Original title: Does the water purifier smell bad when the amount drops?
Source: Beijing Business Daily
On June 19, according to the latest Research Report on China's Water Purification Equipment Market in May 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") of Zhongyikang, the overall market growth of water purification equipment was weak, and the year-on-year growth rates of retail sales and retail sales market in that month were - 36.7% and - 37.2% respectively, which also predicted that the era of high growth in the water purification market had ended and the market was gradually entering the elimination race, And how to play a good value war and complete the sinking of the third and fourth tier markets has become the key for major manufacturers to compete.
The development history of water purifiers in China can be divided into three stages: the embryonic stage in the 1980s and 1990s; The exploration and development period from 1990s to 2000; The growth period since 2001.
Hong Shibin, an industry observer, believes that, considering multiple factors such as brand, product and enterprise, China's domestic water purifier industry has only entered a mature period since 2020. On the whole, China's domestic water purifier industry is currently in the transition stage from "soft demand" to "rigid demand", and the market has not formed a complete set of ecological chains, Thus, the market with great potential cannot break out quickly.
According to the report "2021 Water Purifier Market Year end Summary" by Ovi Cloud, one of the major changes in the water purification market is the expansion of horizontal water use scenarios and the upgrading of vertical water demand: "drinking clean water" and "drinking hot water" become the latest water purification demand.
"The growth rate of the water purification market in the past two years has slowed down compared with the previous years, but from the perspective of consumer demand, the water purifier has changed from the original optional home appliances to the just needed home appliances driven by health demand. At the same time, the water purifier is related to people's own safety and health, and the particularity of this product makes the industry as a whole tend to high-end." Liu Hongxing, general manager of Fangtai's water purification product line, told Beijing Business Daily. It is reported that under the overall downward trend of the water purification industry, Fangtai's retail sales and retail sales increased by 86.6% and 120.8% year on year respectively, making it the only mainstream brand with positive growth in the water purification market presented in the report.
The industry believes that the water purifier can be classified as the subdivision track of "comfortable home", and the popularity of water purifier is also closely related to the sales of high-end hardbound buildings.
However, it should not be ignored that high-end real estate is not only an opportunity for water purifier products, but also a shackle for their development. After all, high-end real estate is mostly concentrated in the first and second tier cities, and the potential of sinking market has not been fully mobilized. Take the fastest growing East China market as an example. In the first three quarters of 2021, the sales of water purifiers in this region totaled 186000 sets, with a year-on-year growth of 12.3%. Nanjing, Nantong and Hangzhou sold 26000 sets, 17000 sets and 14000 sets respectively, and only the three cities accounted for 30% of the sales in this region.
With the continued epidemic and the impact of relevant real estate regulation policies, water purifiers seem to have a hidden concern with the real estate market. Data shows that in 2021, the market size of fine decoration of real estate will be 2.315 million sets, down 13.2% year on year; In the same period, the omni channel sales volume of water purifier was 22.68 billion yuan, down 5.1% year on year; The sales volume was 9.286 million, down 8.7% year on year.
Zhang Ying, an observer of the household appliance industry, said that from the actual situation, the water quality of the third and fourth tier cities is slightly inferior to that of the first and second tier cities. Therefore, the third and fourth tier cities contain broader consumer demand. Whether it can take root and sink into the market becomes one of the keys to the success of the water purifier industry.
In addition to the need to "expand the territory" of water purifiers, the competition of alternatives should not be underestimated. According to the statistics of Guanyantianxia, the barreled water market in China will develop rapidly from about 82 billion yuan to about 96 billion yuan in 2018-2021. According to the statistics of Zhongtai Securities, from 2015 to 2020, the compound growth rate of domestic barreled water reached 14%.
In the face of strong alternatives, how will the water purifier be affected? Zhang Ying told the reporter of Beijing Business Daily that although there is an alternative relationship between barreled water and water purifier, they each focus on different consumption scenarios. For example, in public places such as shopping malls, office buildings, schools, and even in temporary residences such as rental houses, the mode of barreled water plus water dispensers still has its place. But in the family life scene, the water purifier is still better. Because domestic water is not only used as drinking water, but also needs to be purified for bathing, facial cleaning, beauty and even animal breeding. Family users need to take it at any time, which is convenient and fast, and it is obviously difficult to meet the needs of barreled water. In addition, the water purification equipment in the whole house is more intensive, and the functions of water purification, hot water and softening are covered. Although the price is higher, it is still cheaper for household users than bottled water in the long run.
The reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that in terms of the main functions of "6.18" water purification products, composite filter elements, large flux, intelligent monitoring, etc. are all selling points of manufacturers. In fact, with the increasing demand of families for healthy water, water purifier manufacturers are ushering in new opportunities under the trend of integration, health and scenario.
Liu Hongxing pointed out that water purification equipment can provide more stable water purification than barreled water, for example, it is difficult to deliver water to some areas during the epidemic. In addition, from the perspective of water quality, Fotile's new mother and baby water purifier innovation HR7, in addition to carrying the NSP selective filtration technology independently developed by the company, also has the whole process sterilization, hot and cold ready to drink, faucet scald prevention, splash prevention and other humanized functions to meet the needs of different groups of people for on-site purified water.
Jiang Jingxiong, deputy director of the Special Committee for Early Childhood Development of the China Association of Eugenics and Youths, said: "From a health perspective, the best water is water that removes biological elements and heavy metals that are harmful to the human body and leaves behind mineral elements that the human body needs." That is to say, the real healthy water is "to eliminate harm and retain benefit".
Beijing Business Daily reporter Jin Zhaoli Wang Zhuli
