How Do Small Household Appliances Reign in the Warring States Period?

Home Appliance Industry's "Last Bucket of Gold"

Refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions have always been the absolute protagonists in the home appliance industry and have long dominated the market.

However, in recent years, with the constant saturation of the large-scale home appliance market such as refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and televisions, the once-inappropriate small home appliances have been incorporated into the extension line of store products. It has won thousands of features in terms of fashion, convenience, and practicality. Millions of families favored.

To cater to market demand, small home appliance categories are increasingly subdivided into personal household items such as hair dryers, electric razors, and electronic massagers, and household appliances focused on electric fans, vacuum cleaners, electric heaters, and humidifiers. , as well as kitchen supplies with an electric kettle, microwave, rice cooker, juicer, etc. With a wide range of products and a variety of small home appliances, the sales volume in both supermarkets and online stores has been rising rapidly.

According to the person in charge of a large appliance store in Taiyuan Street, Shenyang, sales of small appliances began to blow out in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, it was the heyday of small household appliances, and the increase in sales once reached 30%.

The online market has become the frontline for the sale of small household appliances, and various styles of innovative small home appliance products have been particularly popular, with double-layer egg boilers, automatic kneading machines, garlic strippers, and bread machines, and a wide range of products. Prices ranged from tens of dollars to a few hundred dollars and even a thousand dollars. The reporter clicked on one of the bread makers. The product sold more than 1,600 pieces a week.

Today, small household electrical appliances have rapidly risen into the popular role of the home appliance market, becoming a new force in the home appliance industry and entering more families.

“However, judging from the number of households owned by each household, the possession of small household electrical appliances in our country’s households is still low, and there is great potential for development. Statistics show that the average number of household appliances owned by each household in developed countries is nearly 40, and China’s In small and medium-sized cities, there are less than 10 types of small home appliances held by each household, and the proportion of kitchen appliances and household appliances that have the closest contact with people’s daily lives is only about 20%, such as food processors and juicers. The household ownership rate of new small household appliances such as juicers, juicers, mincers, soya-bean milk makers, and dishwashers is still less than 15%, and this is only the level of use in big cities. Looking at the entire Chinese market, the market capacity is far away. Saturation has not been reached.” Chen Fujiang, dean of the Provincial Light Industry Products Quality Inspection Institute, introduced.

Due to huge market growth space and optimistic profit expectations, small household appliances have been regarded as the “last bucket of gold” by many production and economic analysts. Color TVs, refrigerators, and air conditioners have entered the era of meager profits after wave after wave of price baptism. At the same time, it seems that the small home appliance market, which has not been subjected to big shocks, has gone against the norm. It has shown high market potential and has become a fertile ground for the low-margin household appliances industry. To this end, domestic major domestic electric appliance manufacturers, Chinese and foreign professional small home appliance manufacturers, and emerging small-scale enterprises that have just entered the market are starting to compete for small home appliance markets from different perspectives.

Eradicating the living soil of inferior products

“There are no technical thresholds and lack of access systems, which are the main reasons for the problems posed by the small household appliance market.” Liu Shun, director of the “12315” Consumer Appeals and Reporting Center of Fushun City’s Industry and Commerce Bureau, has always been concerned about the small household appliance market. He analyzed that due to the simple technology of many small household appliances, basically using electric energy to generate heat or braking, the capital, technology, and equipment requirements of production companies are not high, so the threshold for entry is extremely low. For a long time, small businesses and workshops have always been Is the production of the army, many small brands, no-name brands and even no brand of small household electrical products abound.

Small-brand or miscellaneous brand small household appliances further lower their market prices due to low technical cost and low capital investment. Although the quality is not good, it is still popular because of its low price. For such low-quality small household appliances, many consumers hold the mentality of “can use it but not use it”. Therefore, quality is almost okay, after sales. The service does not matter.

However, it is precisely this kind of indifferent mentality that has given companies some unfavorable qualities, poor quality and after-sales consciousness. Some companies have unconsciously reduced the standards of product quality and after-sales service.

