Intelligentization has become an important trend in the development of the home appliance industry. It seems to have become the consensus of the whole industry. In the market, from smart phones to smart TVs to smart air conditioners, intelligent products can be described as endless. In the refrigerator industry alone, since 2010, Haier has released the world. On the first 'Internet of Things Refrigerator', the intelligent refrigerator was put on the agenda. The development of smart refrigerators has been ups and downs for more than 8 years, but it is difficult to develop due to various factors. The latest '2018 China Refrigerator Industry Summit Forum' Relevant data and information show that the refrigerator function will return to the essence of preservation, then at this stage and for a long time in the future, where should the development of intelligent refrigerators go?
Along the way, the intelligent development of the ups and downs
On January 23, 2010, Haier released the world's first 'Internet of Things refrigerator'. According to media reports at the time, this refrigerator can not only store food, but also connect with the Internet to realize the dialogue between the refrigerator and the food in the box. Function. It is said that the 'Haier' IoT refrigerator has the conditions for mass production and can be mass-produced and promoted. ' But the follow-up volume update news about this refrigerator has not been followed, and the report until 2012 is still ' Haier said that it has mastered the independent chip technology of large-scale promotion, and the mass production of IoT refrigerators has been qualified.
In 2012, intelligent refrigerators sprinkled a little splash on the market. This year, Hisense released the first generation of Bona smart refrigerators, and quickly promoted the sales of smart refrigerators in the country's terminals; Meiling also released in late November. Its smart second-generation refrigerators, Haier, Midea, Samsung, etc. have corresponding smart products launched, but for ordinary consumers, these smart home appliances are just 'look beautiful', and the high price makes them discouraged.
According to the monitoring data of Ovi Consulting, as of the end of 2013, the market share of smart refrigerators was less than 1%.
The timeline slides into 2014, and the smart refrigerator market has set off a big splash. At the beginning of the year, Meiling Electric under the Changhong Group took the lead in releasing a new generation of CHIQ smart refrigerators, which use the Internet, Internet of Things, cloud identification technology, and food management. Recipe recommendation, remote control, intelligent fault diagnosis and other functions; in the same year in China's Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo (AWE), Haier, Midea, Siemens Home Appliances, Hisense, Meiling, Whirlpool and other refrigerator companies have demonstrated their smart refrigerator products. At the end of June, Haier launched the Smart window, which is a combination of 'human interaction, light adjustment, and self-inductance frequency conversion'.
Since 2014, the pace of intelligent refrigerators has begun to accelerate. Mainstream refrigerator manufacturers have begun to invest considerable energy in intelligent control, intelligent functions, and intelligent human-computer interaction, in an attempt to break the homogenization cycle. , highlight the characteristics of their own brand. Therefore, the market is accustomed to call 2014 the true meaning of the 'smart refrigerator first year'.
In September 2015, Haier released a Xin kitchen Internet refrigerator; in September 2016, Midea and Ali jointly launched the 'OS Jizhi' Internet refrigerator; in addition, LG's new 'sense' smart refrigerator, Samsung's Android smart refrigerator According to the calculation data of Zhongyikang, the retail sales of smart refrigerators in China market reached 8.5 billion yuan in 2016, with a year-on-year growth rate of 132.1%, but the overall proportion is still not big enough, only accounting for the overall retail sales of refrigerators. 10.2%.
Since 2017, the development of smart refrigerators seems to be more diversified. Haier Xin Kitchen Internet refrigerator can not only automatically scan the barcode to identify the origin, nutrients, shelf life, etc. of the ingredients, but also automatically carry out sterilization and purification; the beautiful i+ smart 3.0 refrigerator only It is necessary to scan the user's body to obtain basic indicators such as height and weight and recommend healthy recipes accordingly. Whirlpool's sixth sense smart refrigerator can realize intelligent mode selection, load judgment, intelligent alarm, etc., giving the refrigerator thinking ability. Meiling refrigerator intelligent control technology, Rongsheng refrigerator full-time super quiet technology, TCL refrigerator integrated frequency air cooling technology, Bosch home appliances zero degree vitamin preservation technology, Samsung's style frost-free three-cycle technology, LG's 'perspective window door middle door ', Hisense's T-door design, etc. have provided strong support for the improvement of consumer experience.
