During the Spring Festival this year, a reporter from securities daily visited a number of home appliance stores. On the whole, affected by the epidemic, the passenger flow was scarce, but this did not affect the enthusiasm of major home appliance stores. Promotional signs such as “energy saving subsidy, half price take away, old for new maximum subsidy of 800 yuan” can be seen everywhere, adding vitality to the home appliance cold market.
According to the reporter, Beijing’s energy conservation, emission reduction and consumption promotion policy was postponed to March 31. In order to catch the last bus of the policy, major home appliance stores rushed again. However, the reporter’s investigation found that in the home appliance stores with various health packages, various intelligent energy-saving products and promotional slogans, there are many problems, and a variety of non-conforming operation methods are also exposed.
health package is “IQ tax”?
With the improvement of people’s quality of life, some “black technology” health and environmental protection appliances are becoming “Favorites” on people’s annual goods list.
Seeing this demand, home appliance stores not only display the slogan of health and environmental protection popular in recent years, but also package and sell products and launch a series of health combination packages, including collagen Egg Bag hair dryer with black technology color, voice floor suction machine, ultra-thin TV without blue light eye protection, sterilization refrigerator and self-cleaning washing machine. But are these products really rich in technology? Under the trend of health, there are many hidden dangers in the home appliance market.
Kobayashi is a shopping guide in a home appliance chain store. Originally, he mainly served a color TV brand, but as the store was impacted by e-commerce and the epidemic, the sales volume plummeted. Now he is responsible for the products of four brands alone.
\u3000\u3000 “Reducing personnel expenditure is an important way for manufacturers and stores to save costs. It is not difficult for salespeople to be responsible for products from one brand to several brands. Training is enough. Many principles are interlinked. In this way, they can also promote products suitable for consumers in combination with the actual needs and preferences of consumers. Since last year, the sales volume of health appliances has increased by 300%, which has become my favorite We mainly promote products. ” Kobayashi said. Due to the significant decrease in income in recent three years, one person can also reduce competition by winning several brands and make up for the decline in income to a certain extent.
According to Xiao Li, who has many years of sales experience, in the face of emerging products with various concepts, many consumers will also hand over IQ tax.
“Some brands will innovate in the functions and styles of color TV sets, refrigerators and washing machines, and launch some new health care functions, but some functions are not practical. To put it bluntly, they are ‘gimmicks’ and’ IQ tax ‘, which are very eye-catching and actually very chicken ribs.” Kobayashi said.
Nowadays, many washing machines have the functions of clothes mixed washing and sterilization, but clothes still need to be washed by classification. “Mixed sterilization” is more of a gimmick. For the “net red” folding washing machine in recent years, there are also phenomena such as small capacity, high noise, manual water injection, incomplete drainage and so on. The inner cylinder is very easy to retain water droplets and accumulate bacteria. Many anti-virus and sterilization refrigerators also have concept speculation. Collagen hair dryer has no scientific support in the view of industry experts. Many products are more products that cater to the market, but they are not practical and contain hidden dangers.
Lu Jianguo, deputy chief engineer of China Household Appliances Research Institute, told the Securities Daily: “the so-called anti-virus and no blue light are not enough. The TV screen cannot be completely free of blue light. Many viruses live in a low-temperature environment, and it is unrealistic for the refrigerator to completely sterilize and anti-virus.” When interviewed, a number of heads of household appliance enterprises said that they were more willing to use words such as “bacteriostasis” and “anti blue light” to promote their products.
Kobayashi said that most of the so-called health appliance packages are mixed with low-cost hype products, and the prices are generally falsely high. It seems to meet the demand and have high preferential strength, but it is not practical. “If you want to buy one of the items with a series discount, we can even discount the products that are not needed in the package directly. In fact, the series that the brand focuses on in recent years is not as good as the direct discount in the store. There is not much competitive advantage, so the existence of the series is of little significance.”
what is the level of intelligence?
With the improvement of consumer demand, the structure of household appliances sold in stores has also changed. Intelligent products account for more than 90% and become the mainstream of sales.
