What is the fundamental problem of the Chinese home appliance industry?

Author | Ye Jing

Edit ｜ Sang Mingqiang

More than 10 years ago, Professor Liu Guanzhong went to Haier to investigate and asked Zhang Ruimin, "After 30 years and 50 years, Haier also made a refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner?" At that time, Haier's sales point had spread all over the world. Sorry, it is a product that cannot be disrupted.

Looking back at the development of the home appliance industry, since the 1970s, under the guidance of policy, the domestic home appliance industry has set off a wave of industrial scale. The number exceeded 200.

For a long time, large but not strong is the sinking of the domestic manufacturing industry. Core technology and equipment have a high degree of external dependence. The iteration of the new and old three pieces, refrigerators, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, and electric irons have appeared one after another. From black and white TV to LCD panels, from wave wheel washing machines to drum washing machines, from single -door refrigerators to open door refrigerators, the seemingly product form is constantly evolving The industrial layout of major household appliance giants is in full swing, but due to the low technical threshold and homogeneity of the traditional home appliance industry, the market has always hovered in the state of overcapacity and sluggish domestic demand.

The price war is a magic weapon for accelerating the reshuffle of home appliance giants to accelerate the reshuffle. Even Gree, who never fights for the price war, has successively held 10 billion -profit activities. Taking the refrigerator as an example, according to the data of Zhongyikang, the total market share of small and medium -sized enterprises after 20 places is less than 1%; the domestic five tigers in the color TV industry have accounted for about 80%of the market. According to a data statistics from the National Information Center, from the 1990s to the present, the number of brands of domestic color TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines have been reduced from hundreds of sharply to more than a dozen or even single digits. Venus, Huabao, Rongsheng and other brands have gradually disappeared, and the survival rate is less than 10%.

Over the years, the friction between home appliance companies has continued, the price war initiated by the giants has still permeated, and the patented technology and intellectual property friction disputes between enterprises, and the competition for the channel market has become increasingly fierce. However, the situation of competition has changed, and home video players have shifted from low -cost, homogeneous melee, to high -end, intelligent, and scenario competition.

In 2019, Haier officially renamed Haier Zhi's family. Previously, various product divisions also launched their own high -end series, such as Emperor Bojie and Renonos washing machines; and it was exactly the same as Honda launched Acura, Nissan, in Infiniti, to fight Toyota. COLMO is COLMO's high -end brand Casa Di that Harr's hatching in 2006; on the other side, players such as Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Konka, Yunmi are all layout of high -end new brands. %Of the share.

As the costs of copper, aluminum, iron and other materials have repeatedly reached high, real estate is tightened. Even the three home appliance giants cannot put their health, and what is the good medicine of the home appliance manufacturing industry to escape the gripped sea of ​​bitter sea. We still do not know.

01 Reform is the life of leaving myself

"Gree has indeed been abducted by the air conditioner 'in the past 30 years." In May this year, Dong Mingzhu mentioned at the Gree Electrical Performance Briefing Meeting that the company's original expected net profit in 2021 increased by 10%, but the final result was unsatisfactory. Call for shareholders not to talk about Gree air conditioners, and pay more attention to the entire series of Gree Electric, even if Gree's income at least 70%rely on air -conditioning business. It can be said that on the way to grow into an air -conditioned brother, the advertising word "good air conditioner, Gree made" is indispensable, but as the overall coldness of the air conditioning market is cold, whether it is a product or channel, as Dong Mingzhu said, as Dong Mingzhu said, Reform is the life of his own, but the latter has indeed become the most important thing.

In fact, since the air -conditioning market ended in 2018, it has continued its decline. According to Ovi data, the retail sales of the domestic air -conditioning industry in 2021 were 152.7 billion yuan, a year -on -year decrease of 1.2%, and the retail volume decreased by 8.7%year -on -year. Head competition is increasingly stuck. In 2016, Gree's domestic sales share was 2.4 times the beauty of the United States. The latter has shrunk to 1.1 times through channels and efficiency reforms last year, and the share gap has also shrunk accordingly.

In the context of the rise of e -commerce channels and the faucet on the line, Internet brands such as Hua Ling and Mijia focus on high cost performance, and use e -commerce as the core sales channels to increase the share. Most of the latter products do not need to develop. There is no need to invest in factories to manufacture. The practice of division of labor in the United Nations manufacturers is produced by domestic manufacturers. The cost is low and the price is low. In addition, the old -fashioned enterprises are also stepping up the change. Taking beauty as an example, its domestic sales proportion has risen from 18%in 2016 to 33%last year, and the market share of Gree has decreased from 43%to 37%in the same period. The direct reason for the former growth is the flat restructuring of the channel.

