According to Ove Cloud's omnichannel total sales data, the sales volume of refrigerators in China was 33.76 million units in 2017, which was a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%. Sales volume was 93.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.9%. This was the adjustment channel since the peak of the refrigerator industry in 2013. Since the first time, sales growth has been close to 4%. The performance reports released by major listed companies in April also showed that although operating income has increased in varying degrees, gross margin has generally declined.
Adjusting the product structure is difficult to offset the overall cost fluctuations
Aiken's home network inquired about the performance report of several mainstream domestic refrigerator companies and found that the decline in gross profit margin became a common phenomenon in the industry.
In 2017, Haier refrigerator product revenue from Qingdao was 47.11 billion yuan, up 29.95% year-on-year. The gross profit rate was 32.11%, down 0.97% year-on-year; the refrigerator refrigerator sales of Meiling Electric Appliances was 7.465 billion yuan, up 11.77% year-on-year, and the gross profit rate was 19.05%. The year-on-year decline was -2.55%. Another Omar Electric Appliance, which enjoys a good reputation in the export field, has a refrigerator wine cooler business operating income of 6.219 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.05%. Gross profit margin was 21.43%, which was a year-on-year decline of 7.99%.
Due to supply-side reforms and environmental protection production constraints, supply of steel, chemical raw materials, etc. are tight, industry competition, and raw material cost pressures urge home appliance companies to pursue product upgrades, increase production efficiency, and reduce costs. Major listed companies have stated that they are through smart manufacturing projects. Achieving lean production, improving efficiency, transforming high-end products, large volume, frequency conversion, air-cooling, multi-doors, four-doors, etc. The proportion of products has increased significantly, pushing up the average price of products and driving up operating revenue. The cost pressure of refrigerator companies, but not enough to absorb the impact of the overall cost fluctuations.
According to the monitoring data from Ove Cloud Network, the average price of refrigerator products climbed by 14.7% in 2017. The average price of five refrigerators increased by 26.8%, the average price of six refrigerators increased by 11.1%, and the average price of refrigerators with four doors increased by 12.4%. The average price of open refrigerators increased by 6.0%. It is expected that in 2018, the average price of refrigerator products will increase by 4.0% year-on-year, and the average offline price will increase by 7.0%.
Upstream and downstream companies face profit cuts
With the world-famous refrigerator brand, Hisense, Meiling, LG, Samsung, Electrolux, Whirlpool have cooperation with the upstream company Red Polaroid, mainly providing rigid foam polyether, propylene oxide and other products, pointed out in the annual report, due to the large The price of raw materials increased, and the cost of rigid foam composite polyether products increased. The company and domestic refrigerator (cabinet) customer products were priced at the average price of propylene oxide in the previous month* coefficient + processing fee model, and the gross profit rate of products decreased by 4.58 percentage points. The profitability has a significant impact. In view of the high cost of refrigerator (cabinet) companies in 2017, the company optimized its rapid demolding technology to serve its customers, improved the production efficiency for customers, reduced production costs, and consolidated its market position.
Qingdao Haier’s 2017 annual report stated that the cost of raw materials in the household appliances industry increased by 39.9% year-on-year. Meiling Electric stated that the company’s sales revenue in 2017 has grown significantly, but it has been affected by the significant increase in the prices of bulk commodities such as steel, isocyanate, and combination polyether. Some of the raw materials rose by more than 60%, which caused great pressure on the company's product cost control. In response, the company actively carried out the 'adjust structure, raise the average' marketing strategy. On the one hand, in order to speed up the new product layout, enhance the brand premium ability and improve the product structure. During the reporting period, the company increased investment in the refrigerator (cabinet), air-conditioning technology research and the development of high value-added new products, especially intelligent product development, long-term preservation technology 'M fresh and raw' investment in more. Under severe market competition, in order to promote consumption upgrade, the company has lost some of its old products in the process of product structure adjustment.
In the first quarter, the amount of follow-up pressure will not decrease.
In 2018, the performance of refrigerators in the first quarter boosted the market. According to AVC's omni-channel total sales data, retail sales of refrigerators in 2018Q1 totaled 6.56 million units, up 0.5% year-on-year, and retail sales amounting to RMB 20 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. , to achieve the amount of Qi Fei. However, the industry competition is still grim, differentiated products have become an important means of business increment, continuous improvement of preservation function is the focus of the brand's technical selling point, cost pressures are still only increase.
Hongbaoli analyzed that in 2018, the government continued to promote supply-side reforms, implement environmental protection policies, and fluctuations in oil prices. It is expected to affect the propylene oxide industry, which will affect the supply of propylene oxide and lead to the occurrence of propylene oxide prices. Fluctuations, maintaining a relatively high level, affecting downstream companies' production costs.
According to Ove Cloud Network analysis, under the background of rising overall costs and e-commerce bonuses disappearing, the advantages of home appliance leading enterprises are prominent, while the technology of small and medium-sized refrigerator companies is lagging behind in terms of replacement technology, brand influence is weak, channels are single, and their own terminals The scarcity of personnel pushes up the sales of expensive and weak, may face the danger of shuffling out.
