Farewell to 2020, and people have hope for the coming New Year. Just after New Year's Day in 2021, when everything is ready, the strongest cold wave of the 21st century crushed people's expectations for the New Year. Suddenly, the weather was freezing and the blood volume of air-conditioning and heating had been lost, and the electric heater became the only "life-saving artifact", continuing the market's upward trend in 2020.

"Cold Winter" assists, market growth undercurrents

A cold wave that was caught off guard has become the strongest assist of the "cold winter" and completely activated a pool of spring water in the electric heater market.

Affected by seasonal factors, the overall market for electric heaters will be cold in 2019 and the performance will be mediocre. In 2020, the new marketing methods spawned by the new crown virus pneumonia epidemic and the continuous low temperature stimulation have made the electric heater market a complete turnaround.

AVC Cloud Network (AVC) push total data show that from September to December 2020, the retail sales of China's electric heater market was 25.358 million units, a year-on-year increase of 28.7%; retail sales were 6.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%. At the same time, the rapid spread of new marketing methods such as short videos and e-commerce live broadcasts has also enabled many brands to increase their online layout.

Lei Yan, head of Airmate’s domestic sales system, said in an interview with a reporter from "Electrical Appliances" that the new crown virus pneumonia epidemic has a huge impact on the development of the entire home appliance industry. In the first half of the year, offline channels were almost shut down, causing companies to have to use online channels and actively embrace New channels, new tools. Even so, she still affirmed the importance of the offline market. In her view, although the online market is gaining momentum, for electric heaters, the offline market is still a very important part. It is expected to regain its strength after the epidemic recovers and continue to play a role.

From the perspective of brand competition, the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" learned that in 2020, some brands will come to the market at high prices, which will dilute the market share of top brands and lead to a decline in brand concentration in the electric heater industry. At the same time, the continuous efforts of brands such as Panasonic, Mijia, and Fei Ersheng have also accelerated the changes in the competition pattern of the electric heater online market, and the market competition is undercurrent.

Faced with the increasing attention and the challenges brought by the increase in brands, the relevant person in charge of Midea is still optimistic. In his view, with the increasing attention of the electric heater market, the increasingly fierce brand competition is inevitable. However, compared with the offline market, the online market lacks a leading brand that can occupy an absolute market advantage. "In response to this situation, Midea will actively respond and use its existing advantages to further develop its electric heater business and expand its market share." He said.

"Qianlang" products retreat to the second line, new products have unprecedented popularity

From the perspective of category structure, all interviewed companies agreed that the sales of traditional electric heaters such as electric oil heaters and European-style fast heating stoves have decreased significantly compared with new fast-heating products such as heaters and baseboard electric heaters. According to data provided by AVC (AVC), from September to December 2020, the retail sales penetration rate of electric oil heaters and European fast heating furnaces in the online and offline markets has declined. In contrast, heaters have achieved a small increase in the online and offline market share, becoming the largest category in the electric heater market. As a new category with rapid development in the current electric heater market, baseboard electric heaters are developing rapidly. Compared with the high-speed expansion in the previous two years, kicker products in 2020 also played a "stable card" of "a slight drop in online and flat offline".

This means that the innovation of product characteristics and heating methods has become an important way for mainstream brands in the electric heater industry to exert their advantages. As another type of innovative explosive product with the rapid development of the electric heater market, in 2020, the graphene electric heater market will expand rapidly and the growth momentum is gratifying. Compared with traditional electric heaters, graphene electric heaters have the advantages of strong thermal conductivity and promote blood circulation in the human body, and are recognized by many users. AVC online monitoring data shows that during the "Double 11" period in 2020, 28 brands of graphene products will be launched, with a total of 52 models, and retail sales of about 53 million yuan. In 2020, the overall market share of graphene products is expected to reach 6.5%, and the scale of retail sales is expected to approach 400 million yuan.

In terms of heating methods, "customized heating for the whole house" has become a heating method that mainstream companies are more admired. In this way, users no longer have to worry about the differences between North and South and climate change. Whether in cold winter or rainy season, they can have different heating experiences in bedrooms, living rooms, and even bathrooms to meet users' heating needs in various scenarios. The relevant person in charge of Midea stated that, as a leading enterprise in China's home appliance industry that has been established for 51 years, Midea will provide consumers with higher-quality products through continuous scientific research and innovation, and promote the development of the industry. One of Midea's main products.

Different from Midea, Gree is positioned as the "warm guardian of the home" in the market positioning of electric heaters, and has launched a new generation of innovative composite electric heating film-film heaters based on the needs of consumers for different home scenarios. Fan. The product cleverly combines an electric heating film and a cross flow fan to form a top-down heating cycle, becoming a representative category of "close-to-people heating", providing users with comfortable and healthy home customized heating solutions to meet users in a variety of scenarios" The diversified needs of “close to people heating” and “whole house heating”. "In the future, we will continue to uphold the concept of'pursuing excellent quality', deepen the independent innovation of products, and continuously optimize and improve product quality, production technology, and safety guarantees, so as to keep the'warming off in winter' for consumers and further increase consumption The heating experience of the reader." Gree said the person in charge.

Industry threshold needs to be improved, intelligence and function integration become the development direction

Innovation has become an important driving force for the development of the electric heater market. Only by starting from the pain points of users, continuously innovating and launching explosive products can we promote market development and maintain market vitality.

Through further communication with relevant persons in charge of mainstream brands in the industry, the reporter of "Electrical Appliances" learned that although the cold winter has injected more vitality into the electric heater market, it also brought more development opportunities, but for the entire electric heater industry In terms of development, serious product homogeneity, low technical threshold, insufficient innovation, and potential safety hazards are still common in the entire electric heater industry.

Huang Yue, senior research manager of AVC's Environmental Appliances Division, analyzed from the perspective of market competition that the increase in the number of brands has led to intensified competition in the electric heater industry, prompting some brands to shout "attractive" slogans in product promotion , Resulting in a greater psychological gap after consumers experience the product. For consumers, it is very important for consumers to truly feel the upgrade of somatosensory effects brought about by technological improvements during use. In her view, as far as the upgrade and optimization of electric heaters are concerned, only when the function is changed from "concept" to "practical" can the user experience the best.

With the improvement of users' requirements for product experience, a number of products with richer functions, smarter and more user-friendly have appeared in the electric heater market. According to the reporter of "Electric Appliances", intelligence has become the standard configuration of mid-to-high-end electric heaters at this stage. In addition, functionally integrated products have also become a highlight of the current electric heater market. In addition to the more common electric heaters with humidification function, due to the epidemic, the sales of products that combine purification and heating have increased. The heat of products with activated carbon filtration, net ion sterilization, and UV ultraviolet sterilization functions has increased, becoming high-end electric heaters The important selling point of the device. Huang Yue said that in the future, the multifunctional integration of humidification, purification and heating will become the development trend of electric heater products. At the same time, the reduction of production costs will accelerate the popularization of intelligent electric heaters, and will also promote the refined development of intelligent temperature control technology.

Regarding future plans, the relevant person in charge of Midea said frankly: "We will continue to address the different needs of more users with'customized heating throughout the house', and truly make technology understand life better."

Lei Yan is optimistic about the development of the electric heater market. She pointed out that in 2021, the overall market for electric heaters is expected to continue to maintain high growth. Airmate will work hard on product innovation, continue to bring forth the new, and lead the development of new categories to help the electric heater industry move towards quality, innovation and intelligence.