Since 2015, Midea's air -conditioning has started. In 2019, the online sales volume of air conditioners accounted for about 35%, KA accounted for about 20%, and offline sales channels accounted for about 40%. Due to the direct docking headquarters online and KA channels, it naturally avoids the inefficiency and waste caused by multi -level dealers' circulation. Coupled with the logistics in terms of logistics, Meiyunzhi has increased the entire process information service of pricing sales and inventory. After a complete set of combination fists, the price difference between the price between Gree is directly widen: under the assumption of the benchmark, change, change, change, change, change, change, change The price difference between the two before and after is expanded from 270 yuan to nearly 500 yuan.

According to the statistics of home grids, the average single -platform price of online air -conditioning sales of Midea, Haier, and Gree is 2877 yuan, 3160 yuan and 3499 yuan, respectively; the offline is 3462 yuan, 3965 yuan and 4147 yuan. Whether it is online or offline, the lowest beauty is the lowest, Haier is in the middle, Gree is the highest, and the average home machine that has been on average is about 20%lower than Gree. Considering that air -conditioning sales have the cyclicality of the peak season and raw materials, the price cycle of commodities such as steel, copper and aluminum are the prices. For a long time, Gree will be completely bundled with sales companies, agents, and dealers through the form of transfer shares. When the home appliances grow rapidly, the "off -season rebate" model is used when the home appliances grow rapidly. Seasonal periodicity.

On the other hand, the beauty adopts the "network batch mode" to cancel all the agents in the middle and launch multiple batches of small amount of flexible production methods. As the air conditioner enters the "improvement" market from the incremental "rigid" market, The periodic periodic period of air conditioners gradually weakened, and the advantages of low inventory models have begun to show.

After the financial report came out in mid -2020, Midea's air -conditioning business revenue exceeded Gree for the first time. The following year's financial report showed that Midea's air -conditioning business operating income was more than 10 billion. Pulling down costs, the decline in prices has increased the market share of Midea, but it cannot be ignored that the essence of the above operations is still in the price of the price for a stock market, and the continuous internal consumption will weaken the ability of actual profit.

2021 The source of the main white -electric brand revenue and net profit performance map is drawn by the new eyes

The timeline is enlarged, and this contradiction is even more obvious. From 2019 to 2021, Midea's net profit growth rate fell from 19.68%to 4.96%, behind revenue growth; gross profit margin continued to decline to 22.48%, below the level of 30.55%in 2019. At the beginning of 2021, the total market value of the group exceeded 700 billion yuan, but subsequently surged down. Although the company took out 10 billion yuan in repurchase, the stock price decline has not changed. As of now, the total market value is around 400 billion.

When he first entered 2021, Fang Hongbo bluntly worried at the annual meeting, "Will beauty be missing the next era?" The income income is not profitable. The official explanation is that the product structure is wrong. Compared to simply pursuing the scale of income, beauty will optimize each of each other The product structure of the strip line is pushed to the position. In the annual report last year, Midea repeatedly mentioned its high -end home appliance brand Colmo, including air -conditioning, refrigerators, washing machines and other household appliances. Casa Di, which is sales of 100 million yuan, is the fundamental purpose of cultivating Colmo.

Just after the first quarter, the sales of retail sales of domestic color TV, air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines fell by 14%year -on -year. Sales of traditional kitchen appliances fell by 7%year -on -year. Players' consensus.

Midea Robotic Robot, New Energy, Smart Building and other new business areas; on the other side, Gree also divides its business into two major areas of consumption and industry in the 2021 report. Resource cycle. However, it is well known that the road ahead is vast, breaking through the B -end is destined to be a variable, and it is difficult to see the results in the short term.

02 Sell from thin interest to pushing high and selling essence

At the age of 44, James Dyson registered Dyson, from a vacuum cleaner to a hair dryer. The company's products have set off a whirlwind in China. According to the World Bank report, the number of Chinese middle class has already exceeded 300 million, and Dyson's Dyson Fans in China 93.9%are high -consumption levels.

The appearance of the appearance and the self -advertised inventor spirit, Dyson's high investment in product research and development, core digital motor and air flow technology made Jobs appreciate, so that the company is called "apple in the home appliance industry", although the product The structure is relatively single, but the market competitiveness is extremely strong. Most of the profits come from the main one or two products.

Domestic home appliance companies all want to be the second Dyson. China's manufacturing industry has developed for many years. Most of them are re -engraved overseas products. From the 1900s, Americans invented air -conditioning, and in 1974, the Hefei Swan Air Conditioner Factory produced the first domestic air conditioner. It is the original technology of the United States, the export of contemporary technology in Japan, and the Chinese enterprise as a catch -ups of technology, and then iterates and micro -innovation of product functions.

Although the technical path is constantly evolving, the standardization of the home appliance industry is high, and the basic principles and structures have basically solidified. For example, the core components of the air conditioner are nothing more than a compressor, motor, electric drive system, heat exchanger and expansion valve. It is general technology. Of course, this also means that the market competition pattern has been basically set, and the electrical appliances have gradually changed from luxury goods to daily durability products.

