Behind the accelerated herd effect of home appliances: the future path for manufacturers is becoming clearer

The more you argue, the clearer the truth becomes, and the wider the path becomes. In the past year or so, behind the accelerated "herd effect" in the home appliance consumer market, the future path of the entire home appliance industry chain is becoming increasingly clear.

In the past year, the "herd effect" in the Chinese home appliance market has been accelerating: not only in the first-tier home appliance market, consumer choices are becoming more and more branded and quality-oriented; at the same time, the upstream supplier link and downstream retail link of the home appliance industry chain are also increasingly showing a trend of branding and centralization. In addition, the relevant supporting links and systems around the home appliance industry chain are also accelerating in this direction.

From the "Matthew effect" of the home appliance industry brand structure in the past few years, to the "herd effect" of the home appliance consumer market, to the "frog effect" of the home appliance retail system, facing China's huge and complex home appliance market, what remains unchanged is that the market is constantly changing, and what is changing is that consumer demand is becoming more and more picky. So, how can we become the biggest beneficiary of this round of "herd effect"?

In recent years, the home appliance market is entering a new track of accelerated change. The only constant in this series of changes is that users are performing a continuous "butterfly effect" in the home appliance industry: changes in the final consumption first force home appliance companies to transform into high-quality and quality-oriented enterprises; then the high-quality development of home appliances forces upstream suppliers to transform their resources into giants and oligopolies, as well as downstream retailers to brand and chain.

For example, the "100 billion club" of home appliance manufacturers formed by Midea, Haier, Gree, TCL, Changhong, and Hisense, the "100 billion club" of home appliance retailers formed by JD.com, Suning, Tmall and Gome, and the "giant camp" of home appliance suppliers formed by Huayi, Midea, Samsung, Foxconn, etc., are all windows to show the results of the "herd effect" to the outside world.

As high-quality resources in the entire home appliance industry chain are rapidly gathering towards large enterprises, large manufacturers and large merchants, becoming the value depression and growth highland of the industry, it is foreseeable that the home appliance industry will form a huge "herd effect" black hole, that is, consumption is becoming more and more centralized, resources are becoming more and more concentrated, and brands are becoming more and more concentrated. Whether it is making home appliances or selling home appliances, they are all detonating branding. As a result, the opportunities and space left for entrepreneurs and speculators are becoming smaller and smaller.

The current dominant feature of the herd effect in the home appliance industry is that consumers are increasingly following the crowd, which results in an increasingly concentrated supply chain of suppliers, manufacturers and retailers, either oligopolistic or dominated by giants. As a result, those home appliance manufacturers that do not have a well-known brand, products to show off, or strong backing can count on their fingers how long they have left.

Therefore, the new transformation path facing many Chinese and foreign home appliance companies, suppliers and retailers has become increasingly clear. That is, we must firmly grasp the big trend of upgrading consumer demand and accelerate the refinement, quality and branding of tangible products (hardware) and intangible products (content + services). For the current "herd effect" in the home appliance consumer market, the product is 1, and marketing, price, promotion, etc. are all 0. Only by firmly grasping the soul of the product can we create more commercial value!

The acceleration of the "herd effect" of home appliances is ultimately due to consumers at the end of the first-tier market, who are beginning to truly become the masters and rulers of this industry, determining the development and rise and fall of all companies upstream and downstream of this industry chain, and affecting the business future of a product or a company. Every wing of the "butterfly" of the home appliance industry will affect the overall transformation results of Chinese companies in the next 3-5 years!

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.