Air-conditioning industry will enter the new consumption era

The China Air Conditioning Industry Summit Forum was held recently. At this forum, the National Information Center released the “2013 Frozen White Paper on China's Air Conditioning Market”. Jiang Feng, chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, pointed out that after 10 years of development and precipitation, the Chinese air-conditioning industry has entered a period of mature markets. In the new market changes, air-conditioning companies must actively and continuously adjust and innovate in order to cater to new consumer demands and gain structural growth opportunities.

Demand is still weak

Cai Ying, director of the Information Resources Development Department of the National Information Center, said at the forum that in the 2013 frozen year, the overall sales of air conditioners increased by 2.92% year-on-year, and sales growth was higher than sales growth. “The growth rate of 2.92% is based on the year-on-year decrease of 25.12% in the 2012 frozen year. Taking all factors into consideration, the scale of consumption in major cities in China will maintain the level of 2013 in the next few years, ie the scale of the urban market will be 27 million to 2900. Million units, the overall domestic market size is 37 million to 39 million units.

Specific to all types of products, the National Information Center's monitoring data for key cities shows that sales of wall-mounted air conditioners increased by 0.05% year-on-year in the year of 2013 and sales increased by 5.27% year-on-year; sales of cabinet-type air conditioners increased by 17.90% year-on-year. 21.02% increase. Cai Ying analyzed that the current domestic air-conditioning market has not yet emerged from the shadow of the 2012 refrigerated year and demand is still weak. The industry is still in the adjustment period.

In addition, there is a new feature in the proportion of sales in the sub-level market in the 2013 frozen year. According to the monitoring data from the National Information Center, unlike the 2009-2012 freezing year, the primary market began to show a clear upward trend in the 2013 freezing year, with sales accounting for 63.73%. Although the sales volume in the 3rd and 4th markets maintained a year-on-year increase, the proportion of the market as a whole has basically remained at around 15%, and the rate of increase has slowed. The secondary market still shows a trend of decline in sales.

Cai Ying said that it can be seen from the changes in the proportion of sales in different levels of markets that the trend of significant growth in the sales volume of the three or four-tier market formed by policy promotion in previous years has started to slow down. In recent years, the overall consumer demand in the tertiary and tertiary markets has basically been released, and it is difficult to make breakthroughs in scale in the coming years.

Unlike the three or four-tier market, the primary market has been undergoing several years of precipitation. New housing, second-hand housing, newly-married and normal replacement and other procurement needs have made the air-conditioning consumption level stable. Moreover, consumers have higher requirements for the brand, quality and appearance of the products, which promotes the improvement of the overall level of the air-conditioning industry. The primary market will show another kind of competition in the coming years. This is a scale, and it is a quality competition. The National Information Center predicts that the annual sales volume of air conditioners for the 2014 freeze will increase by 3% to 5%, and the market is still in the stage of recovery and adjustment. The scale of sales in key cities is 29 million to 29.6 million units.

Really enter the frequency conversion era

Although the overall sales scale of major cities in the frozen year of 2013 did not improve significantly, there was a new bright spot in consumer demand, in which the sales of inverter air conditioners and sales continued to grow, making it a clear feature of the 2013 freeze year.

“The domestic market for key cities has truly entered the era of frequency conversion, and the frequency of sales of inverter air conditioners exceeds 50% for the first time. In the frozen year of 2008, this ratio was only 6.96%. From the analysis of product structure adjustment speed, there is still room for improvement in sales of inverter air conditioners.” Cai Ying said, “2013 refrigerated inverter air conditioner brand concentration has shown a discrete trend, brand competition is fiercer, the gap between brands ranked 4 to 10 is extremely small, the possibility of change in the pattern increases. In addition, the Japanese brand inverter air conditioner market The performance is relatively stable and the market share has slightly improved, becoming the strongest competitor for high-end products of domestic brands."

Cai Ying predicts: “In the 2014 frozen year, the proportion of sales of inverter air conditioners will continue to increase, or reach 55%.”

High-end product consumption concept is recognized

At this forum, the “Electrical” reporter learned that the sales of air conditioners with high quality and high prices, which are typical of locker machines, have steadily increased, becoming a notable feature of the 2013 refrigeration annual air-conditioning market. This also indicates that enterprises have adopted product structure adjustments. Cater to the changes in the level of end-use consumption.

Cai Ying said that after many years of market cultivation, coupled with the rapid development of the domestic real estate market in recent years, the housing conditions of residents have been significantly improved, and the consumer demand for counters in key domestic markets has gradually increased. Among the current major categories, the cabinet machine's contribution to sales is outstanding. According to the monitoring data from the National Information Center, from 2009 to 2013, the sales of counters increased from 12.34% to 18.62%, and the sales ratio increased from 25.32% to 34.26%. In the 2013 frozen year, the overall sales volume of counters increased by 17.90% year-on-year, and sales increased by 21.02% year-on-year, far higher than the overall sales volume and sales growth of air conditioners. “This shows that in the domestic air-conditioning market, although the overall scale of demand has not been significantly increased, the level of consumption has been gradually escalating. Changes in the consumption structure will inevitably lead to changes in the product mix, and brand competition will be fierce.”

The “Electrical” reporter learned that with the deepening of product structure adjustments, the 2013 freeze-year annual domestic air-conditioning market price level continued the running trend of the 2011 freeze year, and high-quality, high-price consumer attitudes were gradually accepted by consumers. According to the monitoring data from the National Information Center, the average price of wall-mounted air conditioners in domestic key markets rose from 2,547 yuan/unit to 3,059 yuan/unit in the frozen year from 2011 to 2013. The average price of counters increased from 6,355 yuan/unit to 6,968 yuan/unit, and the overall air-conditioning The price rose from 3,283 yuan/station to 3,789 yuan/station, a year-on-year increase of 7%.

Cai Ying predicts that from the perspective of industry development, the overall price stability and rise in the air-conditioning market will play an important role in the digestion of production companies' inventory and the maintenance of profit stability. The stable price level also shows that the market competition of production companies is more rational and the effect of product mix adjustment in the air-conditioning industry is apparent. As a result, "structural adjustment" and "steady growth" will be the core objectives of the future development of the domestic air-conditioning industry.