"Hot Water Expert" Questioned: Is AO Smith a Domestic Noble Brand and Not as Popular in the United States?

AO Smith, which occupies a relatively high market share in the domestic water heater market, has caused doubts in the industry about its identity because of a post titled "Statement from the Legal Department of Smith Company" which reads "AO Smith is not an American brand, but the pride of Chinese manufacturing". In response, the relevant person in charge of AO Smith strongly denied it, emphasizing that the brand is a wholly-owned American enterprise. However, according to information disclosed by relevant sources, AO Smith is not as well-known in the United States as the company advertises, and its sales on Amazon in the United States are also very few.

True or False US ID

This post circulating on the Internet comes from Baidu Smith Bar. The post titled "Statement from Smith Company's Legal Department" is ranked quite high.

The content of the post shows that "Regarding the recent South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines... some units and individuals with ulterior motives have begun to hype malicious topics such as 'Smith is an American brand' and 'boycott American goods'! Here, the Legal Department of A.O. Smith (China) Water Heater Co., Ltd. solemnly declares: 1. A.O. Smith (China) Water Heater Co., Ltd. is a limited liability company invested and founded by patriotic Chinese. The company's operating income and tax payments are all completed within the territory of the People's Republic of China, and its business operations have nothing to do with the United States! 2. The Smith water heater series is a reform of China's earliest water heater brand - Yuhuan, and is by no means an 'American' product."

A Beijing Business Daily reporter logged on to the official website of AO Smith to verify. Under the "Corporate Background" column of the website, the company introduced itself as follows: "AO Smith is a multinational company with a splendid 142-year history. From commercial to household fields, from manufacturers of metal parts and hardware for baby carriages to providers of high-quality products and solutions for water systems, relying on leading technology, high-quality products and perfect services, it has become one of the largest manufacturers of household and commercial hot water equipment and boilers in North America."

The relevant person in charge of AO Smith also told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the company is absolutely a wholly American-owned enterprise and is not made in China as written in the circulating posts. The so-called statement in Baidu Tieba is false news made by impersonating AO Smith. The company has sent a lawyer's letter to Baidu requesting the deletion of the post and providing the poster's information.

Low status in the US

Although multiple channels have proven that AO Smith is indeed a wholly-owned American brand, and relevant AO Smith officials have also introduced that the company's products have a market share of more than 40% in the United States, there are many doubts in the industry about the company's self-proclaimed "one of the largest domestic and commercial water heating equipment and boiler manufacturers in North America."

Some netizens pointed out that AO Smith's so-called "American Hot Water Expert" title is not true. In the United States, AO Smith is only a small manufacturing company that started out by producing child seats and strollers. It has a history of producing electric water heaters for less than 60 years, not to mention gas water heaters and water purification equipment. Even electric water heaters, with the decline of the European and American electric heating markets, are rarely seen in the US market. Now it has basically transformed into a manufacturer of construction equipment and power tools.

"I have never heard of the AO Smith brand in the United States. I have only seen its advertisements in China. In the United States, every household relies on small gas boilers for heating and cooling," revealed Mr. Liu, who settled in the United States and is the agent of an American air purifier brand.

It is worth noting that the Beijing Business Daily reporter found through searching the information that for a company like AO Smith that claims to be the American hot water expert, there is not much local information about it on the Internet. Even news and newspapers about the brand in the United States cannot be found. All we know is that in the United States, gas water heaters are the mainstream water heater products.

On Amazon, a well-known foreign e-commerce website, AO Smith's products have low sales, with the transaction volume of almost every product in the single digit. A water heater called "AO Smith GCG-50 ProMax Tall Gas Water Heater" has a low transaction volume.

"Hot Water Expert" in doubt

Compared with its position in the US market, which is questionable, AO Smith's performance in the Chinese market is still remarkable. According to the retail monitoring data of CMM, in June 2016, AO Smith's share of the domestic water heater market reached 16.4%, second only to Haier and Midea, whose market shares were 18.5% and 17.3% respectively.

Although it occupies a large domestic market share, it remains to be seen whether AO Smith is truly the "American hot water expert". It is understood that after entering the Chinese market, the company acquired the Nanjing Yuhuan Water Heater Factory, which was on the verge of bankruptcy and had a very bad reputation. In the early stage, it mainly carried out market layout in the form of "OEM".

An industry insider who has been working in the water heater field for more than ten years pointed out that AO Smith's so-called "American hot water expert" is actually meaningless. First, in the United States, the market share of electric water heaters is low, and gas water heaters are the main ones. AO Smith's main product in China is electric water heaters. Secondly, there is an essential difference between American and Chinese gas water heaters. The ones generally used in the United States are boiler-type, which is used for the entire family, while in China they are local water heater products.

In addition to the American label, high prices are another feature of AO Smith products. A Beijing Business Daily reporter visited several home appliance stores in Beijing and found that AO Smith water heaters can be regarded as the top brands among water heaters, with product prices ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan. Domestic storage-type electric water heaters such as Haier, which are equipped with intelligent temperature control and power-off memory functions, are priced at around 1,000 to 2,000 yuan.

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.