As we all know, in the past two months, the sales of air conditioners as a "summer artifact" have been soaring, especially in the previous 618 years, the major brands have taken great pains to sell sales.
However, what is surprising is that in the final 618 air conditioning sales list, Gree, which has led domestic air conditioning sales for many years, did not miss the top two, ranking only third, while Xiaomi, which is regarded as a "thorn in the eye" and "thorn in the flesh" by Gree, has reached the top and become the leader of air conditioning sales in Internet channels in the new era.
For the performance of Xiaomi air conditioners this year, the official also said that the peak completion of Xiaomi air conditioners in a single day was as high as 78,000 orders, a year-on-year increase of 37%, setting a new record for Xiaomi's air conditioning service capacity in China. According to third-party reports, JD.com's delivery staff told the media that 2 of the 10 air conditioners delivered in 2023 are Xiaomi's, and this year this number has soared from 2 to 7.
In addition, data from third-party research institutions shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Xiaomi's air conditioner shipments have reached 690,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 63%, and its growth rate is "far ahead" among many brands.
The sales of Xiaomi air conditioners have been soaring, it can be said that they have won the attention of many media and netizens, and various reports have been reported one after another, and as the leader of air conditioning in the past, Gree, who has bet with Xiaomi and criticized Xiaomi many times, has lost its former demeanor, and as the leader of Gree, Ms. Dong Mingzhu's recent remarks have stirred up thousands of waves.
Dong Mingzhu said at the 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders of Gree Electric Appliances on the issue of [Xiaomi air conditioner sales exceed Gree air conditioner]: Recently, there have been many rumors fabricated on the Internet, and we are constantly fighting fakes. At the same time, Dong Mingzhu asked, Xiaomi said that it is the first place (air conditioner), and it all depends on other manufacturers to make products, what is your technology?" Who is the first, the consumer has a rod scale in his heart".
Seriously, we don't care about whether to fight fake or not, after all, who doubts the evidence, but the latter sentence directly loses the pattern that entrepreneurs should have, and it can even be said that they are a little narrow-minded.
Objectively speaking, in addition to its own Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Xiaomi air conditioners are currently independently produced, including TCL and Changhong generation, but this does not mean that Xiaomi air conditioners have no technology. Compared with traditional air conditioners, Xiaomi air conditioners are at the forefront of the industry in terms of intelligence, especially with the popularity of smart homes, young people prefer those air conditioning products that can be interconnected with smart devices, and Xiaomi air conditioners are far ahead in terms of intelligent experience, providing remote control, intelligent scene mode, etc.
In addition, Xiaomi air conditioning and Huazhong University of Science and Technology jointly built a technology center, innovative technology to help the air conditioning industry, the cooperation between the two, has achieved considerable results in the field of heat transfer and heat exchange, these progress is directly reflected in the quality improvement of Xiaomi air conditioner.
By the way, as early as 2021, the total number of Xiaomi smart home patent applications has ranked second in China, with 444, second only to Haier, including the scientific and technological achievements of the "Research and Application of Key Technologies for Multi-scene Personalized Intelligent Control of Household Air Conditioners" and "Research and Application of Key Technologies for Household Inverter Heat Pump Air Conditioners to Prevent Sudden Cooling and Compound Defrosting" The scientific and technological achievements of the project have landed, and Gree obviously does not know so much about it.
Innovation has never been a simple hardware innovation, including software, AI and other innovation heads are also crucial. Perhaps many years ago, Xiaomi lacked technology in many fields, but in recent years, software and intelligent innovation have been at the forefront even among many companies. As the so-called "Shibei was impressed in three days", Gree and Dong Mingzhu may really have to re-examine this opponent.
In addition to technology, an important reason why Xiaomi air conditioners are popular with consumers is that Xiaomi has the strongest supply chain integration capabilities in China, which can minimize the "middleman price difference"; At the same time, Xiaomi has almost no dealers/operators to make the difference, thus breaking the traditional production and sales model of Gree and other companies for many years, and the products are more cost-effective, so they are also more popular with consumers.
As for the brand image and market positioning, product design and appearance, marketing strategy does not need to be talked about, "Dong Mingzhu boot picture", "rose air conditioner", "Dong Mingzhu tearing Meng Yutong" and other events have made Gree's popularity among young consumer groups plummet, and unfortunately young consumer groups are also the core consumer groups in the current air conditioning market.
We don't mean to criticize anything, and we don't think entrepreneurs have to be at peace with each other. But for Gree, after a series of events such as betting with Xiaomi and going to court with Oaks, it is obviously a little lacking in online channels now. In the case of a single business, Gree obviously needs to launch more products in the field of air conditioning that can conquer young consumers, and unnecessary verbal disputes will not help Gree anything.