The commercial capital impulse behind the popularity of shared home appliances

As a new business outlet in the Internet era, the emerging shared home appliances, as a new thing, should not be simply denied, but the business logic behind them should be analyzed. In the past decade, the biggest driving force behind the rise of the Internet wave and the formation of new outlets is half the convenience of life brought by technological upgrades, and the other half is the profit-driven business capital.

In recent times, with the market boom of shared bicycles and shared power banks, the home appliance industry has quickly begun to explode, with a series of phenomena such as shared washing machines, shared refrigerators, shared televisions, and even shared air conditioners.

At present, all enterprises and merchants in the home appliance industry, as well as public opinion and the media, have expressed doubts and denials about shared home appliances. It is generally believed that the home appliance industry, which has taken advantage of the "sharing economy", is more hype than substance.

In fact, we should not deny the new thing of shared home appliances directly, but should see the "commercial motivation" hidden behind this round of shared home appliances. This is also the biggest shortcoming of China's home appliance industry in the past 30 years, focusing on manufacturing and neglecting capital.

The protagonist behind shared home appliances

At present, the driving force behind the sharing of home appliances is not traditional home appliance manufacturers and retailers, because the business model of the sharing economy is completely different from that of home appliance manufacturers.

For many years, home appliance manufacturers have been accustomed to "manufacturing products" and completing transactions after they are sold. Even the maintenance services of home appliances are passive responses. Over the years, home appliance manufacturers and users have not established a "fast and real-time" response interaction mechanism.

The business model of the sharing economy is a typical "fan economy" and follows the business logic of "the wool comes from the pig and the dog pays the bill". For shared home appliances, profits are not achieved by selling home appliances, but by using home appliances as a link to help capital quickly find users. At the same time, based on the huge user base, new profit models are explored, such as resource providers, service providers and advertisers.

In fact, the model of shared home appliances is quite similar to the "ecological model" of LeTV Super TV over the past three years. TV hardware is not a means of profit, but only connects user nodes. Ultimately, based on the large-screen TVs in the homes of a large number of users, it realizes innovation in business models, including content charges, advertising charges, application distribution charges, etc.

Over the years, the explorers and pioneers of new models and new economies of home appliances have never been large home appliance giants or retail channels, but external Internet companies. The biggest difference between them and home appliance manufacturers is that the former focus on what users really need and how to retain users, while the latter focus on how products should be made, how to make them cheap, and how to make money.

The truth about the shared home appliance economy

At present, there is a widespread misunderstanding among society, public opinion and industry about the new model of shared home appliances, mistaking shared home appliances for home appliance sharing, which leads to some denial and distortion based on wrong cognition.

Shared home appliances, which were born from the "sharing economy", are different from home appliance sharing. Shared home appliances focus on the new experience of the sharing economy and the maximization of the user's convenience and speed in using the product, while home appliance sharing focuses on the diversification of applications and usage locations. The former is a business model based on the sharing economy, while the latter is still a promotion method based on home appliance marketing.

At present, when many people in the industry talk about shared home appliances, they often think of it as home appliance sharing, which means that home appliances can be shared in an open social environment instead of being enjoyed by the family, hoping to find new channels and platforms for the rapid sales and explosion of home appliances. However, the essence of shared home appliances is the separation of ownership and use rights, allowing users to enjoy the convenience of the new economy and new model in the Internet era.

The essence of shared home appliances is not to expand new groups of home appliance users and build new home appliance retail platforms, but to find a new economic model after the separation of ownership and use rights of home appliance products outside the existing home appliance model. By using third-party credit platforms such as Ant Financial, after providing guarantees for creditworthy users, the purchase of home appliance products is changed to the purchase of home appliance services, and payment is made for the services provided by home appliance products.

This is actually a typical new model, and it is also a new experience that meets the needs of a large number of users born in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, for a long time, for all users, the essence of buying home appliances is not to own them, but to get better services and experiences through home appliances and improve the quality of life.

In the current context of the country promoting "equal rights for renting and selling" in the real estate market, home appliances, which are products with relatively low unit value, make it easier for users to gain the new experience of "equal rights for renting and selling".

Home appliance manufacturers should respond in advance

The development of the shared home appliance economy will not be a passing fad or a flash in the pan in the future. I believe that the shared home appliance economy will first be implemented in large home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, as well as small home appliances such as air purifiers and water purifiers. Similarly, the user group of shared home appliances is definitely not just commercial users, but also includes a large number of household users.

Behind this round of shared home appliance craze that is about to explode, the participants and leaders are destined not to be home appliance manufacturers, but innovators, entrepreneurs, and even trial and error people from the Internet industry. Home appliance manufacturers are at most supporting roles in the sharing economy wave and it is difficult for them to make a difference in this new wave of consumer economy.

Although they cannot become the protagonists, a large number of home appliance manufacturers can seize a new round of sales opportunities in this round of shared home appliance economy. At the beginning of some Internet companies promoting the shared home appliance economy, home appliance companies, as product manufacturers, must carry out special innovation and research and development in advance for the functions and usage needs of home appliance products in the "sharing scenario". Finally, new products, new functions and new experiences that meet the sharing economy are launched!

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.