Broken shared home appliances put the cart before the horse and fail to win the hearts of consumers

2017 is known as the first year of the sharing economy. Various sharing economy concepts have swept in, including shared bicycles, shared power banks, shared cars, shared home appliances, shared umbrellas, shared baby strollers... Standing at the forefront of the sharing economy, even pigs can fly.

So, can the "shared home appliances" that are coming in droves hit the user pain points and win the hearts of consumers?

The home appliance industry is experiencing a "sharing trend"

The concept of "sharing+" has appeared in people's lives one after another. Home appliance companies can't sit still and have jumped on this wave of sharing refrigerators, shared color TVs, shared water purifiers, shared washing machines... There is nothing that home appliance companies can't do, except what you can't think of.

Taking shared washing machines as an example, home appliance companies have begun to layout the shared washing machine market. Skyworth has actively deployed the "Qingke Shared Laundry" project, Midea's smart laundry room "Meimei Wash", and Haier Group's "Haier Laundry"... Although the target groups of services are different, the overall operating models are not much different.

In June last year, shared washing machines and shared dryers placed in the CP Mall in Xuhui District, Shanghai attracted a lot of attention. An 18KG washing machine costs 40 yuan per barrel, an 8KG washing machine costs 20 yuan per barrel, and an 18KG dryer costs 10 yuan every 15 minutes. It also supports Alipay and WeChat payments.

At the same time, the "sharing +" concepts such as shared refrigerators, shared water purifiers, and shared TVs have also attracted the attention of the public.

The "sharing" issue cannot be ignored

Although the concept of sharing is very popular, some shared products have still aroused various doubts from the outside world. Can shared refrigerators, shared washing machines, and shared dryers guarantee hygiene and safety?

When it comes to shared use, consumers are most concerned about hygiene and safety. In response to users' concerns about hygiene and safety, Xiao Xinhua, general manager of the Light Truck shared laundry project, said: "The product will have sterilization and barrel self-cleaning functions, and a professional offline cleaning team will be arranged to regularly clean the inner barrel."

In addition to hygiene issues, low usage is also a major problem with shared home appliances. It is understood that the shared washing machines put into use in hotels since last year have not been used very often. The person in charge of the hotel that put the shared washing machines into use said that although the hotel's shared washing machines were launched last year, the usage rate is still relatively low.

The "sharing trend" where the gimmick is greater than the content

From the end of the year to now, the craze for shared home appliances is gradually fading. Some people believe that the sharing economy model has been "ruined" by many people. Standing at the forefront of the trend, an era when even pigs can fly, home appliance companies are seeking another exploration for breakthroughs and transformation, but it has also attracted a lot of doubts.

Zhang Yanbin, an expert in the home appliance industry, said about the "sharing trend" in the home appliance industry that although many young consumer groups can easily accept this consumption model, if a business model is to be formed, it is still necessary to find the pain points of consumers. For example, shared bicycles have a pain point of the last mile of transportation, and most home appliances cannot find such a pain point of demand, that is, they cannot find a reason for everyone to willingly pay for it, so it is difficult to form a business model.

On the one hand, home appliance companies are eager to break through and transform, but on the other hand, they must not put the cart before the horse by "riding on the popularity" or "attracting attention". While riding on the "sharing economy", they must also meet consumer needs and truly grasp consumer pain points.

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.