"it is difficult to sell" traditional small household appliances market "in the first half of the year." cooling "new products continue to grow.

Affected by the epidemic, the time spent at home has increased. Last year, the small home appliance market "emerged as a new force" and its performance increased significantly. In the context of the weakening impact of the epidemic, how is the performance of the small home appliance market in the first half of the year?

The reporter recently learned through front-line research that in the first half of this year, small household appliances are "not easy to sell", and there are signs of "cooling" in the market. According to the relevant analysis, under the background of high base number, the performance of 2021H1 small household appliances may be divided: traditional small household appliances may face problems such as slow growth momentum and pressure on gross profit; however, the emerging small household appliance market with scientific and technological attributes, such as care and cleaning, may continue to grow.

"cooling" of traditional small household appliance market

"small household appliances are not easy to sell this year." An interviewee told the reporter, "in general, the product value of small household appliances is relatively low. In the past, many brands expanded their market share by price war, but this year, the guidance price of new products has increased, and the preferential treatment of used products has also been reduced. For consumers, the 'get price' is improved. Consumers are more sensitive to the price of small household appliances, so their willingness to buy is reduced. "

The person in charge of a home appliance store also told the reporter that the entry barrier of the traditional small home appliance industry is low, the product homogenization is serious, and consumers are more sensitive to the price of small household appliances than "large household appliances." so if the product price increases, it will indeed dampen consumer demand. In addition, consumers'"loyalty" to small household appliance brands is not high. From the manufacturer's point of view, a sharp price increase is likely to lead to the loss of market share. At present, a substantial price increase has not occurred for the time being, and the more common practice is to "reduce concessions".

The "cooling" of the small home appliance market in the first half of the year has long been a harbinger. Oviyun (AVC) monitoring data show that 2021Q1 omni-channel total data show that the retail sales and volume of small kitchen appliances (including rice cookers, induction cookers and other categories) increased by 2.6% and 2.1% respectively compared with the same period last year. However, in April and May, the online retail sales of small household appliances (including rice cookers, induction cookers and other seven categories) fell by 20.6% and 24.7% respectively. Retail sales of 13 kitchen appliances totaled 2.85 billion yuan, down 8.9 percent from the same period last year, and retail sales of 15.38 million units, down 16.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the promotion data (21W22-25 28 days).

One industry source said that the poor performance of the demand side this year may be due to demand overdrafts caused by explosive growth last year. In addition, enterprises want to adjust the sales structure to cope with rising costs, and more new products and relatively higher-value products will also have an impact on sales.

The profit level may decline.

For the market of small household appliances in the first half of the year, ao Weiyun analyzed that in the post-epidemic era, consumers' time at home became shorter, the housing economy failed, and the dividend of the epidemic situation of eating small household appliances increased sharply last year, with a high base, resulting in a negative growth trend compared with the same period last year. In addition, the rise in the average price of bulk raw materials and the increase in the terminal price of small household appliances has led to consumption hesitation among some price-sensitive consumers, which has also become one of the main reasons for the relative downturn of small household appliances in the kitchen.

In fact, judging from the data in the first quarter, the profit margins of a number of small household appliance companies have narrowed to a certain extent. The overall gross profit margin of 002705.SZ products has fallen from 23.67% in the first quarter of 2020 to 19.03% in the first quarter of 2021. The gross profit margin of 002032.SZ 's main business in the first quarter of this year was about 26.5%, up 2.5% from the same period last year, but lower than the same period in 2019. 002242.SZ 2021Q1 achieved a gross profit margin of 31.4%, down 1.9% from the same period last year.

Xinbao previously said that the company faces greater operational challenges due to fluctuations in the exchange rate of the RMB against the US dollar and rising prices of bulk raw materials. The series of price adjustments such as the company's price adjustment are expected to show gradually at the end of the second quarter of this year, and the gross profit margin and net profit margin will be repaired gradually.

002959.SZ also said that the rise in the price of raw and auxiliary materials in 2021Q1 has had a certain impact on costs, and the company has digested the impact of price increases in raw materials by adjusting product structure and raising sales prices. Q1 gross profit margin has not been greatly affected, but the price of raw materials has risen faster since the beginning of the year, which will have a new impact on the second quarter. The cost pressure is relatively high. The company will continue its previous measures to maintain a reasonable gross profit margin, but it remains to be seen whether it can be fully digested.

ST Dehao (002005.SZ) announced in March, because the small home appliance business is currently in a state of loss, and it is difficult to reverse losses in a short period of time. The company decided to optimize and adjust the export business of small household appliances (excluding ACA), which mainly retains medium-and high-margin, no-loss or low-loss businesses dominated by coffee machines and small motors, and abandons or sells barbecue businesses such as bread machines with low gross margins, serious losses or weak bargaining power according to specific conditions.

The materials of new products continue to increase.

The reason why small household appliances are so popular in recent years is that their products have many functions, fast iteration, low unit price and so on. But then, compared with large household appliances, this market segment is more competitive.

Through the on-the-spot visit, the reporter found that although the market of traditional small household appliances is under pressure, the sales performance of individual care and cleaning small household appliances is still above the average. Oviyun (AVC) monitoring data also show that from January to May this year, floor sweeping robots, cleaning appliances, purifiers and other subdivision categories have achieved both online and offline growth. 688696.SH 's semi-annual results forecast released last night also showed that the company is expected to achieve a net profit of 189 million yuan in the first half of the year, up 94 per cent from a year earlier.

Liang Zhenpeng, an analyst in the home appliance industry, suggested that for the emerging small household appliances with scientific and technological attributes and low market penetration (such as projectors, floor-sweeping robots, etc.), the gross profit margin has not dropped significantly at present.

Bohai Securities Research News believes that in the first half of this year, the prosperity of various sub-industries of small household appliances continued to show a state of differentiation, and the sales of traditional small household appliances were under pressure under the influence of a high base last year. With the gradual improvement of consumer demand for health, health care, quality and intelligence, the market scale of emerging small household appliances such as personal care and cleaning is growing.

It is worth mentioning that at present, many people in the industry believe that there is still a lot of room for growth in the small home appliance industry in the future. Xiao Xiong believes that with the upgrading of consumption, there is still a lot of room for small household appliances in the future, and the continuous introduction of creative small household appliances will bring new increments to the market. Midea (000333.SZ) said that at present, in the small home appliance market, the subdivided demand market is growing explosively and showing a diversified trend, and the diversified needs of consumers are more extensive, so manufacturers need to dig deeply. In the medium to long term, the small electricity industry should return to the competitiveness of the products themselves.

Liang Zhenpeng pointed out that high-end, quality, intelligence, science and technology is the trend of the home appliance industry in the future. The field of small household appliances will also seek greater market space in intelligence and high-end in the future.