In the TV Zone, the OLED TV, which is expensive but does not hurt the eyes, has attracted more consumers’ attention; With AI environmental induction regulation, fresh air environmental protection and other high-end air conditioners have become best-selling products; Refrigerators advertised for sterilization and disinfection and washing machines for air drying care are the mainstream models sold.
Although they cost 6000 or 7000 yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan, they are still the main force in the sales of various categories. With the improvement of residents’ consumption level, the proportion of price factors is getting lower and lower. Visual effect, functionality, health and environmental protection have become the main factors considered by consumers when purchasing household appliances, and they are also an important embodiment of consumption upgrading.
Taking color TV as an example, large screen has become a significant feature and a trend in the future. The mainstream size of the market has changed from 50 and 55 inches to 65, 75 and 77 inches. In addition, 65 and 77 inch OLED TVs and 65 and 75 inch miniled TVs have become the “dark horse” in recent two years because of their eye protection function.
However, looking at the market, the intelligent level of color TV sets is not different from that in previous years, and there is insufficient innovation. They focus more on voice interaction, mobile phone networking and other functions, while the intelligent functions of refrigerators, washing machines and other household appliances are single.
Major general Ding, founder of nail technology, believes that: “At present, innovations in smart appliances are emerging one after another, but manufacturers tend to stack functions. For example, color TV sets have already realized the whole chain upgrade of 8K UHD video from reception, decoding to display in hardware, and Chinese UHD TV stations have also started broadcasting. However, there is still a long way to go before popularization, and Internet video platforms are also facing the bandwidth cost brought by 8K UHD video operation The dilemma of doubling and failing to keep pace with the growth of business returns. At the same time, the introduction of overseas copyright and the simultaneous release of Chinese cinemas have failed to meet the needs of users for super large screen home cinemas. “
In terms of intelligent networking, home appliance brands are still fighting their own battles. Hisense smart home platform is mainly Hisense Aijia. Midea has opened the m-smart smart smart home platform. TCL, Xiaomi and Changhong have their own brand networking platforms, but it is still difficult to interconnect products between different brands.
\u3000\u3000 “At present, the smart home system of each brand is built by the brands of the company, but it is still independent, the system is closed, the data is not interconnected, and the willingness to open up is not strong. All brands need to establish a unified open standard, a unified organization and alliance, and implement the rules and benefit distribution in detail. Although the Hongmeng system has been quickly covered, it has yet to be fully implemented in practical application Get through with the electric brand. ” Dong min, vice president of ovicloud, told Securities Daily.
unclear energy efficiency label misleads consumers
In addition to health smart slogans, colorful flags marked with “energy-saving subsidy” policy are also particularly attractive in home appliance stores.
“If you don’t enjoy the subsidy, you’ll miss it. The energy-saving subsidy is 800 yuan per piece.” Banners printed with preferential information and date are always hung in the most prominent position of the store.
In January this year, relevant departments announced that Beijing’s energy conservation, emission reduction and consumption promotion policy was extended for two months to end on March 31, 2022.
During the extension period, eligible consumers who buy 15 types of household appliances for energy conservation and emission reduction can receive a subsidy of up to 800 yuan per piece. However, in the actual purchase process of consumers, there is a high threshold for products enjoying energy-saving subsidies.
The reporter learned that some models of large screen LCD TVs with more than 55 inches can enjoy subsidies, and the amount of subsidies varies. Many color TV sets and air conditioners with energy efficiency of level 1 have become level 2 after the implementation of the new standard. There are also a large number of unclear energy efficiency labels in stores, misleading consumers.
In recent years, the energy efficiency threshold of China’s household appliances has been continuously improved. The implementation of a number of “new national standards” has comprehensively improved the index requirements of various energy efficiency levels, and many grade 1 products have been reduced to grade 2 in the new standards. However, the samples placed in many stores are old samples with level 1 logo before the national change, and the introduction of shopping guide is also vague, so that many consumers find that they can’t enjoy the subsidy when they buy.
