The growth of China’s home appliance industry has always been regarded as a symbol of China’s success in the global manufacturing industry’s competitive market. Furthermore, these results have increasingly been reflected in the matured professional and comprehensive home appliance expos. In the past few days at Shanghai New International Expo Center, participating in the 2014 Appliance World Expo (AWE2014) organized by China Household Electrical Appliances Association, I personally witnessed more than 500 Chinese and international well-known household appliance manufacturers face off on the same stage and also cooperate on their mutual undertaking. I was even able to physically experience China’s home appliance manufacturer’s voluntarily embrace smart technology, push the internet technology’s innovation brought thriving vitality. At the same time, I also strongly felt that China’s comprehensive electronics expos had already come out of their low point, had won back the trust and support of home appliance brands, and are currently heading towards becoming more professional and international exhibition platforms.
Like I mentioned, these years I no longer work on the front line of appliance industry reporting. However, I still have a special anticipation for Chinese or foreign comprehensive home appliance expositions. And when there’s the opportunity, I do my best to attend the expo in person. One reason is to directly see which products appliance manufacturers are exhibiting for the market, their new products and premium goods, and also to observe the weather vane on companies’ campaigns in the competitive market. Another reason to attend is the opportunity to interview many normally hard to reach industry heads in one place. Especially I enjoy attending the summits and listening closely as their viewpoints battle and pieces of wisdom collide. This is like listening to a feast of ideas, where each party is allowed to eat to their heart’s content.
Chinese home appliance expos of all classes are thriving through changes and difficulties, and clearly noting that Chinese appliance expos are heading towards maturity, professionalism booming, forming a truly internationally impactful course. Ten or so years ago I had just started covering the home appliance industry. Then, there was the Beijing Science Expo, Qingdao Home Expo, Shunde Home Appliance Expo, Guangzhou’s China Export Commodities Fair, Shenzhen’s Top Export Fair, Hong Kong’s Electronics Fair, etc. I attended them practically every year and each year it was very spectacular. And at that time, most of them were organized by the government at some level, each doing their best to help the area’s manufacturers advance the expo financially and shouting in unison slogans about internationalizing the expo.
After a few years, market competition set in, and professional home appliance expos started to split apart. Shunde’s home appliance expo slowly became a small home appliance components and parts expo; Qingdao’s home expo although managing to gain a reputation as China’s CES, slowly devolved into family strife between local giants Haier and Hisense. Shenzhen’s High Commerce Fair, Guanzhou’s China Export Commodities Fair, Hong Kong’s Electronics Fair, due to their focus on exports, reduced their platforms for dialogue. During this time period, AWE moved to Shanghai to be held there, it indirectly reinvigorated the Yangtze River Delta area’s home appliance expos, motivating them to reveal their outstanding talent.
After the Beijing Olympics, following the beat of the Internet era, China’s household appliance companies started to internationalize on a large scale, participating in the enthusiastic rise of international expos. IFA rose to power, CES became fashionable, and they became a hot topic with regards to packaging and publicity. Unfortunately from personal experience, I have come to realize that while their ability to arouse attention is real, their rise to power is a bit overrated. But even so, Chinese home appliance companies continue to participate in the world’s top expos, strengthening their confidence and capability to participate in the globalized market competition. At the same time, this type of inter-industry competition, dialogue, and exhibition experience directly motivated China’s domestic expo organizers to throw away provincialism. Also, this raised the level of professionally run expos, strengthened the service at professional expos, and allowed China’s domestic home appliance expos to renew, their direction becoming even more mature, professional, and focused.
From my observations at AWE 2014, there is still some distance to go before reaching the organizer’s expectation of being on par with the world’s first-class shows IFA and CES. However, AWE has successfully attracted Chinese and foreign home appliance brands to gather in one spot. They are making solid progress on the fronts of new product exhibitions, information transfer, supply chain assembly, brand service. As a result, they have come to be known as China’s and also Asia’s top comprehensive home appliance expo. AWE 2014’s exhibition contents include traditional white goods, brown goods, kitchen appliances, small home appliances, and similar lines of products. Diversifying further, also exhibited are air purifiers, water dispensers, and other environmental home appliances, vacuum cleaners, oil press appliances and other daily use appliances, massage chairs, foot baths, and other health appliances, mahjong tables and other entertainment technology appliances, not to mention other emerging markets. This not only enlarges the home appliance industry’s side, but also gives visitors something new to look at.
If I can criticize this year’s expo on one point, it would be the following. Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung, LG and other foreign TV giants all brought their latest high-end, smart, big screen TVs. On the other hand, China’s Hisense, Konka, and other domestic big names in television manufacturing, said their technology had nothing to fear, but in actuality they did not utilize the display platform at their doorsteps. This was an opportunity to show their confidence and determination on the same stage as their competitors, but they didn’t take it, which is truly a shame.