Aowei Consulting once predicted that from 2015 to 2020, the market penetration rate of smart refrigerators will increase from 6% to 38%. Previously, Zhongyikang's data also predicted that the white-light intelligentization rate will reach 45% in 2020, smart refrigerators. The penetration rate will reach 38%.
Average price, cost, industry chain, etc. Development is difficult to 'dry'
Since 2014, the development of the smart refrigerator industry has been relatively rapid, but the market has been slow to promote. This has to mention several factors that limit its difficult breakthrough.
The first is the high cost and price. The refrigerator is a heavy asset industry, the unit price is relatively high, and the cost of manufacturing smart refrigerators is much higher than that of ordinary refrigerators. In particular, the increase in raw material prices in 2017 is not small for the entire refrigerator industry. Impact, in order to reduce the impact of overall cost fluctuations, the company has adjusted the product structure and raised the average price of products. This is particularly evident in smart refrigerators. High cost and high average price make it difficult for smart refrigerators to rapidly expand their users. group.
Secondly, the integration of related industry chains is also difficult. High cost requires a strong ability to integrate the upstream industry chain. Smart refrigerators want to achieve the entire order purchase, food preservation and door-to-door service, not just the refrigerator. What is the manufacturer's business. In addition to the requirements of the smart refrigerator function, it also needs the rapid response capability of the fresh supplier and the distribution cold chain. The smart refrigerator is currently integrated with a specific distribution supplier, but if it is usually only a small purchase How to ensure rapid distribution of products in batches and low unit prices; how to integrate 24 hour convenience stores in the neighborhood or nearby, these issues are mobilized for home appliance manufacturers, dealers, cold chain logistics, and even takeaway distribution. And integration capabilities are a serious challenge.
At the same time, the intelligent refrigerator accurately identifies the problem of ingredients, human-computer interaction problems, the connection between the refrigerator and other intelligent data terminals in the home, etc. The problems of most functions of the smart refrigerator need big data support, and it needs to be a continuous source. The data provider, but this has not been solved perfectly, so its versatile implementation is constrained.
Qi Dongmin, an analyst with Avi Cloud's home appliance big data business unit, once said that the smart refrigerator industry is developing rapidly but the market is slow. The industrial chain of building a kitchen economy is too long and the cost is too high, so it will build a mature smart refrigerator ecosystem. It takes time to promote smart refrigerators.
Zuo Yanzhen, general manager of Zhongyikang Times Brand Center, also said that although the smart refrigerator has high expectations, it is only a breakthrough in the promotion node. The WiFi configuration has basically become the choice of the enterprise for functional occupancy, and the large-screen products are demanding mining. On the one hand, the acceptance of smart products needs to be improved. On the other hand, the establishment of the entire smart home ecosystem is still on the surface, and the development of smart refrigerators needs new opportunities.
How to go to the refrigerator of the essence of preservation?
The market's wind direction is changing. With the upgrading of consumption, the demand for fresh food has been raised from the initial stage of not bad things, and now consumers need refrigerators to preserve the ingredients to the original taste of the ingredients. It can be said that it is fresh and original. The high demand, so the continuous upgrading of fresh-keeping technology is an inevitable requirement for consumption upgrade. Based on this, Zhongyikang pre-judging preservation will become the focus of competition in the refrigerator market in 2018.
On the other hand, with the increase in national disposable income in recent years, the rise of the middle class, the expansion of young consumer power, and the shift of household appliances consumption from popular to improved. Healthy preservation, large capacity, air cooling, frequency conversion, aesthetics and even intelligent Mid- to high-end refrigerator products began to usher in the spring. In the survey of refrigerator companies in China's power grid in May, the relevant refrigerator companies agreed that consumption upgrades to promote product structure optimization is the most important driving force in the refrigerator industry at this stage. Pay attention to the improvement of product quality and service level, and pay close attention to the healthy consumption boom to carry out innovation and upgrading of preservation technology, and constantly meet the needs of segmentation and the growing needs of people.
In the mainstream products of the market: Haier full-space fresh-keeping refrigerator is equipped with the first fine-control micro-channel technology and intelligent constant temperature technology, which can solve the temperature fluctuation of the refrigerator and lead to the destruction of the food preservation environment, accelerate the loss of nutrients and the whitening and drying of the meat in the freezer. Thawing bleeding water and other problems.
