Source: CHEAA-run China Appliance magazine

China’s home appliance industry saw retail sales value down by 14.13% on a yearly basis to reach 369 billion Yuan for the first half of 2020, according to a half-year industry report released by CCID Group (China Center for Information Industry Development under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) on July 27, 2020. With covid-19 prevention and control measures and consumption boosting policies in place, manufacturers actively make adjustments to ease the negative impacts of coronavirus, which significantly turn around the sagging sales. For Q2, retail sales value of home appliances on Chinese market grew by 2.64% year-on-year to reach 248.6 billion Yuan, which doubled the figure for Q1.

The report points out that most categories of home appliances experienced a shrinkage of market size, of which traditional large appliances were the hardest hit.

Of traditional large appliances, air conditioner sector plummeted most in sales amid coronavirus as an installation-needed category under the pressure of the coming new national standard of energy efficiency scheduled to take effect in July. For the first half of 2020, retail sales value of air conditioners came to 92.1 billion Yuan, down by 22.54% year-on-year. TV sector was also hit hard by coronavirus, posting retail sales value of 50.2 billion Yuan, a fall of 20.44% year-on-year. Washing machine sector saw retail sales value of 31.3 billion Yuan, down by 11.3% year-on-year; refrigerator sector 47.5 billion Yuan, down by 7.9% year-on-year; kitchen appliance sector 56.8 billion Yuan, down by 20.4% year-on-year; portable appliance for daily use (“life appliances” in Chinese) sector 91.1 billion Yuan, up by 1.45% year-on-year.

It’s worth noting that, high-end appliances has seen a noticeable rise in shipping volume as well as average price in H1. The report shows that, the average price of large-size laser TVs stood at 17,316 Yuan in H1, accounting for 3.3% of offline TV market. Three-door, multiple-door and side-by-side refrigerators took a combined share of 79% by retail sales volume and 90% by retail sales value. Tumble washing machines graded 1 by energy efficiency rose to take a market share of 75.3%. Vacuum cleaners charged more than 3000 Yuan accounted for 44.7% of the market by retail sales value.

As consumers’ healthcare awareness get improved amid coronavirus, health-oriented products that feature purifying, cleaning and disinfecting functions are expected to embrace an opportunity to rise.