making efforts to fuel the burning market, MACRO still maintains its advantages in the primary and secondary markets. At the same time, its advantages in the 3rd and 4th markets are even more pronounced. And with Haier and Mei, Compared with comprehensive home appliance brands, Liu Zhenggen said that the performance of Macro in the primary and secondary markets is even stronger.
According to China National Grid, last year, MACRO water heaters hit a record high in market sales, and the combined growth rate of burning heat and electric heating exceeded 20%. In terms of industry share, MACRO's share of the overall heating market is approximately 15%. About 5% of the market is electric heating. Although Wanjiale has a small share in the electric heating market, Liu Zhenggen said that MACRO is moving forward as a challenger in the electric heating industry. He believes there is still a chance for MACRO.
In addition to Wanjiale, the burning of heat is another core business of the professional brand Wanhe. Li Guangbin told reporters that Wanhe’s long-term strategic goal is to maintain its leading position in the fuel-heat industry. According to China National Grid, Wanhe’s water heater is Third-tier cities accounted for 60% of total sales. In terms of export sales, Li Guangbin said that Wanhe ranks first among domestic brands in terms of fuel-fired exports, with a scale of nearly 1 million units. It is mainly for the North American and South American markets, and for South American markets. The largest proportion.
In terms of the United States, Midea's water heater business is dominated by electric heat. The ratio of electric heat to burning heat is 1.5 to 1. The share of electric heat in the United States is among the top three in the industry. In addition, Shi Jizhe told reporters: 'The concentration of electric heating industry is relatively high, A.0 The first three brands of Smith, Haier and Midea accounted for almost 70% of the electric heating industry and they were close to monopoly. Now the development of the electric heating industry is mainly when the three companies compete with each other and fight for product power. The industry has no chance of new arrivals. Big. '
In terms of burning heat, Shi Jizhe told reporters that the concentration of brands in the fuel-fired industry is much lower than that of electric heating. There is no more than 20% share of the brand. Competition in the industry is fierce and shows a state of contention.
Vantage started its water heater business as early as the 1990s and has accumulated more than 20 years. In recent years, with the continuous expansion of the market size of water heaters, Vantage has increased the layout of the water heater business. Liu Guoqing's strategic positioning on Vantage water heaters is: In the high-end market, a 'strategic competition' is held with foreign brands.. In 2017, Liu Guoqing revealed that Vantage started a large-scale upgrade of its products, and its R&D investment increased by approximately 30% year-on-year. From basic technology to process design to appearance design, Achieve a qualitative breakthrough. The total amount of retail sales has exceeded RMB 2 billion, and it is expected to break through RMB 3 billion in 2018. The reporter was informed that under the current single-shift case, the annual production capacity of Vantage Gas Water Heater has reached 2 million units.
Liu Guoqing thinks there is still a lot of space in the electric heating market. However, due to the advantages of better comfort and lower cost of use of gas water heaters, Vantage’s strategic focus on the water heater business is to concentrate on doing a good job of burning. Liu Guoqing revealed to reporters that the 2018 Vantage The strategic goal of the water heater is the same as last year, maintaining a rapid growth of more than 50%.
Although the water heater industry is faced with factors such as real estate regulation, water heater companies are optimistic about the market in 2018. Wan He and Li Guangbin believe that the 2018 gas water heater market is expected to achieve a 12% year-on-year growth rate. Wan Jiale Liu Zhenggen expects gas in 2018 Water heater market growth rate will exceed 10%, and the market growth rate of electric water heater is expected to be 5% to 10%.