Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance Magazine
The lackluster vacuum cleaner market is embracing an opportunity to expand in recent two years after staying flat for 20 years, posting a retail sales growth of 18% year-on-year from January to May and an estimated growth of more than 20% for the first half of 2018, according to Gfk. The sector started to rally in the second half of 2016, grew for the first time in the first half of 2017 by 7% year-on-year, which jumped to more than 16% in the second half same year. The unleashed market draws the eyes of a flock of industry players, including specialized brands such as Dyson, Lexy, Electrolux, Puppy and Proscenic, comprehensive brands such as Panasonic, LG, Midea, Philips and Haier, and even Roidmi, a brand within Xiaomi’s ecosystem. Besides, Joyoung, a Chinese kitchen appliance maker, also entered the market in July this year by buying 51% stake of Shark.
Liu Xin, Product and Marketing Manager of Electrolux, believes that, this ¥15bn market with increasing brands could further integrate along with the intensification of market competition, the rising recognition of consumers and the diversification of their demands.
Cordless handheld vacuum cleaners grew faster than the rest of cleaning products including upright vacuums, canister vacuums, and robotic vacuums. Online sales of cordless vacuum cleaners jumped by 30.2% year-on-year to 15.668 million units in 2017, of which cordless handheld stick vacuums grew the fastest with the offline market share up by 11% year-on-year, according to China Market Monitor. Working in the industry for 15 years, Ren Huaiqiang, Chief Research Engineer of TEK, tells our reporter that, as cordless handheld vacuums and robotic vacuums surge in sales, dust mite controllers see a slowdown, corded vacuums plunge and canister vacuums barely have any ground left.
Through the interviews, China Appliance reporter learns that cordless handheld vacuums have advantages over traditional vacuums in some ways. Capable of cleaning food debris easily, the small appliance could reach the dust buster of sofa, wall, stairs and other hard-to-reach areas by adding different attachments. What’s more, it’s easy for storage and can be mounted on the wall, meeting the demand of many families who are looking for simplicity.
The surge is believed to be driven by technology, particularly the updated performance of brushless motors and batteries, as well as tangle-free attached brushes. Targeting Chinese consumers with demands for products that are useful, easy-to-use and smart, enterprises put efforts in researches regarding motor, battery life, charging time, noise level, product weight, working time and suction power, while take industrial design and aestheticism into account.
Interviewed enterprises are confident with the future development of cordless handheld vacuums which boast of healthy, safe, convenient, cleaning experience, meeting consumers’ needs to elevate living quality. But they also point out that suction power and working time of this product needs to be improved for better user experience.