Sales of kitchen appliances gradually climbed

According to relevant monitoring data, retail sales of smoke hoods and gas stoves increased by 8% and 4% in April, respectively, and retail sales increased by 20% and 12% respectively year-on-year. Although retail data for May has not yet been announced, it is reflected in the information of all parties. The sales of kitchen appliances are in good condition.

In the second half of 2012, the real estate market started to gradually recover. The sales area of ​​commercial housing in the fourth quarter increased by about 30% year-on-year, and the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on May 13 showed that the sales volume of commercial housing from January to April this year was 297.61 million square meters. The year-on-year increase of 38%, of which, the area of ​​residential sales increased by 41.1%.

As kitchen electricity demand has a lag period of 6 to 12 months from the sales of real estate in the current period, the demand for large kitchen appliances driven by the warming of the property market is gradually being released. In addition, for example, hoods and gas stoves do not basically benefit from energy saving. With the subsidy policy, there is no demand overdraft, and it can be predicted that such high growth momentum will continue for some time in the future.

The kitchen electricity market is mainly concentrated in the first-tier and second-tier cities. As consumers’ brand awareness continues to increase and the price sensitivity is low, mid- to high-end products are becoming the mainstream consumer of the market. For kitchen manufacturers, sales are steadily increasing. At the same time, the low cost operation and the increase in the proportion of high value-added products will effectively boost the gross margin.

Taking hoods as an example, the upstream components of manufacturing companies are mainly motors, impellers, oil filters, etc.; resource supply is mainly based on iron and steel, copper and other basic raw materials, and the ratio of raw materials to operating costs is 80%. The prices of major raw materials such as copper and steel have been declining since the beginning of this year, which is very favorable for companies to control costs. According to the data, in the first quarter of this year, the growth rate of household appliances and electrical appliances increased by 23.2% year-on-year, and the largest increase was seen in all sub-sectors of home appliances.

At present, the market share of kitchen appliances is relatively decentralized and the industry concentration is low, reflecting the characteristics of small companies in large markets. Under this industry background, differentiated brand strategy and diversified channel expansion are key factors for the company to enhance its competitiveness and expand its market share.

Listed companies that use range hoods and gas stoves as their leading products mainly include owner electronics and Vantage shares, which account for more than 60% of the company’s total revenue.