Can Skyworth achieve its goal of increasing its investment in the high-end white appliance market and selling one million washing machines a year?

From last year to now, domestic home appliance manufacturers have not had a good time. The overall growth rate of my country's home appliance market has slowed down, and most home appliance categories have fallen into negative growth.

In this context, some home appliance manufacturers have announced that "our sales target for fiscal year 2016 is to sell 1 million washing machines, and to reach 2 million by fiscal year 2020."

This manufacturer is Skyworth, a "veteran in black appliances and a newcomer in white appliances". Since 2010, Skyworth officially crossed over into the white appliance field. After six years, its product line has covered refrigerators, washing machines, freezers, air conditioners and other fields.

On June 28, Skyworth once again released six new products in two series, i-DD inverter drum and i-DD inverter pulsator. Starting with the i-DD inverter washing machine, Skyworth's strategy of driving the full-line upgrade of its products through high-end white goods has initially emerged.

Spending tens of millions to rapidly develop high-end products

"Whoever wins the high-end market wins the world", this "truth" that has been circulated in the home appliance industry for a long time is even more true in the washing machine industry. At present, my country's washing machine market is gradually bidding farewell to the era of high growth and entering a new normal of medium and low growth. Under this circumstance, product structure upgrading has become the main line of development of the washing machine industry, and it is also the main driving force for market growth. High-end, large capacity, variable frequency, and intelligence are the directions for washing machine product upgrades.

According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, from January to May 2016, the retail sales of large-capacity drum washing machines weighing more than 8 kg accounted for 26.9% and the retail sales of large-capacity pulsator washing machines weighing more than 8 kg accounted for 10.1%. The penetration rate of variable-frequency washing machines reached 68% and the penetration rate of smart washing machines reached 15.6%.

In response to the strong demand for high-end home appliances in the consumer market, Skyworth has been developing products based on its independently developed i-health smart technology platform since 2014. At the same time, Skyworth has also carried out in-depth strategic cooperation with international first-line brands on DD motors and variable frequency control technology, and recruited South Korea's leading industrial design team to promote the comprehensive upgrading of its washing machine products to high-end and intelligent ones.

Wu Qinan, general manager of Skyworth Electric, said that the i-DD inverter washing machine launched this time is a star product that Skyworth Electric spent tens of millions of yuan and concentrated the company's cutting-edge R&D capabilities to carefully create over two years. It fully demonstrates Skyworth Electric's independently developed DD inverter core technology, and also fully utilizes the industry-leading new healthy washing technology.

It is understood that the new washing machines released by Skyworth this time have integrated a large number of patented technologies. Among them, the new i-DD variable frequency drum washing machine has adopted a total of 9 patents, including 2 invention patents, 4 utility model patents, and 3 appearance patents. The new i-DD variable frequency pulsator washing machine has applied 11 patents, including 3 invention patents, 5 new utility model patents and 3 appearance patents. Skyworth has become one of the few domestic companies that have mastered DD variable frequency technology. One of the enterprises.

Accelerate the pace of industrial upgrading and plan to go overseas is imminent

In recent years, the home appliance industry has collectively sought Internet-oriented transformation and accelerated the pace of industrial upgrading. Although traditional home appliance companies are seeking breakthroughs in multiple areas, judging from the 2015 financial reports of each company, the results are dismal.

Skyworth is one of the few manufacturers that can achieve "black and white linkage". Skyworth Group disclosed in its 2015 fiscal year performance report of Skyworth Digital, a Hong Kong-listed company, that Skyworth's white goods sales in the domestic market in fiscal 2015 reached HK$2.16 billion, up 13.8% from the previous fiscal year. Among them, Skyworth's washing machine sales for the whole fiscal year reached 680,000 units, up 78% from the previous fiscal year.

At a time when the overall growth rate of my country's home appliance market is slowing down and some large appliance categories are experiencing negative growth, Skyworth washing machines have been able to achieve results that have attracted attention from the industry, largely due to Skyworth's continued efforts to upgrade its sales structure.

Yang Dongwen, President of Skyworth Group, said that in 2016 Skyworth will continue to firmly follow the path of diversified, internationalized and intelligentized industrial development, vigorously promote the development of white goods industry, accelerate the high-end and intelligent layout of products, and achieve product upgrades. At the same time, Skyworth will also increase its efforts in white goods brand building, further integrate the group's channel and promotion resource advantages, and open up a large industrial channel of "internationalization" and "intelligence" for the white goods industry.

In recent years, Skyworth has accelerated its pace of international expansion, acquiring Sinotec, a well-known South African home appliance brand, Metz, a high-end German home appliance brand, and Toshiba's TJP factory in Indonesia. This has not only found new markets for its color TV business, but also laid a good channel and brand foundation for Skyworth's white appliances to quickly occupy the international market.

Against the backdrop of sluggish growth and weak demand in the home appliance industry, the trend of home appliance companies shifting from the stock market to the incremental market will become more obvious in the future. High-endization is the biggest opportunity in the incremental market. The active layout of local brands in the field of high-end home appliances will be conducive to the completion of the "Made in China 2025" goal.

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.