Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine
High-end products take a bigger share
Domestic sales volume of washing machines posted 24.55 million units, a year-on-year rise of 2.7% from January to August 2018, and sales value 49.1 billion Yuan, a year-on-year rise of 8.05%, according to State Information Center.
“High-end market contributed most to the growth with products priced above 6,000 Yuan accounting for a clearly bigger part. China’s washing machine market is going high-end and front-loading.” Cai Ying, an industry expert from State Information Center, pointed out. According to him, full-automatic front loading washing machines accounted for 53.25% of urban markets by sales volume, up from 49.95% last year, and 73.2% by sales value, up from 70.77% last year. The average price of front loaders rose by 6.98% from 3764 Yuan last year to 4027 Yuan this year, while that of washing machines in general grew by 10.28% from 2656 Yuan to 2929 Yuan.
The trend is clear on e-commerce platforms too. Washing machines priced between 3500-4000 Yuan on JD.com saw sales value up by 29.8% year-on-year, between 4000-5000 Yuan up by 58.4% and above 5000 Yuan up by 46.4% this year, according to Sun Zhitao, General Manager of the Department of Procurement and Sales of Refrigerators and Washers at JD.com.
Fourth, fifth and sixth-tier markets grow fast in sales
“Central China, Northwest China and Southwest China, third and lower tier markets saw a clear rise in washing machine sales, which powers the steady development of the industry. Enterprises’ channel management capability will be critical for their market expansion.” Cai Ying says.
On JD.com, sales value of washers in fourth-tier, fifth-tier and sixth-tier markets grew by 30.8%, 38.7% and 45.3% respectively, according to Sun Zhitao, who believes average sales per customer in these areas have clearly risen. He says, “fourth-tier and lower tier markets have great potential to be unleashed, as JD.com deploys more and more experience stores in these areas.”
Dryers, washer dryer combos and mini washers surge in sales
While actively digging into consumer demands, Chinese home appliance makers actively develop new categories, of which dryers, dryer and washer combos and mini washers expand at a fast speed.
Sales volume and value of dryers grew by 33.6% and 54.8% respectively to 210,000 units and 910 million Yuan from January to August 2018, while sales volume and value of dryer and washer combos up by 73.2% and 70.9% respectively at online channels and 52.9% and 54.6% respectively in stores, according to All View Cloud. On JD.com alone, sales value of mini washers grew by 110.4% this year, dryers up by 166.2%, and dryer and washer combos up by 50.1%, according to JD.com.