Appliance customization is still at the hype stage

Private customization of household appliances is now becoming a new way for citizens to personalize their consumption, and it has also become a new means of marketing for home appliance companies. At present, almost all household electrical appliances can be customized. The variety involves televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and kitchen appliances. However, industry insiders pointed out that in recent years, home appliance companies have launched private customized services in order to cope with the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. However, at present, there are still many obstacles to the service. Even if a few products that are called “custom home appliances” are actually only collectively customized Rather than completely personalized personal customization, according to this, the overall transformation and upgrading of the home appliance industry in the future still have to overcome various difficulties.

Appliance industry into the custom era

As the price war in the home appliance industry has become increasingly fierce in recent years, some e-commerce companies and manufacturers have also set their sights on "customization." According to the "Guangzhou Daily" report, the day before Valentine's Day this year, Galanz announced the launch of Tmall's custom brand "U" Love. In the first half of this year, Tmall Electric City collaborated with Top 10 brands such as Midea, Joyoung, and Supor to package 12 production lines. It uses big data to screen consumer reviews, product features, color preferences, and determines pricing ranges to launch 12 models. Cat custom models. In September, it added another five brands and 12 production lines. These products are tailored to Tmall's + cost-effective network and scaled production methods to provide cost-effective products for online shopping consumers. TCL, Skyworth and other home appliance companies have chosen to build exclusive internet brands on the Internet. Last year, Midea also created a custom production line for 13 products, including rice cookers, induction cookers, and soya-bean milk makers.

According to the staff of Dalian Haier Marketing Department, “In the real life, many functions of household appliances are hardly used, but consumers have to pay for those unnecessary functions in order to pursue their favorite appearance or a special function. The situation is very embarrassing.” It is precisely because of the current consumer individuation and the pursuit of cost-effective pursuit that Haier has responded to the needs of consumers by launching the "Commander" series of home appliances.

With the increase of online business and the demand for differentiation among merchants, the frequent interaction between home appliance manufacturers and e-commerce platforms has made “customization” popular. Jiang Feng, chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, pointed out that the current customization service is not a private customization in the true sense, mainly because the manufacturers listed optional menus for consumers to choose.

Private order is hard to do whatever you like

From the current point of view, due to various reasons, there are still many obstacles for some home appliance companies to launch private customization: First, only focus on the appearance, such as size, material, color, etc., but for the internal structure of personalized customization customer satisfaction is not high Second, some private customized home appliances lacked corresponding menus to provide choices. Customers felt that they were “narrow”; third, some private customized home appliances were too expensive and after-sales service was worrying.

In addition, some home appliance companies lack private customized home appliance menus, making customers' choices narrower. Providing multiple sets of menus can prevent customers from making whimsical demands and reduce production costs. However, the vast majority of home appliance companies cannot. Since the private customization of household appliances pursues personalization, the customization price is higher, but some companies pay high prices for their products, making it difficult for customers to place orders. Furthermore, there are loopholes in the after-sales maintenance of privately-customized home appliances, leaving customers with no confidence. Due to the different types of home appliances with mass production, it is difficult to find spare parts if there is a problem with a customized appliance, and there are some problems in fault quality determination. To this end, home appliances research expert Wang Wensheng reminded the public that custom home appliances should be rational: First, do not just focus on its appearance, after all, the most important home appliances is still practical; second is to cooperate with big companies, so that quality will be guaranteed.

Not only that, some of the customized services launched by some manufacturers cover almost all household electrical appliances. The varieties include televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and kitchen appliances. However, these custom home appliances are limited to enterprises through special marketing activities, soliciting consumers with similar needs to participate in the voting, and finally decide what kind of products to produce this kind of customization model. This model can only be called “concentrated customization”. Consumers with similar needs come together to produce the products they need.

Therefore, people in the industry are reminding consumers that when selecting custom-made home appliances among those who have already launched customized product services, they must also proceed from reality. When considering their own preferences, they must also pay attention to the customization of product-related services and after-sales service, etc. Choose a more mature brand, and you need to protect your rights in the face of problems.

Appliance industry innovation road to a long way to go

Jiang Feng, chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said in the second quarter of the China Business Economics Expert Advisory Council that due to continued downward pressure, the home appliance market entered a low point in the second quarter. In the first half of the year, sales of household electrical appliances rose by 5.3% year-on-year to 5,000 points in the 5,000 major retail enterprises monitored by the Ministry of Commerce. According to data from Zhong Yi Kang, in the first half of the year, sales of refrigerators fell 10.5% year-on-year, and sales of washing machines fell 4.8% year-on-year. The reason is that on the one hand there are factors that stimulate consumer demand overdraft policies, and on the other hand it is related to the current downturn in the real estate market. Jiang Feng said that the implementation of home appliances to the countryside in the past few years, trade-in, energy-saving policies to promote home appliances, while overdrawing some market demand.

At present, the impact of the “three phases” superposition on the Chinese economy persists, and the home appliance industry is also facing many difficulties and challenges. Enterprise innovation is imminent. In order to adapt to new market changes, the home appliance industry has turned to technology-driven strategies. According to Jiang Feng, at present, the home appliance industry has entered the period of the most active research and development with the most achievements. According to incomplete statistics, the R&D input of nine listed companies such as Haier, Midea and Gree reached RMB 10 billion in 2013, a substantial increase over the previous year. Due to the unprecedented investment in technological R&D, the improvement of institutional mechanisms, and the introduction of high-quality talents, a large number of corporate R&D results have emerged. In 2013, Gree, Hisense Kelon, and Jiuyang added 6,800 new patents.

In addition, in response to the impact of the Internet, home appliance companies are undergoing a full-scale transformation. This is not only reflected in the channel innovation brought by online shopping, but also reflected in the disruptive transformation of the enterprise architecture and operating model. He Yunfeng, vice president of Haier Group, said that the Internet has impacted many industries, and the home appliance industry is facing challenges that are either early or late. In the future development, we will carry out integrated marketing of resources, and the home appliance industry will only continue to innovate in order to survive. In the later period, we will also explore more updated marketing methods to attract consumers. From this perspective, the road to innovation in the home appliance industry has a long way to go.