Clean appliances become a new growth point of household appliances industry

　　In recent years, the market of clean appliances has risen rapidly, becoming a new growth point and a new hot spot of consumption in the household appliance industry. According to the data of GFK, a market research organization, the market scale of clean appliances in China has increased from 2.9 billion yuan in 2012 to 34.8 billion yuan in 2022, and the market scale has expanded 12 times in 10 years, with an average annual compound growth rate of 28.2%, far exceeding the average annual growth rate of 2.3% in China's household appliances market in the same period. Among them, in 2022, the sales volume of clean appliances in China reached 27 million units, up 12.1% year-on-year; It will still achieve growth of around 10% in 2023.

　　After years of rapid growth, the development of clean electrical appliances industry is returning to rationality, but the future market opportunities should not be underestimated.

　　With the rise of sweepers and washing machines, the penetration rate of such products is expected to increase further in the future.

　　The clean appliances whose permeability is expect to increase further refer to that appliances used for clean articles and indoor environment, mainly including vacuum cleaners, waxing machines, fume exhausters, sweeping robots, window cleaning robots, electric mops, steam mops, and floor washers. Driven by the deep cleaning needs of families and the prevalence of "lazy economy", cleaning appliances are highly sought after by the market. Among them, the cleaning appliances that account for more than 80% of the overall scale are three main categories-sweeping robots, washing machines and vacuum cleaners.

　　According to the data of Aowei Cloud Network, judging from the market performance of "6 18" this year, the growth of washing machines still leads, with sales increasing by 19.6% and sales increasing by 46.1%. The sales volume of sweeping robots turned positive, and the volume increased at the same time, increasing by 8.7% and 4.1% respectively. Vacuum cleaners continued to decline, down 11.8% year-on-year, but sales increased by 6.9% year-on-year. Judging from the price trend, the average price of the three major categories showed a downward trend, with the average price of washing machines falling by 18.1%, vacuum cleaners falling by 17.5% and sweeping robots falling by 4.2%.

　　Experts said that although the clean appliances market has not handed over very bright transcripts recently, we can still see the optimistic development prospects of the industry through the data. For example, the sales of sweeping robots began to turn positive year-on-year, steadily picking up, and all-round products were rapidly popularized; The sales of washing machines have risen sharply, and the cost-effective products have brought heavy demand; There are still new brands in each subdivision track, and they can successfully enter the TOP sequence.

　　With the rise of sweepers and washing machines, the penetration rate of such products is expected to increase further in the future. From the perspective of cleaning appliance brands, the global cleaning appliance market tends to gradually concentrate on core brands. The market share of overseas traditional cleaning appliance brands has basically remained stable, and the market share of domestic cleaning appliance head brands in the world has gradually increased.

　　Jiang Feng, executive director of China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that it is no accident that clean household appliances have become the new growth point of the household electrical appliance industry. On the one hand, China's household electrical appliance industry has successfully realized the transformation and upgrading driven by technological innovation, and has continuously developed a variety of scientific and technological achievements around the needs of users. Many household electrical appliance companies such as Lake and Tianke are built with their own core technologies; On the other hand, China consumers' demand for quality of life continues to increase, and their acceptance of new things and technologies is higher, especially for clean home environment.

　　Products still need to be continuously upgraded and optimized.

　　Washing machines, sweeping (mopping) robots and vacuum cleaners are the key categories in China's cleaning appliance market at present.

　　It is understood that the frequency of household floor cleaning in China is relatively high, and 48.48% of households have to carry out floor cleaning work once or three times a week. In the survey on the satisfaction of household cleaning appliances, 74.8% of the interviewed users are satisfied with the products of the home sweeper, 54.1% of the interviewed users of the sweeping robot and 67% of the interviewed users of the fabric cleaning machine are satisfied with the products at home.

　　However, some consumers said that they had bought a floor washer. After using it, they found that they could not achieve the expected "hands-free" effect, and the cost of trial and error was too high. In the future, they will carefully consider buying related cleaning appliances.

