The small rebound in June failed to continue in July. With the arrival of the traditional off-season in the hot summer days, the entire water heater retail market once again fell, the overall retail volume and retail sales fell by 11.55% and 16.24%; year-on-year performance was also unsatisfactory, down 14.98% and 9.78% respectively.
The weakness of terminal demand is a global downturn for the industry. In July, from the first-tier market to the third- and fourth-tier markets, almost no one was spared, and there were different degrees of decline. Among them, the most affected is the base. Large, highly saturated primary and secondary markets; fourth-tier markets benefit from untapped consumption potential, and retail sales still see a 1.35% quarter-on-quarter growth.
(Source: Zhong Yikang)
In the same month, the gas water heaters with the primary and secondary markets as the main sales positions were dragged down by the sluggish demand. The retail sales volume decreased by 2.40 percentage points to 40.54%, and the retail sales volume decreased by 2.49 percentage points to 52.00. %. However, from the same period of last year, the two retail sales of gas water heaters still maintained a slight upward trend.
In the future, under the competition law that demand determines the market, the pursuit of more comfortable and more convenient bathing demand will inevitably expand the gas water heater market. The continuous expansion of gas water heaters with 13 liters and 13 liters of large water output is the consumption upgrade. Strongly confirmed. From January to July 2018, the overall retail volume of this water segment product increased by 17.17 percentage points to 55.21%; the overall retail sales ratio increased by 15.64 percentage points to 72.01%.
Affected by the sluggish environment, the retail price of water heaters in the month showed significant fluctuations. The average retail price of gas water heaters fell by 4.27%, while the average retail price of water storage electric water heaters fell by 3.82%. Compared with the same period of last year, it still has not changed the trend of 'product upgrade, price increase'. In the month, the average retail price of gas-fired and electric storage type water heaters increased by 7.78% and 4.36% respectively; from 1-7 In the annual statistics of the month, the price increase is as high as 9.77% and 6.11% respectively. It can be seen that despite the poor sales of the water heater market, the substantial increase in the industrial structure upgrade is enough to stop the water heater market to a large extent. Performance.
After smelling this market opportunity, since 2018, the development focus of major brands has been the same, and spare no effort to transform high-end, intelligent, and quality. Specifically reflected in the price side, from January to July, the largest price increase The brand is Haier, with an increase of 16.44%; Wanhe, cherry blossoms rose by 13.99% and 13.55% respectively, followed by.
In contrast, foreign brands that focus on high-end and high prices have a certain bottleneck in growth space. In the month, AO Smith's performance was the worst, with retail sales accounting for 2.88 percentage points lower than retail sales. The decline was even worse, falling by 3.67 percentage points. In contrast, the other two brands in the first camp, Haier and Midea, have a strong squeeze, and the proportion of retail sales has risen steadily. Zhongyikang data shows that as of 2018 In July, Haier ranked first with 19.45% of retail sales, and the United States ranked second with 17.77% of retail sales. AO Smith's retail sales accounted for 14.68%. Retail of three major brands The volume share accounts for 51.9% of the overall market, and the industry is still relatively concentrated.
In terms of the performance of retail sales, domestic brands represented by Haier, Midea, etc. are also struggling to catch up. Through active innovation in product manufacturing and comprehensive upgrade of service experience, efforts are made to narrow the gap with foreign brands.