A salesperson even said: “although it does not meet the energy efficiency standard, we can get subsidies when you buy through internal operation.”
\u3000\u3000 “There is excessive publicity on energy-saving subsidies in stores, and the operation methods of salespeople are obviously illegal. At present, China has a clear definition of energy-saving household appliances, which are called energy-saving products if they meet the energy efficiency standard of grade 2 or above. Only major household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers have energy efficiency standards, and many products have no standards. Among energy-saving products, quite a few are energy-saving products Some are shoddy. ” Lu Jianguo said.
Major general Ding believes that: “Based on the need to clear inventory and the asymmetry of user information, the energy-saving publicity of home appliance stores is exaggerated to a certain extent, and the high-energy consumption products with insufficient energy-saving are often labeled as energy-saving products for sale. At present, the state has issued relevant mandatory energy efficiency labeling system, which has strong binding force on the production and sales platform of home appliances, but the publicity and popularization of users need to be strengthened 。”
can the old really be replaced?
“Trade in” is also one of the main selling points of the store. Then, whether the implementation of relevant measures is really in place, and how much can consumers trade in the old for the new in their actual purchase?
At present, most home appliance stores have launched World War I services such as door-to-door demolition of old machines, transportation back of old machines, recycling and treatment, door-to-door installation of new machines and so on. Among them, with the acceleration of 5g mobile phone replacement, the proportion of mobile phone replacement with old one has reached more than 50%, and that of household appliances has reached 40%.
But the reporter learned that in the replacement process, many consumers said it was not cost-effective. In recent years, the price of many replaced smart TVs is relatively high, and they can get thousands of yuan if they are sold by themselves. If they are used for replacement, it is not appropriate. The upper limit for the replacement of many old household appliances in stores is thousands of yuan.
Faced with such a situation, consumers will not be able to enjoy the “old for new”? The salesperson also has a solution. “I’ll try to find an old home appliance so that you can directly deduct the highest price when you buy a new machine.” A shopping guide told reporters. This is a common method used by many salespeople under the old for new policy.
\u3000\u3000 “Trade in” at present, the policy at the national level has been withdrawn, and the trade in in in the market is basically enterprise behavior. However, these behaviors often have limited subsidies, and even promote products under the banner of trade in, which does not achieve the combination of public welfare and marketization, so the actual effect is very small. Some salespeople also take advantage of non-compliance to exploit loopholes. This year, the Ministry Local governments may launch the government led policy of replacing the old with the new, which will help promote the expansion and growth of the home appliance market and structural upgrading, but the supervision and personnel training in the implementation need to be strengthened. ” Major general Ding said.
Under the background of poor market environment, relevant Chinese departments will further study the policies and measures to promote the consumption of key commodities such as furniture and household appliances, and may also launch consumption policies including trade in this year to stimulate domestic demand. However, to expand consumption, the key is to comply with the upgrading trend of residents’ consumption, open up the “blocking points” and “pain points” in the consumption field, and improve the governance ability in the consumption field.
A series of problems in home appliance stores, although small, are real “pain points” that need to be fundamentally solved.
Peng Jianfeng, Deputy Secretary General of China Electronics and video industry association, said that health and environmental protection and replacing the old with the new will still be the trend in the next few years, but strict supervision should be carried out at the landing level to crack down on violations.
He said, “Some home appliances have been used for more than 10 years, and with the return of large screen and games to the living room, there is a huge potential for the replacement market of new and old household appliances, which is expected to further stimulate domestic demand. At the same time, the pressure on enterprises to operate has increased, and the government is generally expected to introduce consumer stimulation policies again. The association will also implement a series of measures this year to accelerate the popularization of ultra-high definition video, and manufacturers are also working hard to upgrade their products. However Raising the threshold and stricter supervision will be the trend. Standards such as health, environmental protection, games and entertainment will also be put on the agenda of formulating household appliance standards. The unification of household appliance stores, the improvement of personnel quality and management level are also the directions that need to be paid attention to in the implementation of the new deal. “
