After the continuous market winter of 2014, 2015, and 2016, the air-conditioning industry has ushered in a rare good year this year, and the air-conditioning giants are also scrambling to start a new round of capacity competition.
Air conditioner production and sales hit a record high
Driven by multiple favorable factors such as high temperature weather, the production and sales scale of my country's air-conditioning industry reached a record high in 2017 in the cold year. Both corporate shipments and terminal retail sales remained high.
According to data released by the National Information Center on August 25, in the cold year of 2017, the overall domestic retail market for air conditioners in my country reached 56.22 million units, an increase of 28.5% year-on-year, and sales increased by 30.5% year-on-year, setting a record for the highest sales in history. Among them, the key city market sales volume was 40.62 million units, a year-on-year increase of 30%; the fifth-tier and rural market sales volume was 15.6 million units, a year-on-year increase of 24.8%.
"Compared with historical data, the cold year of 2017 was the year with the highest increase in air-conditioning sales in 5 years." Cai Ying, deputy director of the Information Resources Development Department of the National Information Center, believes that the continuous high temperature weather that swept most of the country and the lag effect of the booming real estate market last year , The acceleration of urbanization, the increase in the penetration rate of mainstream enterprise e-commerce platforms, and the increased activity of the fourth-tier and below markets are the main factors for the substantial growth of the air-conditioning market in 2017.
Wang Lei, vice chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, also said that major air-conditioning companies have been producing at full capacity since September last year, and the same is true for the upstream air-conditioning compressor industry. In terms of output, including the upstream air-conditioning compressor industry, China's household air-conditioning industry has created a record high in the cold year of 2017.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from August 2016 to June 2017, my country's household air-conditioning output reached 165 million units, far exceeding the historical level in the same period.
Throughout the cold year of 2017, online channels have played the role of the growth engine of the air-conditioning industry and contributed to the overall growth of the air-conditioning market. Tang Shuai, Director of Operations of JD Home Appliances Air Conditioning, said that in the first half of 2017, the sales of JD's platform air conditioners achieved rapid growth, which was much faster than the same period last year.
In addition, the high concentration of brands in the air-conditioning market is still evident. According to data released by the National Information Center, the advantages of the top three brands Gree, Midea, and Haier in the cold year of 2017 have been maintained and consolidated, and sales accounted for nearly 75%.
In this regard, Huang Hui, executive vice president of Gree Electric, lamented that 2017 was the best year in the air-conditioning industry in the past ten years.
Be wary of falling into the "overcapacity" trap
Although the market share is further concentrated on dominant companies, with the expansion of air-conditioning sales scale, some regional small brands have begun to enter the market, and even some traditional channels and distributors have also begun to enter the production field.
On August 8, Guangdong Meibo Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd., a new player in the air-conditioning industry, announced the launch of the 1.0 public beta version of Meibo shared air-conditioning, hoping to get a share of the rental market.
Two days later, the long-rumored Xiaomi air conditioner was also unveiled. On August 10, Xiaomi's ecological chain company Zhimi Technology officially released the air-conditioning product jointly developed with Changhong and commissioned the latter to produce it. However, the brand used in this product is Zhimi and non-Xiaomi.
In addition, a number of new air-conditioning brands such as Xiabao have emerged in Cixi, Zhejiang, and Korea Electric, which was originally a refrigerator manufacturer, has invested 100 million in two air-conditioning production lines.
In fact, regardless of whether it is a first-tier brand or a second-tier or third-tier brand, air-conditioning companies have started a new round of capacity competition this year.
At the end of April this year, Haier said that it would add 15 million air-conditioning production capacity through new bases and existing interconnected factory upgrades. At present, 10 million sets of production capacity have landed, mainly distributed in Jiaozhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Hefei and other places.
Changhong Air Conditioning also plans to add 4.2 million sets of air-conditioning production capacity. On August 9, Meiling Electric issued an announcement stating that Changhong Air Conditioning, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, plans to invest 1.09 billion yuan to implement the relocation and capacity expansion and upgrade project in the Mianyang Economic Development Zone, and finally build a production base with an annual output of 4.2 million sets of air conditioners. .
And Oaks also announced that on the basis of the current annual production capacity of 7 million sets, an additional 5 million sets of annual production capacity will be added.
According to industry insiders, with multiple benefits, it is understandable that the air-conditioning industry will carry out a new round of capital increase and production expansion, but at the same time, it is necessary to be wary of falling into the trap of "overcapacity".
Zhang Yanbin, Dean of AVC Air Conditioning Industry Research Institute, said that there are not many air-conditioning stocks at present. The rapid growth of the industry in the first half of 2017 will overdraft the market in the second half of the year, putting pressure on the cold year of 2018. In addition, after the expansion of air-conditioning production capacity, once exports encounter resistance, competition in the domestic air-conditioning market will intensify, or price wars may be triggered again.
Innovation and change become the main theme of the industry
After the continuous market winter of 2014, 2015, and 2016, where the air-conditioning industry will head in the cold year of 2018 has become an issue of general concern and concern for the entire industry.
The air-conditioning industry has always been regarded as an industry that "relies on the weather", and the weather can be called the first contributor to the impressive growth of the air-conditioning market in 2017.
Cai Ying predicts that the overall scale of my country's air-conditioning market will be relatively stable in the cold year of 2018, but he also emphasized that the weather is the biggest uncertain factor. The uncertainty of the real estate market also adds uncertainty to the air-conditioning industry.
However, in the view of Lu Shenghua, the editor-in-chief of the State Grid, the weather is always an uncertain factor, and companies cannot stick to the idea of ​​"relying on the sky for food". They should make more efforts in product innovation and business model changes to weaken the influence of weather factors.
In addition, my country's air-conditioning industry is also facing challenges from the refrigerant policy level. Zhong Zhifeng, deputy director of the Third Division of the Environmental Protection Foreign Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, emphasized that the global policy trends in the field of ozone layer protection and climate change should attract the attention of my country's air-conditioning manufacturers.
Facing the upcoming challenges, various air-conditioning companies began to accumulate energy
In order to better cater to the consumption habits of young people, Haier Commander Air Conditioning released three new series of Zhishang, Zhimei, and Zhixiang in Chengdu on August 2. With a simple design and "HOME one key", strong cooling force Advanced technologies such as heat and self-cleaning create an extremely simplified smart life experience.
Li Shubin, general manager of TCL air-conditioning division, said that TCL air-conditioning will further promote the upgrade of its product structure to mid-to-high-end in the cold year of 2018, and promote flattening and high-efficiency sales channels.
The industry predicts that entering the cold year of 2018, self-evolution with product innovation and business model transformation as the main content will become the main theme of the air-conditioning industry.
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