The pattern of two kitchen appliance giants is still difficult to shake: it is difficult for home appliance companies to cross-border market and win hearts

Compared with large household appliances, small household appliances are still the typical "cost-dominated and scale-dominated" pattern. The "two-hero domination" pattern created by Fotile and Robam in the kitchen appliance industry relies on "product-dominated, brand-driven, and experience-dominated". Their industry status is unlikely to be shaken by Haier and Midea in the short term.

Some people say that the biggest attraction in the kitchen appliance industry this year is not Fotile and Robam, but Haier and Midea. Obviously, this is still based on the thinking of traditional home appliance companies to expand their scale, believing that with advantages such as "large scale, large channels, and large platforms", they can seize the "top spot" in the kitchen appliance industry and become the leader in this field.

It is undeniable that in the past two years, Haier and Midea, two major home appliance giants, have entered the kitchen appliance industry and their revenue scale has been rising steadily. It is only natural that they have surpassed the two leading professional kitchen appliance brands. However, it is still difficult to snatch the first choice of consumers for kitchen appliance brands. Compared with the super high influence and comprehensive strength of Midea and Haier in the home appliance industry, it seems that they can be invincible in all home appliance fields. The brand awareness and user stickiness established by Fotile and Robam in the kitchen appliance industry are also far beyond the imagination of the outside world.

Looking back at the strong rise of traditional home appliance companies in the past 30 years, it is precisely the competitiveness of "large-scale manufacturing, low-cost distribution, marketing-driven, and channel-driven" that has broken the leading position of foreign brands in the Chinese home appliance market and now has pushed them to the corners of the market, either withdrawing, shrinking, or switching to high-end. Today, home appliance companies led by Haier and Midea, after leading in large appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and water heaters, have begun to focus on the field of kitchen appliances.

Also over the past 20 years, the two giants led by Fotile and ROBAM have "deepened their efforts" in the kitchen appliance industry and have taken a path of rise that is different from the "unilateral scale expansion" of traditional large appliance companies. Instead, they have fully based themselves on the cooking habits and realities of Chinese kitchens, and in the competition with foreign kitchen appliances, they have gone beyond single technological innovation and product success and established a value-driven system based on culture and experience.

Among all the home appliance categories, the mainstream kitchen appliance market is the only one that has not been dominated by low-price competition, and has been in a price war in recent years. In particular, in recent years, Fotile and Boss have been continuously injecting a series of new elements such as technological innovation, historical culture and high-quality lifestyle into the industry, continuously promoting the kitchen appliance industry to lead the way in the high-value era.

After completing the market grabbing of the white goods industry, Midea and Haier have begun to frequently launch in the lucrative new market of the kitchen appliance industry, and have achieved rapid overtaking in terms of revenue scale. However, the market share they have grabbed since entering the market does not belong to the high-end market dominated by Robam and Fotile, but to the space occupied by a large number of second- and third-tier brands and even small and medium-sized brands. To put it bluntly, the large-scale rise of Haier and Midea is helping the entire Chinese kitchen appliance industry to undergo a new round of market reshuffle, and has raised the industry's entry threshold, eliminating the market space for a large number of brands and speculators.

Ultimately, the high-end market where Robam and Fotile are located is neither the area where Haier and Midea excel nor the key place for large-scale expansion. On the contrary, in a large number of second- and third-tier cities and third- and fourth-tier markets, Haier and Midea still have ample market space to grab. At least in the next 2-3 years, the core of these two major home appliance giants is to eliminate weak and small-brand kitchen appliance companies, further enhance scale advantages, and strengthen brand awareness. A number of old-brand kitchen appliance companies, including Vanward and Macro, are now declining. In addition, a large number of small and medium-sized brands are facing the most severe life and death test "ever".

In the high-end kitchen appliance market, the competition between Fotile and Robam has not only successfully squeezed out a series of Chinese and foreign companies such as Siemens, Electrolux, and Sacon from the first-tier mainstream market competition, but more importantly, it has set up a very high entry threshold for the high-end market. Although in recent years, companies including Vatti have wanted to enter the high-end market to share a share, they ultimately faced the embarrassment of "good reviews but poor sales" in the market.

We also want to remind all comprehensive home appliance companies that although kitchen appliances such as range hoods, gas stoves, disinfection cabinets, and even dishwashers, microwave ovens, and electric steamers belong to the field of household appliances, they are essentially different from white appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines: air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines are typical functional products, and users have a typical weak interaction with white appliances; while kitchen appliances, although they are also functional products, have a strong interaction with users. Because of the saying "food is the first necessity of the people", in recent years, as the living standards of Chinese families have improved, kitchen appliances have begun to show advantages such as "experience", "luxury", and "interactivity".

In recent years, although the entire Chinese home appliance industry has been undergoing transformation and upgrading, with a focus on high-end products, compared to the relatively slow path of value recovery for white appliances, the high-end kitchen appliance sector where Fotile and Robam are located has maintained an annual price increase of around 1,000 yuan, driving the refinement and technological advancement of kitchen appliance products, as well as an increasingly enhanced sense of experience, and further occupying the minds of many consumer groups pursuing a high-quality lifestyle.

Next, as the Matthew effect of the entire kitchen appliance industry accelerates, the high-end kitchen appliance landscape of Robam and Fotile will certainly undergo new changes, but it will definitely not be a change of ownership, but rather an expansion of capacity. It will present a "2+2" four-country landscape of Fotile and Robam competing for high-end dominance, and Haier and Midea dominating in terms of scale. This is the future of the kitchen appliance industry!

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.