Moving forward with a load seems to be the label of the home appliance industry in recent years. Affected by the downward pressure on the economy and the multiple factors including real estate regulation, the household appliance industry's revenue has slowed. This also inevitably leads to the kitchen appliances market that has enjoyed real estate dividends for many years.

AVC data shows that from January to September 2019, the overall market size of China's kitchen appliances was 211.24 million units, a year-on-year increase of 9.07%; retail sales were 109.0 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.26%. Among them, the online market retail volume was 12.78 million units, a year-on-year increase of 26.72%; the retail sales were 38.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.61%. The offline market retail volume was 84.34 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 9.97%; the retail value was 62.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.44%. It can be said that the kitchen appliance industry has changed from the situation of sing and surging in the past, and has entered a new normal of low and medium speed development.

Although the kitchen appliance industry is under pressure, the industry is still optimistic about it, and many people even consider it as a potential stock. It is not difficult to find that the so-called downturn in the kitchen appliance market refers to traditional kitchen appliances, such as smoke cookers. However, the emerging kitchen appliances category is still developing. Even from the overall market data, the development of the kitchen appliance market is not badly driven by the consumption upgrade. The best evidence is the giants of the home appliance industry, which have entered the development of the kitchen appliance industry, such as Haier, Midea, A.O. Smith, and so on.

So when the traditional kitchen appliances category goes down, how to find new growth points is the top priority for kitchen appliances companies. Many people focus their attention on the emerging kitchen appliances category, which is naturally one of the roads, but there is also one that has been chosen by many companies and has even helped Haier kitchen appliances grow against the trend, that is, the overall kitchen ecosystem. Even deputy director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, once said, "In recent years, the trend of smart, fashionable and integrated kitchen appliances has become more and more obvious, which has greatly improved the user experience."

Take Haier as an example. Statistics from authoritative organizations show that as of the end of November 2019, the top three global sales of Chinese kitchen appliance brands are Haier, Boss and FOTILE. "Haier" kitchen appliances achieved revenue growth of 8% against the trend; of which the domestic market, Haier kitchen appliances grew at a rate of 10%, while the industry fell by 5.4%.

The biggest contributor to the counter-trend growth of Haier's kitchen appliances is not a single kitchen appliance category, but the "Haier Smart Kitchen" it created, which is the overall kitchen ecosystem mentioned earlier. The relevant person in charge of Haier Kitchen Electric pointed out that Haier Smart Kitchen is not a simple product stack, but rather achieves functional coordination through smart kitchen appliances, bringing a variety of active services.

For example, in the Casarte high-end smart kitchen scene, the "conductor" three-head gas cooker can stew bird's nest intelligently, intelligently adjust the amount of firepower, and automatically cut off the source of gas when the program ends. The freshness and moisture are locked and the taste is just right; the Casarte "conductor" coffee machine can interact with the user's voice, from the amount of cups, concentration, and water hardness, etc. can be personalized according to demand.

Coincidentally, it is not only Haier's family that creates the overall kitchen concept, but also the old kitchen appliances enterprise boss appliances. Under the pressure of the kitchen appliance industry, the relevant person in charge of boss appliances said that enterprises need to stand at the level of an overall kitchen space to consider issues and play a role of providing solutions for consumers to operate and design products.

So, the boss appliance introduced the concept of the overall kitchen. The logic is very simple, focusing on integrated cooking areas mainly based on hoods, steamers, ovens, microwaves, etc., integrated water areas based on sinks, water purifiers, dishwashers, disinfection cabinets, etc., and refrigerator cabinets, etc. Integrate storage areas and focus on building.

The relevant person in charge of BSH appliances also holds the same view. He believes that the lives of Chinese consumers have changed, and it is no longer simply a product and a total solution. Based on factors such as the small size of home kitchens in China, the variety of cooking methods, and the large amount of oil fume, observe the current technological innovation path of the enterprise side and combine the development trend of the kitchen appliance industry. In the future, integrated kitchen appliances with a sense of science and technology and interaction Will be fully reflected in the kitchen.

From these points, the concept of "building an integrated kitchen appliances ecosystem of terminal interconnection" by kitchen appliances companies can see that the consumer demand for smart kitchens is becoming a new blue ocean and opportunity for the kitchen appliance industry. On the one hand, it meets the core issues of consumers paying attention to the whole family atmosphere and wanting to improve the quality of life. On the other hand, with the background of 5G commercial, smart home, etc., for the kitchen and electric enterprises, the overall kitchen concept can fuse the various scattered kitchen and electrical categories and integrate the upstream and downstream ecological chains, which is convenient to meet consumer personalized custom services To meet the long-term development of enterprises.

Source: China State Grid