Is the FOTILE refrigeration hood and cooking center, which costs 28,980 yuan, leading a real trend or creating false demand?

On the evening of August 12, Fotile, a veteran company in the kitchen appliance industry, held its annual new product launch conference, releasing a series of new kitchen appliances, the protagonist of which was a "range hood with refrigeration function."

Theoretically speaking, this product that sounds "incompatible" is actually not complicated in terms of technical "grafting". It is feasible to install a compressor behind the range hood enclosure, share it with the smoke pipe through the air outlet, and use the condensed water for the range hood's self-cleaning function, or directly enter the oil cup. It's just that from the perspective of design and manufacturing, "it's a bit redundant," analysts commented.

From the perspective of user needs, the heat in the kitchen in summer is indeed unavoidable, and the air conditioning in the living room is not enough to quench the immediate thirst.

However, range hood air conditioners or kitchen air conditioners are not a completely new category. The white goods giant Midea has launched a refrigeration range hood - Tianjing air conditioner range hood, and its old rival Gree has also launched kitchen-specific air conditioners. However, the endings are similar and did not cause any ripples in the market.

The reason is that cooking is a high-frequency, low-duration household activity, and the demand for refrigeration only occurs for about three months a year. How many users are willing to pay the extra price cost to lower the temperature of the kitchen environment, or whether users are willing to use such products, is a question that both the market and manufacturers must answer.

Moreover, FOTILE’s refrigeration hood set is priced at 28,980 yuan, nearly three trillion yuan. How many consumers are willing to pay such a high premium for this low-frequency demand is also a test that this product has to withstand. Wouldn’t it be nice to install a separate air conditioner in the kitchen?

The kitchen appliance industry suffered a setback in 2020 due to the epidemic. According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, the annual retail volume of range hoods in 2020 was 22.83 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 7.6%. In 2021, with the epidemic under effective control, the kitchen appliance industry has reached a turning point, and intelligence and functional integration are becoming key variables in the race. However, it is believed that for leading brands such as Fotile, which play a certain leading role in the industry, the balance between practical functions that directly hit user pain points and pseudo-demand gimmicks that obtain high premiums still needs to be carefully determined by industry participants. Products that are made on a whim often end up being a failure.

Would you buy the Fotile range hood cooking center that costs 30,000 yuan per set?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.