022 This is the most difficult year in the three years of the epidemic, but it is also the year when the clouds are cleared and the sky is clear. This year, many people have experienced the longest lockdown, which has had a huge impact on work, life and economic income. Since people can't make money, they naturally have no desire to consume. As a result, the development of all walks of life has entered a low period, and many companies are tightening their belts and getting ready to survive the cold winter.
For the small home appliance industry, this year has also been ups and downs. Although the overall development situation is relatively sluggish, there are also some bright spots. The strong growth momentum of new product categories and the rapid development of new channels such as Douyin have added a bit of color to this year. Now, the three-year epidemic has finally come to an end. Next year will be a year of rapid economic recovery. I believe that the small home appliance industry can also usher in a more exciting tomorrow.
The ups and downs of 2022
Aowei Cloud’s omni-channel promotion data shows that in 2021, small kitchen appliances (rice cookers, induction cookers, electric pressure cookers. The total retail sales of 12 categories including soymilk machines, wall-breaking machines , blenders, juicers, electric kettles, grilling machines, electric steamers, health pots, and desktop electric ovens were 237.44 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.5%; the total retail sales were 51.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%. Last year it failed to continue to grow at the high point of 2020, and the market went downhill rapidly.
(Source: Supor official)
This downward trend has continued since the beginning of 2022. At the same time, coupled with the increase in raw material prices, many small household appliances have increased in price. The average online retail price has increased by 6.6% year-on-year, making sales growth more difficult. Secondly, the turmoil in Russia and Ukraine has made the global economy tense. Although it has not had much impact on the country, it has also caused a small number of people to have low consumption desires. They are not optimistic about the next economic situation and dare not consume at will. It also has a large or small impact on the development of the small home appliance market.
In the first quarter, the total retail sales of 12 categories of small kitchen appliances was 11.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.1%. If air fryer is included, the total retail sales reached 13.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.1%. Although the overall market is declining, new categories such as air fryers still maintain a good growth momentum. In addition, electric steamer also achieved a year-on-year growth of 49.84% in online channels this quarter, while the market share of new platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Pinduoduo is also expanding, reaching close to 30%. The rapid development of new categories and new channels has brought new hope to the market.
Unfortunately, a serious epidemic broke out in Shanghai in April, and Beijing also banned dine-in food one after another, and many people switched to stay-at-home mode. Although this has brought certain growth opportunities to the small home appliance market, the effect is far less significant than in 2020. Stricter controls, coupled with the impact on everyone's income, have made many people have no idea of shopping online, exacerbating the decline of the small home appliance market. Even with the promotion of the 618 Shopping Festival, the overall situation in the first half of the year was still very unsatisfactory.
The total retail sales of 13 categories including air fryers in the first half of the year was 111.36 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.2%. Affected by the increase in average product prices, the total retail sales reached 26.38 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.9%. The number of online small home appliance brands dropped from 1,910 at the end of last year to 1,568. It can be seen that the first half of the year was really difficult for small home appliance brands. Even large-scale programs such as 618 failed to bring about much improvement.
(Source: Bear Electric official)
What is unexpected is that it is the back-to-school season in September that brings about a turn for the small home appliance market. A notice issued by the Ministry of Education requires that labor classes will become an independent course in primary and secondary schools and require primary and secondary school students to learn to cook. After the notice was issued, many parents raised their hands to support it and began to purchase various kitchen appliances, which brought a short-term explosion period to the small home appliance market. In addition, the sudden rise in camping and peripheral tourism during the National Day holiday has also brought growth opportunities to the market. data shows that during the National Day period, online retail sales of small home appliances were 1.32 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%, and the average retail price was 212 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%.
