In recent years, there has been a saying in the water heater market that 'electricity retreats into'. Indeed, under the favorable conditions of the increasingly perfect natural gas pipeline laying, the promotion of urbanization, the upgrading of consumer demand and the maturity of related technologies, gas water heaters The rapid development, the market growth rate has remained at double digits for years. In contrast, electric water heaters are faced with overcapacity, and the products are facing technical bottlenecks. Therefore, under the current trend, the future development of electric water heaters is obviously more Seeing decline.
The third and fourth line markets led to a small increase in electric water heaters
However, from the situation in the first half of this year, the above situation is not particularly obvious. Due to the impact of real estate control policies and the gradual slowdown in urbanization, the gas water heater market, which is mainly based on the primary and secondary markets, has begun to show growth. The slow situation. The main market of electric water heaters is more in the vast market of the 3, 4 and 5, and the environmental impact is relatively small, which also won a little breathing time for the development of the electric water heater market, surrendered a A fairly good mid-year answer sheet.
According to the monitoring data of Ovi Cloud, the offline retail sales of electric water heaters in the first quarter of 2018 was 6.04 billion yuan, an increase of 0.6% year-on-year, and the retail volume was 3.813 million units, down 5.3% year-on-year; online, first quarter The online retail sales of electric water heaters was 1.77 billion yuan, up 34.1% year-on-year, and the retail volume was 1.591 million units, an increase of 16.8% year-on-year. Among them, the growth of second-line brands represented by Wanhe, Wanjiale and Weibo was relatively more obvious.
In the first half of this year, the reason why many electric water heaters have not lived badly is that the impact of real estate regulation on cities below the second line is not particularly obvious. There is a lag period in time. But in the first and second tier markets, electric water heaters are almost There is no incremental market. 'Weibo said in an interview with Aiken Power Grid. It is understood that since the first half of this year, Weibo's three independent brands (Weibo, 3G, Aosha) have increased by more than 30%, year-on-year. The growth rate is leading the electric water heater market.
In fact, as Zhang Yumin said, in the primary and secondary markets, electric water heaters are subject to greater impact, on the one hand, the impact of the big environment, and on the other hand, from the continuous extrusion of gas water heaters. Therefore, including the United States, Haier The leading brands in the industry headed by AO Smith are facing different degrees of market shrinkage and weak growth.
Market development in the second half of the year is still not optimistic
From the perspective of overall development, the above three brands can make up for the decline in electric water heaters through their own gas water heater business. However, in terms of electric water heater business, they are also looking for ways to break through in product innovation and channel expansion. In fact, this means that in the long run, the future development of electric water heaters is still not optimistic, especially in the case that the whole environment is not optimistic this year, the electric water heater market will face greater challenges in the market in the second half of the year. .
Zhang Yumin told reporters: 'Weibo's three independent brands have maintained a relatively fast growth market in the first five months of this year, but as soon as they entered June, they clearly felt the chill of the market, and the market began to show signs of decline. Therefore, the development trend in the second half of the year is not particularly clear. According to the market rhythm of electric water heaters, the quality of the terminal market needs to be truly reflected after September. In this regard, we can only be cautiously optimistic.
Figure: Weibo, the main market for the third and fourth-tier markets, is one of the fastest growing electric water heater brands in the first half of this year.
It should be said that the pressure from the big environment and the market is equal for every enterprise. Next, if the electric water heater market wants to break the market, it is still necessary to start from the product and continue to create more comfortable and healthy for the user. A secure user experience that caters to the market demands of today's consumer upgrades.
The key to market breakthrough is product innovation
In fact, the upgrade of the electric water heater industry led by the industry leading brands began to appear two years ago. Health, comfort, high capacity, high value, safety, and intelligence have become the development trend of electric water heater products. The upgrade and innovation of water heaters provide power. Electric water heater manufacturers mainly rely on product structure upgrades to continuously stimulate users' new requirements.
Figure: Haier high-efficiency electric water heater
Specific to electric water heater products, the most intuitive is the more variable shape design. Compared with the relatively fixed design of gas water heaters, electric water heaters can achieve bold innovation and breakthrough in shape. Nowadays, electric water heaters are no longer In the traditional sense, the single, bulky, monotonous shape of the model, the model began to turn to a more compact, light, stylish, beautiful direction, greatly enhanced the attributes of its home aesthetics, can meet the user's different styles of home decoration Requirements. For example, Haier launched the Smart Instant Heat Washing Water Heater in 2017. It uses rose gold matte metal paint, the appearance of the super small sports car, and the outer inner circle design, achieving a perfect semi-hidden installation.
