'Despite the slowdown in market growth, the water heater industry is confident that it will be the next industry segment in the home appliance industry to break through the market scale of 100 billion yuan, on the 26th of April, due to the impact of consumption upgrades and new town construction. At the 2018 China Water Heater Industry Summit held in Beijing, participating experts and industry professionals analyzed the current status and future development trend of China's water heater industry.
Double-digit growth is expected throughout the year
According to the data released at the Owe Cloud Networking Conference, despite the slowdown in growth due to real estate policy control, but relying on the upgrading of the product structure of the primary and secondary markets, the demand release of the tertiary market and the pull of e-commerce, the water heater industry still pays A good transcript was issued. In the first quarter of 2018, China's water heater market retail sales amounted to 18 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%.
Looking forward to 2018, the macro policy level has a series of positive effects on the water heater industry. This year's “Government Work Report” clearly proposes to start a new three-year shed rehabilitation and toughening plan. This year it will start 5.8 million units. The report also proposes to improve new models. Urbanization quality, this year, 13 million people will be resettled in the city and vigorously implement the strategy of village rejuvenation. For the water heater industry, this also means that there is a huge demand for new water heaters. Not only that, the government has launched a joint-property housing and public housing. Renting policy is also expected to expand the market scale of water heater engineering. With the continuous expansion of the real estate decoration market, its role in the sales of home appliances such as water heaters is becoming increasingly apparent.
Cai Ying, a senior industry expert at the National Information Center, predicts that the domestic water heater market will maintain a relatively stable growth in 2018. According to Ovey Cloud Network's forecast, the overall performance of China's water heater market will be better than last year in 2018, and the market sales volume may decline 1.8% to 4429.1. Million units, but sales are expected to achieve 10.2% growth, the overall scale reached 87.43 billion yuan.
Consumer upgrade is unstoppable
Xu Dongsheng, deputy director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that in 2017, a notable feature of the water heater industry is the further acceleration of industrial upgrading. On the whole, health, comfort, large capacity/big rise, and constant temperature become the development trend of water heater products. In the secondary market, as the consumption level of residents continues to increase, the water heater market has shifted from popular consumption to comfortable consumption.
It is precisely under the impetus of consumption upgrade that the water heater product structure of our country continues to develop towards the high end. According to the Ove Cloud Network monitoring data, in the first quarter of this year, no matter whether it is an electric water heater or a gas water heater, obvious Prices rose, and the price of electric water heaters with a price of over 2,500 yuan and the share of gas water heaters with price above 3,000 yuan rose.
In the online market, water heaters showed a clear upgrade trend in product structure. JD.com's home appliance data showed that in the first quarter of 2018, the overall growth rate of sales of Jingdong water heaters reached 37.7%. The large-capacity electric water heaters and the high water output of gas water heaters became the mainstream. The unit price keeps rising.
Thanks to the advancement of the West-East Gas Pipeline Project, the continuous improvement of natural gas infrastructure and the implementation of policies such as 'coal to gas', gas water heaters have entered a rapid rise. In 2017, the retail sales of gas water heaters exceeded that of electric water heaters for the first time, becoming the largest market share. Water heater category. At present, gas water heater has become the focus of the industry's category.
However, Xu Dongsheng stated that China's market demand is complex and diverse. Especially in the 4th and 5th markets and township markets, gas water heaters cannot completely replace electric water heaters. In addition, the mainstream brands in the industry have adopted intelligent, healthy and design designs for electric water heaters. On the innovation, coupled with the continuing advantages of sinking channels, electric water heaters will remain relatively stable in the future.
In addition, gas boilers and air-energy water heaters, which are in the import category, have huge market gaps and good prospects. In particular, gas boilers that integrate domestic hot water and heating functions have become a national coal-to-gas reform policy. Benefit from rapid growth with the promotion of regional consumption along the Yangtze River.
Focus on personalized needs
China National Grid Editor-in-Chief Lu Shenghua believes that consumption popularization and consumption upgrades exist in different levels of the market at the same time. In the popular market, reliable, cost-effective and affordable products are needed. In the consumer upgrade market, health and comfort-oriented middle-to-high end are needed. Products. In his opinion, consumers ultimately need 'hot water' instead of water heaters, and the industry should strengthen the 'water solution' concept, disseminate domestic water security to consumers, soften water and health, and 'central hot water system'. ' Other aspects of knowledge. In addition, in a second-tier cities, 'bath culture' initially formed, water heater companies should be disseminated to consumers, advocate the concept of comfortable consumption.
Interior designer Song Xinlei provided suggestions for water heater companies to develop products from the perspective of interior design. Consumers are increasingly demanding in the aspects of heating of buildings, energy conservation, clean water health, appearance design, rational layout, etc. Water heater companies should pay attention to products Space occupancy and functional and safety design.
Xu Dongsheng pointed out that water heater manufacturers should have an insight into the various changes in the consumer market, more focused on the individual needs of consumers and different usage scenarios, seize the pain point of consumption, carry out product innovation and service upgrades.