However, after the National Day, the more severe global epidemic poured ice water on the small home appliance market. Large-scale epidemics broke out in Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, and Chongqing one after another. The Double 11 Shopping Festival suffered a huge impact. The retail volume of the small home appliance market fell by 4.8% year-on-year to 18.49 million units, and retail sales were barely the same as last year, reaching 4.31 billion yuan. Originally, if the growth momentum of the National Day was continued and a series of discounts on Double 11 were added, small household appliances were expected to usher in a wave of outbreaks at the end of the year. However, the outbreak was too violent and severe, completely disrupting all assumptions.
(Source: Aowei Cloud Network)
Of course, the market is not in despair. With the promulgation of the "Ten New Measures for Epidemic Prevention", various parts of the country have gradually lifted the control of the epidemic, and actively promoted the resumption of work and production of enterprises and the restoration of economic development. I believe that the small home appliance market should also recover quickly, and perhaps it will usher in new growth opportunities next year. The market still has great potential for development.
The performance of traditional electrical appliances continues to be sluggish, and new categories have become the new favorites of the market
Looking at 2022 from a product perspective, we can draw such a conclusion. Traditional kitchen and bathroom appliances are stuck in a long-term growth dilemma, and no big growth points can be seen in the short term. New categories of goods have become the new favorites of the market, and efforts to inject vitality into the market will become the key to driving market growth.
data shows that the retail sales of rice cookers from January to September this year were 9.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.5%; the retail sales were 32.47 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%. Among them, the retail sales of products priced below 200 yuan accounted for 36.3%, down 6.8% year-on-year. Although products priced above 500 yuan have a smaller share, they have shown a certain growth trend. The entire rice cooker market is gradually moving towards high-end, resulting in a sharp drop in retail volume in the market, but a less obvious drop in retail sales.
(Source: Aowei Cloud Network)
The situation of induction cookers, electric pressure cookers, food processors, health pots and other products is also similar to that of rice cookers. The volume and volume have declined in different proportions, and the market is also moving towards high-end. Compared with last year, the average price of rice cookers increased by 6%, induction cookers increased by 12.8%, and food processors increased by 15.6%. When it is difficult to achieve breakthroughs in sales, small home appliance brands can only drive the growth of the market size by raising the price of the products themselves. Unfortunately, this didn't work out too well.
Although the wall-breaking machine is not a new product category, it has a relatively wide range of uses and has achieved good growth in today's era of healthy eating. From January to September this year, its retail sales were 11.56 million units, a year-on-year increase of 32.3%; retail sales were 5.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. Moreover, the prices of products are also gradually moving downwards. The share of products priced above 1,000 yuan has declined in different proportions, and the price range of 400 to 599 yuan has increased by 9.9%. As products become cheaper and cheaper, wall breaking machines have greater development potential.
(Source: 九阳 official)
Electric steamers and air fryers are both relatively popular new product categories in recent years, and have been labeled with health and wellness labels, and sales have continued to rise. From January to September this year, the retail sales of the former reached 980 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 101.1%; the latter's retail sales reached 5.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 182.3%, becoming two dark horses in the small home appliance market.
It can be seen from the development status of various products that the traditional home appliance market has long been saturated, and the room for growth is relatively limited. Although a small number of consumers will have the need for iteration and replacement, it has been difficult to bring new increments to the market. Therefore, brands must make their products smarter and more powerful to attract more people to switch. For example, the induction cooker has a fine temperature control function to better control the firepower when cooking; the hot water kettle has a constant temperature function, so there is no need to worry about the water temperature being too cold or too hot.However, products with stronger functions are also more expensive. For example, an ordinary hot water kettle only costs 50 or 60 yuan, while a thermostatic model costs more than 100 yuan. The high price has become a roadblock that prevents everyone from replacing it. It feels difficult to find a new breakthrough point in the short term.
(Source: Xiaomi official)
Products such as air fryers and electric steamers can just fill the gap in current consumer demand. They can easily make fried and steamed food at home without having to fry or stir-fry every day. Secondly, this type of product can produce a wide variety of delicacies, such as fried chicken, French fries, etc., to meet the diversified needs of consumers. In addition, the products are relatively easy to use and have labels such as low fat and healthy, which attract more and more consumers to buy them. Next year, as the economy recovers and everyone's purchasing power recovers, these new categories of electrical appliances may have a stronger growth trend.
