"The previous room was not equipped with air conditioners and was used as a utility room. Now that I have a second child, I plan to make a small study. Pay more attention to the brand of air conditioners and the praise of consumers. If it is not urgently needed, the 618 discount is very important." Zhengzhou's Wang Yuan (pseudonym) is enjoying the benefits of the 618 event.
Affected by the epidemic, the trend of air-conditioning price increases since the beginning of the year came to an end during the 618 period.The temperature rise superimposed on the 618 activities, and the sales of air conditioners in early June improved slightly month-on-month.However, under the influence of rising raw material prices and new energy efficiency of air conditioners, the gross profit margin of air conditioners has been declining year after year.And the scale of intelligent and healthy fresh air conditioners continues to expand, becoming the direction of enterprise layout.
No more price increases, air-conditioning sales in early June improved slightly month-on-month
The temperature rises and the 618 promotion is superimposed, and the sales of air conditioners should have ushered in a peak season, but due to the impact of the epidemic, the performance of the air conditioner market is not satisfactory.The data compass of Aowei Cloud Network shows that from May 30 to June 5, the sales volume of the air conditioner online market fell by 4.18% year-on-year, and the sales volume increased by 2.68% year-on-year; the offline market sales volume fell by 17.76% year-on-year, and the sales volume fell by 6.62% year-on-year. .
"At present, the price of air conditioners is affected by the rise in raw materials, the demand is declining, and there is no price reduction." I thought that the price of air conditioners would be reduced during the 618 period, but there was no sign of price reduction. Li Ming (pseudonym) finally placed the order.
Since the beginning of 2022, the cost of raw materials for air conditioners such as plastic, copper, iron, and aluminum has remained high. Many air conditioner companies such as Meibo, Xinke, Midea, Haier, Gree, and Oaks have issued price increase notices after the Spring Festival. The overall price increase range At 5%-15%.The price increase will inevitably suppress the release of a lot of consumer demand, and air-conditioning companies will also move forward.
The decline of the air-conditioning market has continued from the beginning of the year to the present. According to the total data released by Aowei Cloud, the retail sales of household air-conditioning in the first quarter of 2022 increased by 1% year-on-year, and offline decreased by 13.6% year-on-year.Under the strict control of this round of epidemic, logistics was interrupted and installation was limited. According to the weekly monitoring data of Aowei Cloud, as of May 1, online sales fell by 3.3% year-on-year, while the overall offline channel fell by nearly 20%.
The air conditioner that was supposed to be delivered and installed at the end of April was not installed by June due to the epidemic. Tao Tao (pseudonym) of Chaoyang District, Beijing is still "waiting for the opportunity".
The current round of epidemic prevention and control has indeed left many brand merchants at a loss, and price increases have come to an abrupt end.The sales staff of Midea Air Conditioning East China introduced to the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter, "This year, the structure of air conditioning products is being upgraded, and the trade-in activities are being promoted. At present, the prices of air conditioning products have not increased, but have decreased. It's down 200 yuan a month."
"At present, the market performance of mid-to-high-end products is better than that of low-end products; the price of products has not risen any more, and the price of new products may be higher." The relevant person in charge of Hisense Air Conditioning told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter.
Fang Xueqing, an analyst at the Home Appliances Division of Industry Online, believes that the overall situation of the air conditioner sales market has not been optimistic this year. The epidemic has impacted the economy, and consumers and companies have low confidence.At the same time, affected by the weather, although summer has entered, most areas of the country have not really entered the hot weather. However, the sales of air conditioners will improve as the temperature increases.
"For the domestic air-conditioning market, May 1st is a very important window period, which plays a key role in maintaining the confidence of upstream and downstream enterprises. Enterprises have relatively high expectations for May 1st, and the sales strength during May 1st is also higher than that of 618 However, the May 1st promotion has not been effective, and the sales situation is not optimistic. The temperature rise superimposed on the 618 event, and the sales of air conditioners in early June improved slightly from the previous month, but still fell sharply year-on-year.” Fang Xueqing introduced.
Gross profit margin continues to decline, industry leading performance growth is weak
"In the past 30 years, Gree has been 'kidnapped' by air conditioners." Recently, Dong Mingzhu said at Gree Electric's 2021 annual performance briefing.In recent years, air-conditioning leaders Gree Electric and Midea Group have been diversifying and transforming to the B-end.However, Gree Electric's air-conditioning products accounted for a high proportion of revenue, and Dong Mingzhu was justifiably worried.
Looking at the industry, in recent years, the air-conditioning industry has also been sluggish with the downturn in real estate.In 2021, the air-conditioning market has experienced a double drop in the volume of events such as rising raw materials, double control of energy efficiency, repeated epidemics, and heavy rainfall in peak seasons.On the whole, the growth rate of air conditioner leaders such as Gree Electric Appliances and Midea Group in 2021 will also slow down.