　　The Survey Report on Consumer Consumption and Experience of Cleaning Appliances in 2023 issued by the Professional Committee of Cleaning Appliances of China Household Electrical Appliances Association shows that there are many pain points in the use of floor washers, sweeping (mopping) robots and vacuum cleaners, which need to be continuously upgraded and optimized. Taking the pain point of user experience of washing machine as an example, in product design, short battery life is the most prominent problem (34.2% of respondents reflect this problem); In the process of cleaning, the existence of cleaning dead angle is a concern (42.5% of the respondents reflected this problem); In the process of product cleaning and maintenance, the self-cleaning effect of roller brush (36.3% respondents reported this problem), hair entanglement (33% respondents reported this problem) and inconvenient storage (27.2% respondents reported this problem) are the top three pain points. "

　　In addition, the cleaning power of the washing machine is not ideal in the face of scenes with heavy oil pollution or dark stains." Liang Zhenpeng, an analyst in the home appliance industry, said that in terms of after-sales service, there is still room for optimization of the washing machine, such as extending the warranty period of products. Enterprises should pay attention to these issues in product development and production in the future, so that consumers can reduce their maintenance concerns and better protect their rights and interests.

　　In this regard, experts said that unlike household appliances with high penetration rate, cleaning appliances are still in the stage of low penetration rate and high market attention in the domestic market, while in the foreign market, they are in the stage of high penetration rate but strong substitutability of vacuum cleaners. The market prospect of cleaning appliances is optimistic. The industry should create fine products for consumers through continuous innovation and further enrich the industry categories, so as to better make cleaning appliances a necessary and just-needed product for families.

　　Technological Innovation Empowers Industry Growth

　　At present, in the smart cleaning market, there are established home appliance manufacturers such as Haier, Midea and Gree, as well as newly listed companies such as Cobos and Roborock, and innovative companies such as Xunmi, Yunwhale and Tianke. Established manufacturers are trying to form a defense in the field of intelligent cleaning in the case of slowing down the growth rate of traditional household appliances; New innovative companies hope to break through the walls of traditional forces and win new respect through rapid technological iteration.

　　Whether it is a "senior veteran" or a "cutting-edge force", an industry consensus has been formed-intelligent clean appliances are the new future of the home appliance industry, with great growth potential.

　　In fact, through technological innovation to empower industry growth, China's clean electrical products have realized the transformation from being made in China to being created in China. By 2022, China's market has formed a pattern of dual-engine drive of base-station sweeping robot and washing machine, and the market scale of both of them has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

　　With the rapid rise of new categories such as floor washers, sweeping robots and cloth washing machines, the cleaning appliance industry has gradually formed a new pattern of multi-category development, and consumers also have clearer and higher requirements for quality of life and home environment health. With the excavation of various cleaning problems and pain points, various sub-categories may be born in the cleaning appliance industry.

　　"Now the price of the washing machine is still high in general, and a washing machine costs several thousand yuan. This price is not a low threshold for users. In the future, with the full competition in the market and the increase of incoming brands, the price-performance ratio of washing machine products will become higher and higher, and the average price of market sales will gradually decrease, which is conducive to the further popularization of the washing machine industry. " Liang Zhenpeng said.

　　The insiders believe: "In the future, in the clean electrical appliance industry, the brand's rapid response to user needs will be tested. The R&D end must have both keen market insight and continuous innovation."

　　In view of the problems existing in the cleaning appliance industry, such as weak product functionality, poor user experience, and barbaric growth of some categories, experts suggest that we should focus on user needs and strengthen product innovation. The explosive growth of the cleaning appliance industry stems from the fact that products have solved the pain points in consumers' daily lives, and its sustainable development lies in this. Enterprises should be guided to innovate and upgrade products based on consumers' actual use, strengthen R&D investment, optimize product design, enhance consumer experience, and be more suitable for actual home use scenarios. For market segments, we will develop differentiated products that are suitable for different people and different scenarios, so as to supply innovation and stimulate consumer demand.