Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

Affected by multiple factors such as the global COVID-19, international geopolitical conflicts, rising costs of raw materials and shipping, China's electricity exports are experiencing unprecedented challenges.

According to customs data, China exported 309.578 million household appliances in July, down 4.6% year on year; From January to July, 2019.072 million units were exported, down 7.3% year on year. According to customs data, the export sales of air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines among the four major household appliances fell 11.6%, 13.8% and 18.6% year on year respectively from January to June; Only LCD TV export sales increased by 14% year on year.

However, in the current treacherous environment, the export of Chinese household appliances is still bright - new high-end household appliances focusing on intelligence and health have gone through a "upward curve" against the trend. The reporter learned in the interview that the export performance of several leading enterprises has increased rather than decreased due to their differentiated layout and independent brand creation. They are also serving as the "flagmen" of the globalization of Chinese enterprises, leading a new direction for the future of home appliance exports.

Forge brand strength

In the first quarter of this year, due to the strong rise in the price of copper, steel and other bulk raw materials, the epidemic situation in some parts of China and other factors, China's household appliance industry faced more severe challenges.

"Against the backdrop of uncertainty in the economic situation, the most important task for enterprises to face the development of certainty in the future is to create meaningful differentiation and create a 'sense of value' of the brand." Wang Xingru, CEO of Kaidu Group in Greater China and global chairman of Kaidu BrandZTM, said.

The higher the brand value, the stronger the anti risk ability. On the journey to the sea, we have taken many measures to forge product strength, build a more resilient and recognizable brand, and build a "moat" of quality. The global brand of Chinese household appliances is entering a new stage of development, and reaping the "joy of return on investment".

It is learned from Hisense Group that since this year, in the face of a new competitive environment, white electric products from Hisense's South Africa base have been exported to Europe for the first time, the China Europe Land Sea Express Hisense Special Train has been opened, and strategic cooperation has been reached with Guangzhou Port, Haifeng, etc. Hisense has created a more efficient, convenient and economic global supply chain through a variety of ways to further improve the efficiency of industrial chain configuration to support brand globalization.

According to the customs data, from January to June this year, the sales of Hisense laser TV with a unit price of thousands of dollars in Australia, France, Canada and other overseas markets have exceeded that of last year, becoming a new favorite of high-end market. In addition, Hisense has developed high-end refrigerators with automatic ice making function for 4 years, which have been sold in Europe, Australia, the United States, South Africa and other regions and have been recognized by consumers.

Haier Zhijia also achieved outstanding performance. Based on the high-end industrial structure of the early layout and the development strategy of meeting the differentiated needs of users with innovative technologies, the enterprise successfully resisted risks.

It is learned from Haier Smart Home that Haier Central Air Conditioning has won the recognition of local users in Europe by providing diversified smart healthy air scenarios and localized professional services. According to customs data, from January to June, Haier's sales of central air conditioners in Europe increased by 31.4% year on year, and the export scale continued to grow at a high level. In addition, according to customs data, in June this year, Haier Zhijia's Japanese dual brand frequency conversion washing machine market share reached 30.5%, ranking first in the market.

These remarkable achievements not only reflect the new achievements of Chinese home appliance brands, but also mark the important direction of the globalization of Chinese enterprises.

"This year, an obvious trend in the export of household appliances industry is that the brand concentration is higher, the export of high-end household appliances is growing against the trend, and the head enterprises are growing." Said an insider who declined to be named.

Create brand and take root steadily

The above insiders said that in the second half of the year, the external negative factors faced by the household appliance industry, such as the rising price of raw materials and poor sea transportation, will gradually weaken. Combined with the recent national policies to stimulate household appliance consumption, the devaluation of the RMB exchange rate and other factors, the export performance of white appliances is expected to be repaired.

"For Chinese household appliances enterprises, after nearly two years of transformation and development, a new growth logic of white appliances is being formed. OEM has been replaced by independent research and development and overseas brand creation. Low cost homogeneous competition in the same industry is also being replaced by the differentiated path of" intelligence+high-end "." Said the insider.

This is exactly the case. In the early years, many enterprises chose OEM in order to obtain low profits when distributing overseas markets. However, Haier Zhijia has always insisted on creating its own brand to expand the overseas market and gain higher brand premium by establishing its own brand value. By the end of 2021, Haier Zhijia has operated 10 R&D centers, 122 manufacturing centers, 108 marketing centers in the world, and has covered nearly 130000 sales outlets in the global market.

Hisense, on the other hand, relies on subversive technological innovation products and industries to build a solid foundation for transformation and growth, open the "fence" of high-end display market that has been occupied by foreign brands for a long time, and create a "second curve" of sustained growth against the backdrop of global color TV downturn.

In March of this year, Liu Bin, vice president of Hisense International Marketing Company, first disclosed the "three axes" of Hisense's high-end going abroad: in terms of high-end product layout, the high-end image quality flagship product ULED TV will achieve a year-on-year growth of more than 40%, and the overseas sales of Hisense laser TV will double; In terms of technology research and development, new home appliance research and development centers will be established in the United States and Japan to achieve close collaboration between production, marketing and research; In terms of independent brand construction, nearly 100 high-end brand flagship stores will be set up in the world, making full use of every contact with consumers, and truly making China's high-end manufacturing in the world.

The implementation of multiple favorable policies and the strong rise of domestic household appliance brands represented by Hisense and Haier Zhijia will certainly provide new assistance and opportunities for China's household appliance export.