Haier Air Conditioning's business continues to improve in 2020, with only double growth to make up for shortcomings

After experiencing the double hardships of the price war and the epidemic in 2020, Haier Air Conditioner has become the only brand to achieve double growth.

According to data from iiMedia Research, in the first 52 weeks of 2020, Haier Air Conditioner's offline cumulative share was 14.7%, a year-on-year increase of 2.3 percentage points; its online cumulative share increased by 2.4 percentage points, making it the only air-conditioning brand in the domestic air-conditioning market to achieve both online and offline growth.

In addition, in the first 52 weeks of 2020, Haier's sterilization air conditioner retail sales accounted for 56.6%, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%, 2.6 times that of the second place; at the same time, the average price of Haier's sterilization air conditioner was 4,475 yuan, ranking first among the top three brands in terms of market share. In the price segment above 15,000 yuan, it also accounted for 46.9% of the market share, ranking first.

From an industry perspective, 2020 was a difficult year for the air-conditioning industry. Due to the impact of the epidemic, in 2020, the shipment volume of China's air-conditioning market was only about 83 million sets, a year-on-year decrease of 10%.

Under the same severe market environment, Haier Air Conditioner has achieved breakthroughs in both macro and micro data, proving its leading advantage in the industry.

However, isn't price war the main theme of the air-conditioning industry in 2020? How did Haier Air Conditioning find growth points outside of the industry's price orientation? In fact, such market performance just shows that Haier Air Conditioning has grasped the deepest trends in the industry during the ebb period of the industry.

Keen insight into market and demand

It is undeniable that a certain degree of price war does have certain value in stimulating consumption and product circulation, but the low-price inertia formed in the air-conditioning industry over the years and the impulse of manufacturers to quickly seize the market after the epidemic have also brought certain obstacles to the healthy development of the industry.

From an industry perspective, under the involutionary competition, low-priced air conditioners that are infinitely close to cost will inevitably affect technological progress and even product quality. According to a research report released by the China Quality Tour, in Q3 2019, the Complaint Platform collected 1,089 consumer complaints in the air conditioner industry, among which the top brands all focused on price wars.

From the perspective of consumer demand, most consumers are no longer satisfied with low-priced "cooling and heating dual" air-conditioning products. Data from the "2020 China Healthy Home Appliances White Paper" shows that due to the impact of the epidemic, 92% of consumers pay special attention to the "health" function when purchasing, of which air conditioners account for 74.9%.

More importantly, as the cost of the upstream air-conditioning industry chain increases, the industry is also forcing companies to increase the price of air-conditioning. On November 30, 2020, Shanghai copper closed at 57,700 yuan/ton, setting a record high in nearly a decade. This means that the price war in the air-conditioning industry cannot continue indefinitely.

The industry is under great pressure from low-priced products and rising raw material prices. In contrast, Haier Air Conditioner has firmly embarked on a healthy and high-end development path. As mentioned at the beginning, Haier Air Conditioner has become the only brand in the air conditioning market to achieve double growth in 2020.

What is interesting is that long before Haier Air Conditioner opened up the high-end market, the industry had already seen a development path for high-end air conditioners represented by new energy efficiency, health, and comfort.

According to the data from CICI's "Household Air Conditioning Market Research Express during Double 11 in 2020", during Double 11 in 2020, the share of online sterilization and purification product retail sales increased by 165% year-on-year, the wall-mounted units priced above 4,000 yuan increased by 267% year-on-year, and the cabinet units priced above 8,000 yuan increased by 100% year-on-year.

Through observation of the data, Haier Air Conditioner is one step ahead of the industry. In addition to its deep insight into user needs, more importantly, it benefits from Haier Air Conditioner's long-term layout in the health field.

As early as 2015, Haier Air Conditioner invented the self-cleaning air conditioner, which can clean the air conditioner by washing itself. Based on the demand for air purification and fresh air, Haier has developed healthy air conditioners that combine air purification and air freshness.

Take the popular Haier Air-washing Air Conditioner as an example. It has overturned the function of the air conditioner itself and realized that one unit can cover six units. Behind this, Haier Air Conditioner has gone through 519 days, passed 2076 continuous verifications, and finally integrated 167 patented technologies to create this new species.

This also indirectly illustrates a fact, why when the air-conditioning industry fell to a "freezing point", Haier Air-conditioning achieved counter-cyclical growth by relying on its high-end and healthy products.

Make up for the shortcomings of smart home

For Haier Air Conditioner, its persistence in producing healthy air over the years has directly driven the hot sales of its air conditioning products today. After entering a new era, with the advent of IoT intelligence, this direction of Haier Air Conditioner has begun to take root.

According to a trend report released by foreign media, the global IoT market is expected to reach US$575.3 billion by 2025. It can be said that both home appliance manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers have seen the general trend of the Internet of Everything.

However, due to its weaker market position than refrigerators and washing machines, some analysts believe that Haier's air-conditioning business may affect Haier Smart Home's overall IoT strategic deployment.

As mentioned at the beginning, in the context of the industry downturn in 2020, Haier Air Conditioner not only achieved a breakthrough against the trend, but also achieved a breakthrough in health and high-end levels. Moreover, according to the data from the first week of 2021 from CMM, Haier's air conditioning market continued to improve, and the year-on-year growth rate of both sales and sales volume far exceeded the industry. The growth of the air conditioning business has made a certain contribution to Haier Smart Home's market value, which also indicates that Haier Smart Home's air conditioning business shortcomings are being made up.

Furthermore, with the continued hot sales of healthy air conditioners and healthy air scenes, the era of traditional air conditioners relying on single hardware to compete has officially become a thing of the past, and scene solutions represented by Haier Air Network will become the mainstream direction of the market.

It is understood that Haier Air Network is divided into 21 types of subdivided scenario solutions, and has created a "6+N" ecological solution covering scenarios such as single young people, newlyweds, and families of three. At present, Sanyi Bird Bedroom has landed in 237 stores across the country, which will also reversely empower the overall growth of Haier air conditioners to a large extent.

Therefore, combining these two levels, after completing the air-conditioning business, Haier Smart Home's IoT business has formed an ecological network with two-way empowerment and coordinated development of each terminal.

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.