Photo: Beautiful Beverly high-end new AIR electric water heater
The second is the upgrade of various functions, that is, consumers are more concerned about safety, health, comfort, and intelligent direction. First look at safety and security, although the development of electric water heaters is relatively mature, but the concern and attention to safety issues will always be Putting it first. The most representative one is Haier's continuous upgrading of the anti-electric wall technology. From the initial 1.0 to the current 3.0, it is better to ensure the safety of the electric water heater. In addition, the US launch' The electric water heater with water outlet is powered off, has triple power protection function, water supply and power failure, leakage detection and lengthening anti-electric wall; Wanjiale introduces 'no electric washing' technology, which realizes the automatic cut off of electric water heater when the user turns on hot water. The machine power supply ensures that the user can safely bathe under the condition of 'no electricity' and completely eliminate the anxiety of the traditional electric water heater.
Figure: Wanjiale's latest S7 electric washing water heater
In addition, it is intelligent. The wave of intelligent home appliances has also swept the water heater industry, but the intelligentization of water heater products has its own characteristics. In terms of electric water heaters, intelligence is not simply added to WIFI, voice control and other modules, but from the conventional The performance is upgraded to meet the actual user needs. On the one hand, it provides users with smarter security functions; on the other hand, it is upgraded in terms of comfort, such as pre-heating by background data analysis, and water temperature. Intelligent control, etc.
Of course, in the trend of building a smart home, water heaters need to go further in terms of interconnection. After all, from the system and platform level, the water heater will no longer be a separate product, but will participate in building a smart home. Smart homes and other equipment to build a perfect system.
At present, 60L electric water heater has become the mainstream, but it does not mean that electric water heaters will develop in the same direction as large-capacity water heaters. After all, compared with gas water heaters, electric water heaters are larger in size and will occupy part of indoor space. Great improvement in the electricity environment, which also provides more room for the development of electric water heater 'high power, small capacity'. Zhang Yumin said: 'The traditional electric water heater products generally do not exceed 3000W, but Now everyone is working towards 5000W, and with the appropriate capacity, it can greatly shorten the waiting time of electric water heater heating and provide a more comfortable bathing experience. This type of product will be one of the next electric water heaters. Breaking the direction. Yin Zhong, the person in charge of the US water heater, thinks: 'This is actually a product between the traditional electric water heater and the fast heat electric water heater. It has a smaller size, a more cool appearance and more comfortable. The bathing experience, in the case of continuous improvement of the electricity environment, the development of this type of product will be considerable.
At the same time, from the trend of retail sales growth in the first half of this year, the upgrade of electric water heaters also pushed up the average price of products, and the average price increase of domestic brands was significantly higher than that of foreign brands. According to the data monitored by Ovi Cloud, in the first quarter of this year, the average price of domestic brands in the offline channel was 1,17 yuan, up 10.1% year-on-year, and the average price of foreign brands was 2,683 yuan, up 3.7% year-on-year; In terms of channels, the average price of domestic brands was 1,079 yuan, up 17.7% year-on-year, and the average price of foreign brands was 2,458 yuan, up 11.7% year-on-year.
For a long time, with the advantages of low initial installation cost and low barriers to use, electric water heaters have gained a dominant position in the primary and secondary markets. At the same time, they have achieved tremendous development with the help of home appliances to the countryside and urbanization, and have occupied the water heater market for many years. The top spot'. Although the future development of this category is not so optimistic, from the current point of view, this technology is mature, the brand-stabilized water heater products are still the most suitable products for China's national conditions, because of the complexity of the Chinese market. It is decided that the hot water solution will not dominate the market by one type of product, and there is a place where a large number of natural gas pipelines cannot be laid, and an electric water heater is needed to provide a hot water solution. This is precisely the advantage of the electric water heater, even if the market space is small. In the primary and secondary markets, most households with two water heaters will also reserve a quota for electric water heaters. It can be seen that in the market space, electric water heaters still have a relatively large space for vacating.
'As long as the product can poke the user's pain points, consumers are still willing to pay for the electric water heater.' Zhang Yumin said.