Nowadays, some domestic small household appliances enterprises have not been in business for a long time. They have not experienced too many market baptisms. The quality and after-sales consciousness has not yet been fully established, and the entire industry has entered a state of low-cost vicious competition. Among them, no-name small household electrical appliance enterprises especially do not pay attention to product technology research and development, plagiarism, copy of large companies' products has become a wind.

For this phenomenon, an insider of a big-name home appliance company that is unwilling to be named points out that strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights in corporate products will improve the above problems. Some no-name small home appliances, because of their lack of technical support, if the plagiarism will be subject to greater punishment, it will be slowly eliminated by the market, on the contrary, some of the more competitive enterprises are more able to withstand innovation and scientific research capabilities The test of the market. However, in order to solve the problem of the quality of small household appliances completely, it is necessary for manufacturers, distributors, consumers, and even the relevant government departments to make joint efforts to improve.

First of all, the government has formulated practical, regulated and reasonable industry standards to regulate the production process of small household appliances. From June 1st this year, five standards for small kitchen appliances such as electric frying pans, electric stoves, commercial soya-bean milk makers, pan-baking machines, electric cookers and similar appliances approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology began to be implemented. In addition to the standards, the remaining four standards were established for the first time. This shows that the country has more and more requirements for small household appliances in the kitchen, and the standards for kitchen appliances have been increased, requiring companies to produce safe products.

Secondly, manufacturers should strengthen enterprise management, strictly abide by industry norms, create quality products, attract end consumers, establish brand image at the same time, and do a good job in value-added service of products. In addition, as a distributor, we must strictly control the quality and sort out the supply channels. Finally, consumers should keep a clear head when choosing small household appliances. Instead of simply value the price, they should also pay attention to product quality and after-sales service. When faced with a problem, it is necessary to complain to the industrial and commercial department about rights protection.

At present, the law of survival of the fittest is being staged in the field of small household appliances. The industry is faced with reshuffling, and some companies will be marginalized.

Some small household appliances are disposable items

Many household electrical appliance companies are rushing into the small home appliance market, introducing more convenient and practical small home appliances, which add a lot to the small home appliance industry. After years of development, small household electrical appliances have been continuously enriched. According to incomplete statistics, there are no less than hundreds of small electrical household appliances on the market.

However, many companies have swarmed, resulting in the supply of small household appliances in the market greatly exceeds the demand, and innumerable big brands, small brands, and even unbranded small household appliances are flooded with sales terminals. Small household appliances market is the most prominent issue.

Not long ago, Tianjin Administration of Industry and Commerce carried out quality monitoring on 24 batches of small household appliances produced by 24 companies in six provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government in Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Hebei, Beijing and Shanghai. The results showed that the multi-brand products had failed the list. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce recently reported on the official website that in the latest monitoring of the quality of various small household appliances sold in the Beijing market, as many as 54 unqualified products with potential safety hazards were discovered, among which 8 types of household appliances failed to be contacted according to the site. The hidden danger is even greater.

The third quarter consumer complaint hotspots of the complaints and reporting centers of many industrial and commercial bureaus in Fushun, Anshan and other provinces also showed that the poor quality of products is the most frequently reported problem among users of the small household appliance industry, which also confirms the overall poor quality of the small household appliance industry. The status quo.

Chen Fujiang, dean of the Provincial Light Industry Products Quality Inspection Institute, deeply feels: “We are commissioned by the relevant departments every year to conduct random inspections on some small household appliances on the market. From the inspection results, the rate of disqualification of small household appliances exceeds. 10%, this is still a relatively good order in the market, but in some rural and remote suburban retail and wholesale markets, the probability of failure of small household electrical appliances may be higher.

Product quality is not guaranteed, making small appliances easier to damage or malfunction. While some small home appliances are difficult to maintain after the sale and maintenance costs are high, many citizens have to discard them.

