Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine

Consumers’ rising awareness of healthcare and pursuit of comfort amid the pandemic bring opportunities as well as challenges to residential water solution industries including water heater industry and water purifier industry. Given the fast-growing demand for healthy water solutions, a whole-house water solution summit was organized online by CHEAA.COM under the guidance of China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA) on May 31, 2022.

Industry updating

The flare-ups of COVID-19, slowing property market and high raw material price put home appliance market especially water heater sector and water purifier sector under pressure in Q1 2022.

Both electric storage water heaters and gas water heaters slid in market size with the sales volume of electric water heaters down 20.7% YoY at 4.079 million units and sales value down 18.9% YoY at 4.9 billion Yuan for Q1 2022, and the sales volume of gas water heaters down 16.6% YoY at 2.55 million units and sales value down 17% YoY at 5.13 billion Yuan for the same period, according to All View Cloud.

Water purifier market was sluggish too. The sales volume and sales value of water purifiers down 31.16% and 26.81% YoY respectively at offline market and down 28.93% and 16.88% YoY respectively at online market for Q1 2022; the sales volume and sales value of drinking water purifiers down 51.89% and 46.93% YoY respectively at offline market and down 18.27% and 11.77% respectively at online market, according to All View Cloud.

Water heater industry and water purifier industry are experiencing an upgrading with 60L, slim, high-power electric water heaters, 16L, zero-cold-water gas water heaters and gas water heaters with water pressure boosting function, 600G+ water purifiers and RO water purifiers with heating function taking a rising share of the offline market in Q1 2022. It’s worth noting that the average price of water purification end products including water purifiers, prefilters and drinking water purifiers is going up, meaning the industry is shifting from a price war to a value war.

Whole-house scenarios-based water solutions

Home appliance industry is transitioning from individual products to scenario-based solutions. Water purifier industry have been joining hands with home furnishing industry and water heater industry to explore more water solutions of a smart home.

The upgrading from individual products to scenario-based solutions is a reflection of users’ demand as well as a path that enterprises take to achieve growth amid the intensified market competition.

Consumers are increasingly concerned with healthy water solutions in scenarios including drinking, cooking, cleaning and laundering that generate consumer demands including temperature adjustment, mineralized water, softened water and sparkling water. It drives water heater industry and water purifier industry to upgrade to accommodate to it.

In this context, industry players put more efforts into the development of systemic solutions. Many leading enterprises have rolled out whole-house water solutions such as the whole-house water solution from Three Winged Bird of Haier, several COLMO packages from Haier, the AI-LiNK smart IoT system from A.O. Smith, the AI kitchen and bathroom space from Vanward and the whole-house water purification system from Angel.

At the same time, consumers’ demand for cleaner water in the shower for the sake of skincare drives the development of water heaters with filter. The industry has upgraded functions such as filtering, high-temperature bacteria killing and instant water supplying to functions such as visual water quality monitoring, smart self-detecting and self-cleaning, and water softening. It is learned that models with skincare function as a selling point saw a rise in market share month over month in Q1 2022.

Standardization

CHEAA standard Safe service life for household electrical appliances Part 7: Household drinking water purifier, numbered T/CHEAA 0011.7-2022, has been officially released on April 18, 2022 and has since taken effect.

The standard provides a safety and technical guidance and a standard reference for enterprises in the R&D, manufacturing and maintenance of products while delivers a consumption concept to consumers. It is expected to promote the development of the industry.