The micro-crystal refrigerator released by Midea has been equipped with 'micro-crystal fresh' technology, and equipped with 'smart control wet' and 'PST intelligent sterilization' two intelligent preservation technologies, which can reverse the freezing law and send cold, so that meat ingredients have both. Chilled does not freeze, fresh meat is ready to cut 'and 'long-lasting preservation, nutrition is not lost' effect.
Meiling M Fresh Life Refrigerator is equipped with water molecules to activate fresh-keeping technology. It claims to solve the short-term preservation time of traditional refrigerators, thawing blood and water, poor bagging and other consumption pain points. At the same time, its variable frequency temperature control technology supports intelligent interaction methods such as mobile phone control.
Rongsheng refrigerator is equipped with all-ecological sterilization technology and full-time super-quiet technology to provide a super-quiet enjoyment to the family while providing a healthy and fresh experience.
Bosch Home Appliances Vita Fresh-keeping Refrigerator can accurately control temperature and humidity, effectively extend the shelf life, and cooperate with the platinum net air system to achieve antibacterial fresh refrigerating, and provide intelligent food storage system, mobile phone smart reminder, to provide users with food storage recommendations.
TCL integrated frequency air-cooled refrigerator equipped with intelligent air system, ATT negative oxygen ion fresh technology and dry and wet storage space, can achieve 2 minutes of rapid cooling 1 ° C, 7 days lock water rate of 92% or more, its smart chip will also record the number of open doors And open the door time, automatically calculate and adjust the defrosting time, precise micro-freezing, for food long-lasting lock.
The Samsung Pindao private kitchen series refrigerator maintains the indoor temperature balance of the refrigerator through the metal cooling technology, can quickly balance the temperature fluctuation caused by the switch of the refrigerator door, and through the intelligent inverter compressor mounted inside the refrigerator, the frost-free moisturizing three-cycle design and intelligence The cooperation between the high-precision sensors of the fresh-keeping system realizes a comprehensive upgrade of the refrigeration efficiency of the refrigerator.
In the 2017 ice washing market summary report, Aowei Cloud Network pointed out that in addition to the emergence of differentiated door bodies, the technical development of refrigerator products gradually returned to the essence of the refrigerator after the air-cooling, frequency conversion and other technical penetrations were basically completed. It is true that China National Grid's refrigerator enterprise research also found that after various rounds of selling points have taken turns, the market demand should be changed. Enterprises have returned to the essence of refrigerator products and started to innovate and upgrade the preservation technology.
However, if you pay attention to it, you will find that: As mentioned above, the refrigerator products promoted by various enterprises in the market add smart elements to their fresh-keeping functions. For the refrigerator industry that returns to the essence of preservation, its intelligent road is at this stage. And the development trend in the future seems to be able to spy on one or two.
'The integration of intelligent technology and preservation technology will help to greatly improve the operational efficiency and control accuracy of the fresh-keeping system.' Chen Yafei, the marketing director of the US domestic refrigerator marketing company, believes that the intelligent experience of the refrigerator needs to be improved. The combination of intelligence and preservation at the technical application level is an important path to improve the overall preservation level and experience of the refrigerator.
Zou Wenhui, general manager of Meiling's domestic marketing division, said that the return of fresh-keeping selling points is just the right time, but the intelligentization of home appliances is a major trend in the industry. It is only the current smart refrigerator, and the scene experience needs to overcome some obstacles.
In terms of fresh-keeping technology upgrades, brands are omnipotent: temperature control and humidity control, instant cold, dry and wet storage, reduced vibration, etc., technology upgrades for refrigeration and refrigeration preservation. 'And smart refrigerators are ecological' Zuo Yanxi told reporters that he believes that the quality life needs of the new era have given the home appliance industry more expectations. Since the consumption upgrade is determined, technology is the booster, and innovation is the first driving force for the company to compete for this quality change. Is the industry's general trend, solving the problem of user interaction level, and perfecting the intelligent consumer experience still needs strong support from core quality technologies such as preservation. Just as color TV returns to image quality upgrade, refrigerator preservation is still creating quality life in the future. A problem that must be solved to meet the needs of users in all directions. '