Appliance market after the Spring Festival is still warm

The home appliance industry ushered in the first good start of the Lunar New Year, and sales of black and white electricity both increased significantly compared to the same period last year. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, sales of household appliances increased by 2.7% during the Spring Festival. According to the sales data of sub-categories provided by the industry agency Avid Consulting (AVC), the retail sales of TV sets for the 2013 Spring Festival promotion period (January 28 to February 17, 2013) was 3.06 million units, which was the same as last year's Spring Festival promotion period (2012). In comparison with January 9-29, the sales volume increased significantly, by 45%, exceeding market expectations. The sales of the white electricity market were also good. Both sales and sales of ice-washed air-conditioners rose, and sales of refrigerators rose by 25%. Spring Festival home appliance companies have won a lot.

Under the support of the data, the voice of the home appliance industry is about to recover, and the industry confidence index has doubled. The reporter learned that a number of second-tier air-conditioning brands have increased their sales targets, and many channels have increased their orders with the upstream kitchen and electric companies. An enterprise representative who did not wish to be named told reporters that the Spring Festival sales market is a barometer of the sales market for a year. The recovery of sales volume during the Chinese New Year period means that the entire industry has come out of the harsh winter. In 2013, the home appliance industry was favored.

Leading companies have expressed their prudence to “warm up? I don’t think so.” Su Zihuan, deputy general manager of Changhong Multimedia Industry Co., said that many consumers replaced large-size TVs in the new year and pushed up sales. Manufacturer shipment data shows that 46-inch, 55-inch TVs are very popular during the Spring Festival, and shipments have already accounted for 50% of overall sales. The increase in the sales amount also benefits from the pulling of large-size products. The demand for large-size TV sets for the Spring Festival family is even more pronounced, but throughout the year's market demand, there is no single flash point. Under the pressure of high stockpiles accumulated during the past year, the industry could hardly be warmed.

The increase in sales of white electricity is also significant. In particular, refrigerators, sales rose 25%, sales rose 20%. In this regard, Wang Jinliang, director of the domestic market department of Midea Group, said that it is difficult to judge the trend of the New Year industry from such short-term data. Last year, the sales of refrigerators were very bleak, and it was normal for small increases to occur at the end of the year. In 2012, with the overall macroeconomic downturn, the entire industry hit bottom and there will be a rebound in 2013, but it will not appear as the V-shaped rebound in the industry.

The company's cautiousness is due to the fact that the entire industry is still faced with many legacy problems in 2013, the first of which is high inventory. Appliance analyst Liang Zhenpeng believes that with the decline in home appliance market in 2012, sales decline, inventory remains high. High inventory occupies a large amount of liquidity, inventory depreciation rate increases day by day, increasing the company's earnings risk. Without clearing inventory in time, the industry can hardly be warmed up, and how to digest high stocks has become the top priority for 2013. Taking air-conditioning as an example, stocks have risen, but inventories of air-conditioning were 7,594,800 units in December last year, an increase of 5.02% from the previous quarter, and the increase was the highest in the month of 2012. The inventory of other categories is also high, color TVs, refrigerators are stepping up inventory.

Enterprises actively respond to the risk of policy withdrawals to restrict the rapid recovery of the industry, in addition to inventory issues, as well as policy risks. Some analysts believe that from past experience, in 2012, stimulus policies such as old-fashioned exchanges and home appliances to the countryside were withdrawn, causing a sharp drop in sales. The data shows that energy-saving and people-friendly policies have led to a substantial increase in sales of all categories, especially color TVs. The market demand has been greatly advanced. If the energy-saving household appliances policy is implemented on May 31 this year, the industry will once again enter a low tide. The relevant person in charge of the Konka Group believes that how much risk and impact the withdrawal of the energy-saving and people-friendly policy brings depends on how the company responds.

Companies do also anticipate the risk of policy withdrawals and are prepared to prevent them. Su Zihuan believes that after the policy is withdrawn, how the future market will be planned and how the product will be laid out, most companies already know what to do, so that the effect will not be obvious after exit. In terms of TCL, it is believed that whether domestic consumer electronics policies affect the domestic market and TCL will pay more attention to the development of overseas emerging markets. At present, the performance of overseas markets accounts for a considerable share of TCL's performance.

Sustainable policies help the industry recover In order to help home appliance companies get out of trouble in 2013, the relevant government departments have been planning stimulus policies since the end of last year. When the national home appliances to rural areas policy ended in December last year, there was news in the industry that the continuity policy of home appliances to the countryside is under soliciting opinions. In the future, traditional large appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners are not within the subsidy range, and energy-efficient appliances will enjoy policy subsidies. .

At that time, some manufacturers believed that the policy of home appliances to the countryside made some regional brands rejuvenate, but it affected the normal competition and operation rules of the market. Some regional brands diverted the market share of mainstream market brands. Most companies do not want policies introduced.

Yesterday, the person in charge of the Konka Group pointed out that in reality, companies do not want policies, but they want to introduce sustainable policies that can effectively promote the industry. If they are short-term effects, they will disrupt the laws of the market. Of course, the industry is not welcome. Su Zihuan stated that the formulation of all policies should proceed from the interests of consumers. Policies are conducive to the development of enterprises and industries in the direction of environmental protection and energy conservation is the most popular. In addition, the role of the policy is to guide, companies should not rely too much on policy.

Reporter's notes are the curse of radical expansion. High stock prices have become a curse on the head of home appliance companies. In the past five years, the domestic appliance industry has developed rapidly. Urbanization has brought rare opportunities for development to the home appliance industry. In addition to the stimulation of home appliances, trade-in policies, and other policies, home appliance companies have all earned profits, and share prices and market values ​​have repeatedly hit new highs. The past five years have been considered by companies as the "golden age" of the home appliance industry. Appliance companies believe that such days will continue, and accelerating the enclaves and expanding production scale will become the main theme for five years.

However, it was not long afterwards. The property market regulation policy has poured cold water on the household appliances industry, and sales of household appliances, such as air conditioners and stoves, which are closely related to the property market, have fallen all the way. In addition, a series of subsidy policies "indiscriminately bombarded" advances the people's spending power. Large idle production lines, over-qualified personnel, and high inventory levels have finally allowed home appliance companies to experience the consequences of blind expansion.

In addition, the expansion of home appliance companies is too fast and management levels have not been improved. Inadequate product control and frequent exposure to quality issues continue to ring alarm for companies.

However, the crisis sometimes also means a turnaround. Domestic companies have already taken steps to enter the international market. The use of product and technological innovation to buzz the door of the international market is the only way to deal with the shrinking domestic market. Enterprises in the scientific and technological innovation, specialization and work hard, we can rely on the policy of self-reliance to get out of the trough, reproduce the growth of the year.