After the Singles Day holiday, the air-conditioning industry lived a seemingly calm life. In the context of the sharp rise in raw materials, the major air-conditioning manufacturers agreed: we want to raise prices! Sure!
Some brands in order to believe that it is true, directly marked the price increases of copper, iron, aluminum and other major raw materials of air conditioners on the promotional map, looking at the straight rising price curve, we all agree that the price of air conditioners should indeed rise!
However, many things in the home appliance industry are unexpected, the ideal is very plump, the reality is very bony. At a time when everyone thought that the price increase of air conditioners was imperative, "home appliances" found on the e-commerce platform that in fact, the air conditioning price war was still going on quietly, and now some air conditioning prices are even lower than those of Singles Day holiday.
It seems that the price increase of air conditioners is only the good wish of some air conditioning manufacturers, but the reality is the severe market competition. As long as some brands take advantage of the rising prices of others to seize the market, the dream of price increase of the whole air conditioning industry will be completely shattered.
On December 17, Household Appliances Man saw in JD.com that the current price war has spread to new first-class energy-efficient air-conditioning products. Ox 1.5 new energy-efficient frequency conversion air conditioners sell for 2299 yuan in Jingfu and Jingyu, and the activity price in Jingyu is as low as 2149 yuan. Midea's Hualing 1.5 new first-class energy efficiency is 2299 yuan, and one new first-class energy efficiency is as low as 1769 yuan. Such prices are already close to or even lower than those of Singles Day holiday.
Compared with the low prices of Hualing and Ox air conditioners, the price of Midea's air conditioners is 2899 yuan, which is significantly higher than that of the first two brands, while the new first-class energy efficiency prices of similar Gree air conditioners are all above 3000 yuan. It can be seen that in this trend of rising air conditioning prices, Gree and Midea did not participate in the recent price war.
However, what worries about performance is the lethality of Midea's multi-brand strategy to the market. although Midea's air conditioners did not participate in the air conditioning price war at the end of the year, its brand Hualing directly grabbed market share with Ox PK, at the low end of the market, which is not good news for the air conditioning industry.
It is important to know that sales performance is also very important for listed enterprises of air conditioners. The products that can sell high-end air conditioners are all middle-and low-end products, and the consumers who buy these products are extremely sensitive to the price, that is to say, Midea borrows the Hualing brand to directly seize the impulse of the low-end market, while the price of Midea's air conditioners remains at the middle and high end. Stalemate with Gree. This practice Midea has tasted the sweetness in the early stage of the market price war, so he made another effort at the end of the year.
This situation persists, and if Gree air-conditioning prices remain high, they will lose a large chunk of the low-end market, which is unbearable for Gree for a long time.
In the face of this market competition pattern, Gree air conditioners have only two ways to go: one is to continue to join the price war to compete with competitors for the market; the other is to launch their own sub-brand air conditioners to fight against Ox and Hualing. Some time ago, there was news that Gree will launch Dasong air conditioner next year, which seems to be groundless.
"Home Appliances people" believe that the price war in the air conditioning industry will continue in the future, but the sub-brands have been changed among the giants, and the rise in the price of raw materials may slow down the progress of the air conditioning price war, but in the context of the overall decline in market demand, some brands do not rule out a "suicide" price jump when it is a matter of life and death. Taking a comprehensive view of the air-conditioning price trend in 2021, most manufacturers are willing to increase prices, but it is difficult to really land on the ground and promote it.