Shenyang citizen Li Ayu recently encountered this situation. Her daughter bought her rice cooker in August last year. I found the cooked rice dish was cooked a few days ago. It seems that there was a problem. Aunt Lee contacted him by phone. The brand's after-sales service point, explain the situation, after-sales service staff told Auntie Lee, because the rice cooker has passed the warranty period, so the maintenance charges, home fee 30 yuan, maintenance costs 30 yuan, part charges are calculated, roughly calculated need to Hundred.

"It's too expensive. When this rice cooker was bought, it cost more than 300 yuan." Aunt Aunt could not help but complain. Because the store's after-sales maintenance costs are too high, Aunt Lee took the rice cooker to find a repair shop with a small storefront in an alley. After inspection, the maintenance master told Li Aunt that there was no accessory, and even if there were accessories, the asking price was not low. There is no way, Aunt Lee can only buy a new rice cooker.

In life, there are not a few people who have encountered the dilemma of repairing small household appliances like Li Axie. Once there is something wrong with the small appliances at home, they need to be repaired and not paid for high premiums during the period, and no one will manage them. Occasionally, one or two individual repairs are found. Departments, either lack of accessories, or repeated repairs repeatedly bad, many people eventually had to purchase new products, making some small appliances become a real one-time items.

"Smart" small appliances will stand out

How can we stand out in the shuffling battle and become a leader in the small household appliance industry, and many manufacturers have thought about it.

Right now, some home appliance companies have begun to work hard on quality and after-sales service, focusing on improving their own brand image. Some large home appliances companies have even established a single brand for small household appliances, and are fully expanding the small household appliance market.

“In fact, the development of the small household appliance industry is not only to enhance its brand reputation, but also to increase the investment in science and technology, and fundamentally change the genes of small home appliances.” Lu Shenghua, editor-in-chief of China National Grid, said that China is the production of small household appliances. In big countries, 70% to 80% of the world's small household appliances are produced in China. Recently, the export of small household appliances with a certain export volume scale has slowed down, and some products have even experienced a large negative growth. However, a number of small household appliances with a certain technological content and high added value have increased their export volume, and the momentum should not be underestimated. This means that the small household appliances market in the future will be dominated by household appliances with high technological content and high added value.

With the improvement of living standards, people are more and more particular about the frying and stewing of diets. The demand for living appliances is getting higher and higher. Not only does it require reliable performance, but also it pays attention to fashion and intelligence, so “smart” household appliances Will become the new darling of future consumption.

Today, some manufacturers have announced the delisting of low-priced small appliances, and are determined to lead small appliances into the era of smart, high-end.

The next year was known in the industry as a smart home appliance. The intelligent development of small household appliances, the development of the Yingxiong Network, and the construction of smart cities, especially the integration of the country’s overall network and wireless network infrastructure, are precisely in line with the future development direction of the entire society. Smart appliances will make life interconnected, and eventually realize "cross-border interconnection" and life will be more convenient. Traditional home appliances are isolated. When information technology is "grafted" on home appliances, non-information products will transmit information and begin to "think," "analyze," and "remember."

However, as long as you can catch up with the smart, the price of this product will often rise, the price of intelligent small appliances tends to be high, if the product fails, consumers will have to spend a lot of maintenance fees, and even some small appliances are not Maintenance. At present, the state only implements the “old-for-new” policy for five categories of home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and computers. Although some manufacturers have also begun to try small appliances to conditionally trade in, they will only be launched when staged promotional activities.

Experts suggest that when small household appliance manufacturers upgrade their technology, they must pay attention to control costs and do not pursue ultra-high profits in order to increase the market share of high-end small household appliances.

At present, high-end smart home appliances have no advantage in terms of price or quality assurance in the market. It can be said that the development of smart home appliances in China is still on the way.

â– Background hints

In recent years, the sudden emergence of small household appliances has broken the refrigerator, TV and washing machines to dominate the home appliance market. Small household appliances are becoming more and more abundant, and the fields involved are also becoming more and more widespread. From kitchen catering, bathroom care and even home life, small appliances are almost ubiquitous, and their development speed is far faster than the large appliances that have entered the mature period. At the same time, various problems concerning small household appliances have also arisen, and product quality issues and after-sales service problems have been particularly concentrated.

