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Recently, the "dispute between Xiaomi and Gree air conditioner" has attracted attention and heated discussions. As early as the end of June, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, faked Xiaomi air conditioners to be the first in online sales during the 618 period, and questioned its technological innovation capabilities and OEM model. "Xiaomi claims to be the first on the Internet, but it is all products made by other manufacturers, what is your technology?" She also said: "Xiaomi says that it is the first, who is the first, consumers have a rod scale in their hearts."
In this regard, Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi Group, responded, "During this time, Sister Dong (Dong Mingzhu) said that Xiaomi was pretending to be the first, I checked carefully, and no one and no one said on any occasion that Mi's air conditioner was the first." In the first half of this year, Xiaomi's air conditioner ranked fourth. The gap between Xiaomi and Gree is still very far, which means that we still have a lot of room for improvement, and we must continue to learn from Gree. ”
On the evening of July 23, in the live broadcast of the return of the 2024 annual speech, Lei Jun talked about Xiaomi air conditioning being criticized by Dong Mingzhu again, he said: "Sister Dong criticized us and said that we pretended to be the first, we really didn't pretend, we really ranked fourth, after Sister Dong criticized us, to tell the truth (Xiaomi air conditioner) became more popular." Maybe you didn't pay attention to Xiaomi air conditioner before, as soon as this big sister Dong criticized us, our air conditioner became more well-known and improved a lot. ”
It is worth mentioning that,With the arrival of high temperature in summer and 618 promotion,The air conditioning market is also extremely hot,Many air conditioning brands are active in the market,Among them, Xiaomi air conditioners have sprung up,According to Jingdong delivery staff,7 of the 10 air conditioners they sent out are Xiaomi's。 Data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Xiaomi's air conditioner shipments will reach 690,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 63%. In addition, there are also data showing that the peak of Xiaomi air conditioners completed in a single day is as high as 78,000 orders, a year-on-year increase of 37%.
Recently, Xiaomi has also established its own manufacturing plant in Wuhan, namely Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., which marks Xiaomi's gradual realization of self-built production of air conditioning products.
Looking back at the development of the air conditioning industry:
-- Production and sales of air conditioners
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the output of air conditioners in the mainland was relatively stable from 2010 to 2016, and from 2017 to 2019, under the influence of inventory, weather, and the improvement of market demand at the third and fourth levels, the output of air conditioners in the mainland continued to increase, and the output of air conditioners in 2019 peaked at 218.662 million units. Affected by the epidemic, China's air conditioning production reached 210.646 million units in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%. In 2021, the economy has improved, and the output of air conditioners from January to November will be 197.414 million units, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year
From 2016 to 2020, the domestic sales volume of air conditioners in China fluctuated, and the sales volume of air conditioners peaked in 2018 at 151.748 million units; Affected by the epidemic, the domestic sales of air conditioners in 2020 will be 141.464 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6%.
-- Sales of central air conditioners
Since the beginning of 2022, the recurrence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has inhibited the growth of central air conditioning market demand, and the continuous rise in raw materials has increased the production pressure of enterprises. In addition, the downturn in the real estate market has also had an impact on the central air-conditioning market, resulting in a decline in the sales of China's central air-conditioning products in 2022, according to the statistics of V-Ke HVAC, the sales volume of China's central air-conditioning market in 2022 will decline by 2.96%.
-- The output of intelligent air conditioners
With the slowdown in the growth of the traditional air-conditioning market, home appliance companies have begun to look for new growth points in the air-conditioning market, and smart air conditioners have gradually attracted the attention of large home appliance companies, and the mainland smart air-conditioning market has gradually developed. According to the preliminary calculation of the penetration rate of smart air conditioners and the output of air conditioners in mainland China, the output of smart air conditioners in mainland China will be about 146 million units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 1.89%.
Wang Lei, secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said that in recent years, the sales of air conditioning market have fluctuated greatly, and manufacturers should focus on the long-term trend of the industry while paying attention to the short-term behavior of the market.
Zhao Meimei, assistant to the president and general manager of the research and innovation department of Aowei cloud network, said that from the perspective of industrial upgrading, new selling points such as health sterilization and fresh air have gradually become a winning weapon for enterprises to improve product premiums. Overall, although there is overdraft pressure on demand in the cold year of 2024, in the long run, the industry is still in a normal cycle of circular development.
Jin Hailong, general manager of Guangzhou Panasonic Air Conditioner Co., Ltd., said that there are currently two mainstream trends in the air conditioning industry, one is health and comfort, and the other is low-carbon development.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Market Demand Forecast and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report of China's Domestic Air Conditioning Industry" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute
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