Development opportunities in 2023
Compared with the situation this year, the development of all walks of life will definitely pick up a lot next year. After the promulgation of the "Ten New Measures for Epidemic Prevention" in December, it can almost be announced that the epidemic era is coming to an end. Place codes in various places have been revoked, itinerary codes have been offline, and -positive patients have not been controlled, and production and life have gradually returned to the order of production and life before the epidemic. Academician Zhong Nanshan said in an interview with a reporter from " Nanfang Daily " that it is expected to return to the state of 2019 in the first half of next year, probably after March, and we still cannot be too relaxed now.
(Source: Weibo )
However, as long as we survive the last few months of the cold winter, next year will be a stage of vigorous development. First of all, everyone who has been tortured by the epidemic for three years will inevitably have a certain degree of retaliatory consumption psychology. At the same time, local governments may also launch a series of consumer voucher subsidy policies to encourage everyone to consume. Driven by this rhythm, the small home appliance market has good growth opportunities and should be able to drive sales growth. In addition, as all walks of life resume work and production, many migrant workers who had no choice but to return to their hometowns due to the epidemic will also return to big cities and return to their jobs. There should also be demand for various small household appliances, which is also a major opportunity for market development.
(Source: Supor official)
After these three years, I believe that more people will pay attention to food safety issues, and healthy eating and green eating will become a trend in the future. This will encourage more people to buy groceries and cook at home. After all, what you cook yourself is the healthiest. Stimulated by this demand, the sales of various small household appliances should be able to grow, especially products with health as their slogan, such as electric steamers and air fryers, are likely to explode. The current situation is indeed conducive to the rapid development of small household appliances, but it depends on whether the market can recover as expected next year.
Of course, the wave of growth brought about by the end of the epidemic cannot last long. If you want to promote market growth, you must ultimately fall back on the product itself. At present, many small household appliances are developing in the direction of intelligence, adding screens or mobile app connection functions to the products, making the products smart to improve premium capabilities. A small number of smart small home appliances are indeed very useful, but most of them are actually gimmicks, such as checking the running status on the mobile phone, checking recipes, etc. Being smart for the sake of being smart has no meaning at all. On the contrary, the higher price discourages consumers.
(Source: Black Cat Complaint Platform)
In addition, many small household appliances still have many quality problems. Searching for "air fryer" on the Black Cat Complaint Platform showed 2,428 complaints, and searching for "wall breaker" also showed 1,903 complaints. It can be seen that the quality and service issues of many small household appliances are still not up to standard. If we want more consumers to accept and recognize the product, we still have to improve the quality and experience of the product. If even the most basic quality cannot be guaranteed, let alone the high-end products in the future.
Summary
022 is an extremely difficult year for many industries. The repeated and continuously intensifying epidemics have not only seriously affected the normal production and sales of products, but also caused low consumer sentiment and little vitality in the market. Against this background, the overall decline in the small household appliance market is also being cleaned up. However, products such as air fryers and electric steamers can still maintain a large growth rate, which is enough to show that the products do have great potential. The small household appliance market has not reached a declining situation. Once the market can recover, and as product functions continue to be improved and strengthened, there will still be opportunities to revive and resume growth.
2023 will inevitably be the year when the economy recovers rapidly and everyone’s consumption power is fully released. The emotions pent up by the three-year epidemic will explode within this year, which will bring many development opportunities to all walks of life. Therefore, small home appliance brands should seize the opportunity and strive to re-heat the market in this changing year by improving the functional quality of their products, promoting high-end upgrades, or adopting cost-effective promotion strategies. In the future, small home appliances will gradually become high-end. After the average price increases, it will become more difficult to drive sales growth. Therefore, 2023 will be a particularly critical year for the small home appliance market. It is a year to restore market vitality and pave the way for high-end development.