Not long ago, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce reported on the official website that in the recent monitoring of the quality of various small household appliances sold in the Beijing market, as many as 54 unqualified small appliances with potential safety hazards were discovered. At the same time, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Tianjin Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce also notified multiple batches of substandard household appliances.

Fushun, Anshan, and other cities and towns in the province, the complaints and reports of the Trade and Industry Bureau in the third quarter of consumer complaints hot spots also showed that the quality of small household appliances is worrying, and consumer service in the field of consumer disputes is even more presents a trend, maintenance of arbitrary charges, maintenance difficult and other issues Has become the focus of consumer complaints. So, why are the problems of the rapid development of small home appliances market frequent? How to change the embarrassing situation of small household appliances market? What kind of small appliances will occupy the mainstream market in the future? Please see this news survey.

â–  Consumption tips

To buy small household appliances, we must pay attention to everything from traditional rice cookers, drinking fountains, microwave ovens, fans, induction cookers and other small home appliances to air purifiers, purple sand appliances, ceramic appliances and other emerging household appliances. It can be said that today our lives have been separated. Do not open small appliances. However, in the face of a dazzling array of small household appliances, what choices should we make?

1. The product must be practical Modern technology makes small appliances more and more advanced, more and more complex, more and more sophisticated. However, no matter how good the small appliances are, if you are not practical, you can only spend money to buy a display. Therefore, the choice should be based on practicality. For example, if you have just installed a new home, but the odor generated in the interior due to the renovation has not been dispersed, then you can consider adding an air purification device to improve the indoor air quality.

2. The brand must have a well-known brand, a symbol of quality, reputation and good strength. A good brand will be meticulously crafted in every detail. Choosing a good brand is equal to choosing to be assured and satisfied.

3. Quality should be excellent as the same product, excellent quality, safety and reliability are always the most important criteria we choose. When choosing a small home appliance, it is necessary to recognize whether it is marked with the Great Wall Certification of China Electrical Products and whether it is marked with international safety certification.

4. Function must be sound At present, many manufacturers are committed to the development of functional diversified products to meet the needs of consumers for more than one machine, saving expenses. There are many functions of small household appliances, and there are many, when buying, it is necessary to check in detail whether the specification is easy to understand, whether the operation is convenient, and whether it meets the environmental protection and health requirements. In order to determine whether the small appliances you want to purchase can truly become a good helper to improve your life and improve your quality of life.

5. After-sales service to be in place After-sales service has never been as widespread as people today. Consumers should have a sober understanding of whether or not the after-sales service of a manufacturer can stand the scrutiny and whether it can stand the test of time, so that it can really bring practical convenience to themselves and effectively protect their own interests.

â–  New industry standard

Abandoned small appliances will usher in the "second spring"

It has always been difficult to recover the small household appliances industry. The reason for this is that the product is small in size, complicated to disassemble, and low in profit, so the general recycler is not willing to recycle. Recently, people in the industry revealed that the formulation of the second batch of “Disposal Catalogue for Waste Electrical and Electronic Products” has been started. The relevant plans are expected to be completed by the end of 2013 and officially announced in early 2014. Among them, small home appliances are expected to be finalists.

With the support of recycling technology, recycling laws, policy support, etc., the small household appliances recycling system that is both economical and efficient will be gradually formed. The problem of high recovery costs and low profits will be solved, and small household appliances will no longer be a one-off consumer goods. . Turning waste resources into waste will become the “second spring” of the small appliance industry.

Recently, the first batch of funds involved in the disposal of abandoned electrical and electronic product processing subsidies was 630 million yuan, which has been gradually distributed to the first 39 companies that have been subsidized by funds and have already implemented dismantling. This means that government-owned recycling of old appliances has entered the formal implementation stage.