Electronics

Affected by multiple factors such as the spread of the global new crown pneumonia epidemic, international geopolitical conflicts, and rising costs of raw materials and shipping, China's major home appliance exports are experiencing unprecedented challenges.

According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs, China exported 309.578 million household appliances in July, down 4.6% year-on-year; from January to July, China exported 2,019.072 million units, down 7.3% year-on-year. From January to June, among the four major home appliances, the export sales of air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines decreased by 11.6%, 13.8% and 18.6% year-on-year respectively; only the export sales of LCD TVs increased by 14% year-on-year.

However, in the current turbulent environment, China's home appliance exports are still bright - the new high-end home appliances that focus on smart and healthy bucked the trend and walked out of an "upward curve". The reporter learned in the interview that several leading companies have gone overseas with their differentiated layout and independent brand creation, and their export performance has increased instead of declining. They are also serving as the "flag-bearers" of the globalization of Chinese enterprises, leading a new direction for the future of home appliance export.

Forging brand power

In the first quarter of this year, due to factors such as the strong rise in the prices of bulk raw materials such as copper and steel, and the frequent spread of epidemics in some parts of the country, China's home appliance industry has faced more severe challenges.

"Under the background of uncertainty in the economic situation, the most important task for enterprises to develop with certainty in the future is to create meaningful differentiation and build a brand's 'sense of value'." Chief Greater China Region of Kantar Group Wang Xing, Executive Officer and Global Chairman of Kantar BrandZTM said:

The higher the brand value, the stronger the ability to resist risks. On the journey to the sea, various measures are taken to forge product strength, build a more resilient and recognizable brand, and build a quality "moat". The global brand of Chinese home appliances is entering a new stage of development, and is reaping the joy of "return on investment" ".

It was learned from Hisense Group that since the beginning of this year, facing a new competitive environment, Hisense South Africa base's white goods products were exported to Europe for the first time, opened the Hisense special train on the China-Europe land-sea express line, and reached strategic cooperation with Guangzhou Port, Haifeng, etc. Hisense has passed many In this way, a more efficient, convenient and economical global supply chain will be created, and the configuration efficiency of the industrial chain will be further improved to support brand globalization.

Data shows that from January to June this year, the sales of Hisense laser TVs with a unit price of thousands of dollars in Australia, France, Canada and other overseas markets have surpassed that of last year, becoming the new favorite of consumers in the high-end market. In addition, Hisense has developed a high-end refrigerator with automatic ice making function in four years, which is sold in Europe, Australia, the United States, South Africa and other regions, and has been recognized by consumers.

Another outstanding performance was Haier Zhijia. Based on the high-end industrial structure of the previous layout and the development strategy of meeting the differentiated needs of users with innovative technologies, the company has successfully resisted risks.

It is learned from Haier Smart Home that Haier central air-conditioning has been recognized by local European users by providing a variety of smart and healthy air scenarios and localized professional services. According to local statistics, from January to June, the sales of Haier central air conditioners in Europe increased by 31.4% year-on-year, and the export scale continued to maintain high growth. In addition, in June this year, Haier Zhijia Japan's dual-brand inverter washing machine had a market share of 30.5%, ranking first in the market.

The achievement of these dazzling achievements not only reflects the new achievements of Chinese home appliance brands going overseas, but also marks an important direction for the global development of Chinese enterprises.

"An obvious trend in the export of the home appliance industry this year is that the brand concentration is higher, the export of high-end home appliances has grown against the trend, and the top enterprises have increased." An industry insider who did not want to be named told the International Business Daily reporter.

Brand creation takes root

The above-mentioned industry insiders said that in the second half of the year, the external negative factors such as rising raw material prices and poor shipping faced by the household appliance industry will gradually weaken. Combined with the recent national policies to stimulate household appliance consumption and the depreciation of the RMB exchange rate, the export performance of white goods is expected to welcome. to repair.

"For Chinese home appliance companies, after nearly two years of transformation and development, a new growth logic for white goods is taking shape, OEMs are being replaced by independent research and development and overseas brand creation, and low-cost homogeneous competition in the same industry is also being replaced by replaced by the differentiated path of 'intelligent + high-end'," said the industry insider.

That's exactly what happened. When laying out overseas markets in the early days, many companies chose OEM processing to obtain low profits. However, Haier Zhijia has always insisted on creating its own brand to expand overseas markets, and obtaining a higher brand premium by establishing its own brand value. As of the end of 2021, Haier Smart Home has operated 10 R&D centers, 122 manufacturing centers, and 108 marketing centers around the world, and has covered nearly 130,000 sales outlets in the global market.

Hisense relies on disruptive technology to innovate products and industries, build a solid foundation for transformation and growth, and open the "fence" of the high-end display market that has been occupied by foreign brands for a long time. Against the background of the global color TV downturn, Hisense has created a "second curve" of continuous growth. ".

In March of this year, Liu Bin, Vice President of Hisense International Marketing Company, disclosed for the first time Hisense's high-end overseas "three-axes": In terms of high-end product layout, Hisense's high-end image quality flagship ULED TV will achieve high-end sales growth of more than 40% year-on-year, Hisense Laser TV overseas The impact of sales has doubled; 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 coordination of production, sales and research; in terms of independent brand building, nearly 100 high-end brand flagship stores will be deployed around the world, making full use of and consumption Every contact of communication with the users is truly known in the world as China's high-end manufacturing.

The implementation of multiple favorable policies and the strong rise of domestic home appliance brands represented by Hisense and Haier Smart Home will surely provide new boosts and opportunities for China's home appliance exports.