As the big brother of white goods, air conditioners were once the driving force for the market value of Gree Electric Appliances and Midea Group. Midea Group's HVAC business revenue in 2021 was 141.879 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.05%; gross profit margin was 21.05%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.85%.The scale of Midea's HVAC business has jumped to the top in the industry in recent years, but its gross profit margin has been declining for many years.
The decline in gross profit margin is an industry-wide situation, and it is not conducive to Gree Electric, a large air-conditioning company. The company's air-conditioning revenue accounted for 83.22%, 78.58%, 69.99%, 70.08%, and 68.71% of its total revenue from 2017 to 2021.
Gree Electric's air-conditioning revenue in 2021 is 131.713 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.96%; gross profit margin is 31.23%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.54%.The gross profit margin of Gree air conditioners has shown a downward trend in the past two years.However, the gross profit margin of Gree air conditioners is more than 10 percentage points.
In recent years, Haier air conditioners have been chasing after them. In 2021, the revenue of air conditioners will be 37.531 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.11%, and the gross profit margin will be 27.93%, a year-on-year increase of 0.52 percentage points.Hisense home appliance HVAC business revenue was 30.403 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30%; gross profit margin was 26.28%, a year-on-year decrease of 3.67%.From this point of view, Midea air conditioners have small profits but quick turnover and seize market share; Hisense and Haier HVAC have a stalemate in terms of revenue.
Second-tier brands have lower gross profit margins. Changhong Meiling’s air-conditioning business revenue was 6.867 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.67%; gross profit margin was 7.33%, a year-on-year decrease of 4.91%.Aucma air-conditioning revenue was 514 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 58.88%; gross profit margin was 15.17%, a year-on-year increase of 2.34 percentage points.
Pei Dongmin, research director of Aowei Cloud's Home Appliances Division, believes that the total size of the air-conditioning industry in 2017 has reached the ceiling, and the market growth space is getting smaller and smaller.Starting from 2020, the price of raw materials has risen due to the epidemic, and the manufacturing cost of air conditioners has risen. 2021 will be the ultimate interpretation of the high cost of the air conditioner industry. Under the pressure of both scale growth and corporate profitability, the air conditioner industry has entered a new cycle of industrial development.
"After the implementation of the new energy efficiency of air conditioners, the overall production cost has risen. Many small third- and fourth-tier brands have been gradually eliminated due to their low technology and small scale. At present, the competition pattern of the air conditioner market is relatively stable, with Gree and Midea occupying at least 60% of the air conditioners. In terms of market share, Haier has a market share of over 10%, and these three companies account for more than 70% of the market share.” said Liang Zhenpeng, an analyst in the home appliance industry.
Smart, health and other functions still attract attention
In order for the child to sleep peacefully, Cao Yun (pseudonym) decided to install an air conditioner in the small bedroom."Although I bought it at 618, I don't value the discount, but I really lack an air conditioner. The large air conditioner in the living room is not conducive to coaxing children to sleep. Air conditioner products focus on the size of the indoor unit, the quietness of the internal and external units, the performance of the motor, and the anti-direct blowing function. Brand after-sales and price levels.”
Today's consumers pay more attention to the function and performance of air-conditioning products.User Li Mingxuan pays more attention to price, intelligence, energy efficiency, appearance, function and so on.User Tao Tao mainly pays attention to quietness and power saving when buying an air conditioner. "Before the master bedroom was a Mitsubishi air conditioner that worked very well, so I also want to install one for the second bedroom."
According to Liang Zhenpeng, an analyst in the home appliance industry, the sales price of air conditioners this summer was the same as last year.At present, the consumption of air-conditioning products is polarized. On the one hand, high-end air conditioners such as smart, energy-saving, healthy, and silent air conditioners are expensive, and household central air conditioners are growing rapidly, and the high-end market demand is expanding.On the other hand, the market demand for low-priced air-conditioning products is not small.
"Online channel consumers no longer only pay attention to price, consumers pay more attention to function and practicality. Fresh air and health products pay more attention, and sales of fresh air products have increased." The relevant person in charge of Hisense Air Conditioning told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter.
Aowei Cloud believes that intelligent, healthy and comfortable experience has gradually become the focus of consumers' attention.In terms of scale, the online sales of fresh air conditioners in 2021 will be 820 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 492.7%.It is not difficult to see that consumers are also willing to pay for solutions to user pain points in high-quality segmented tracks.
The market performance of home central air conditioners has also been very hot in recent years. From the perspective of growth rate, it has grown rapidly for five consecutive years.According to data from Aowei Cloud, the household central air-conditioning market has exceeded 55 billion yuan in 2021, becoming the biggest bright spot in the growth of the entire home appliance market.Home central air-conditioning is an important market that companies continue to increase.
Looking at the performance of the air conditioner market this year, Fang Xueqing believes that it is unlikely that the production of air conditioners will increase in June. Compared with last year, the omni-channel inventory and the weather conditions in the future are not optimistic.It is predicted that there will be a boom in July-August, and the peak season of the cold year in 2022 is coming to an end. It is even more necessary for enterprises to operate cautiously.