"Most real high -end users have never looked at cost -effective." Some practitioners said that according to Ovi data, in 2021, the share of more than 8,000 or more increased the share of 2.6%, and the 10,000 price segment share increased by 1.9%. For most brands, the fundamental purpose of high -end is to improve profits. Dyson's net interest rate has always been more than 25%. In the 2021 report of the United States, net profit was 29.015 billion yuan. Although it was far ahead of the Bai Electric Giants, the net interest rate was only individual. Generally speaking, the high -end of the product often depends on the premium capacity of the product brand. Apple has been criticized for many years in a row "no innovation", but even if the price increases, it cannot stop the annual sales of the year; the home appliances are low -frequency products, whether it is a joint venture or a domestically produced producer. In addition to the appearance, the brand's high -end perception of other functional points is not obvious. Dyson's high -end image is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and it is more of the cognitive effect brought by brand marketing.

The domestic home appliance industry is now keen to replace the "profit -making multi -sales" price war model with "pushing high -selling excellence", but the former is more like a gimmick to cover up weak growth. The white electrical products in the stock competition are mainly rely on update, but the low -frequency durability of the product itself, coupled with slow technical iteration, small amplitude, and high replacement costs. These attributes will not change due to the transformation of high -end.

Although Midea COLMO exceeded 4 billion in 2021, an increase of 300%year -on -year, the proportion of 4 billion in the total revenue of 343.4 billion was only about 1.1%. Gree Electric also divides its products into three high schools and low three gear, but from the latest disclosure financial report, the revenue disclosure of high -end products is not optimistic. To a certain extent, the price increase will also directly suppress and delay consumers' home appliances. The lack of stimulus of the consumption of home appliances that originally weakened, which is not good for the entire home appliance industry.

At the same time, Haier's net profit at the same time was 13.27 billion yuan. Although Haier, who had more than 40 billion yuan in revenue, was only about half of Gree. The refrigerator, washing machine and air -conditioning products still occupy the big head of Haier's total revenue. The diversified layout that has been smashed for a long time has not played a large synergy effect. The markets of these three types of products are saturated enough, and the future growth space is extremely limited.

Many years ago, when Lei Jun's Yunmi Technology shouted the slogan of creating "the whole house Internet home appliances", Dong Mingzhu expressed disdain to Xiaomi Group many times. "He does him, for example, he can only rely on foundry to do air conditioners, and I can only rely on foundry, and I can It is really the service to ensure the entire industry chain in all aspects in terms of quality. "At that time, when she disdains the beauty, at the China Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Chain Application Conference, Miss Dong even bluntly said:" Gree Air Conditioning Boss's status in the future ten in the future ten The year is unchanged. "However, as far as the situation is now, it is difficult for Gree to have such a confidence.

03 Issues on the organization

"People are employees. On the surface, 'order' is' order ', which is essentially user resources. On the surface, employees and orders are connected together, but the essence of the order is users, including users' needs and users. First, that is, the value that the employee and he should create for the user and the user resources you face are together. "

In September 2005, Zhang Ruimin first proposed the concept of "one -one -in -one" at the annual meeting of Haier's global manager, and experienced a straight -line organizational form, matrix -type organization form, and then One by one, Zhang Ruimin finally fell on the head of the employee from "smashing the refrigerator" to the "smashing organization".

In terms of pulse, Haier employees summarize their own corporate culture: "People are one in one, that is, not looking at the increase in individual growth and demand, only the value of the post, the result is that there is no general adjustment. In salary increase, it is rare to receive full salary when the value increases when the salary increases. "

From the perspective of speeches, most employees believe that the one -piece person is essentially assessing employees and sieve people. Although the key points of the enterprise are focused on user value, and employees are binded with real performance, the key is that the mechanism is that the mechanism is that the mechanism is the mechanism. Whether it can be done, the idealism of the organization is often the self -entertainment of management.

He Xiangjian once felt, "The most important reason for the success of beauty is to solve the problem of the mechanism." More than 20 years ago, Midea had fallen into a difficult situation of increasing income. Mode. He Xiangjian adopted a decentralized management model to divide the group company that controls the production and sales of production into five business departments: air -conditioning, fan, kitchenware, motor, and compressor, and each is responsible for research and development, procurement, production, sales and other business activities.

From the perspective of He Xiangjian, the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry is the form of internal operating organizations, and the transformation of the cause of the ministry has made Midea out of the predicament. Coincidentally, after more than ten years, the home appliance subsidy policy withdrew the entire exit. Internal and external problems, Fang Hongbo decided to start from the organizational structure to promote flat management, so that there are only four levels of ordinary employees and general managers. Midea turned losses again.

The improvement of the mechanism on the top -level design plays an important role in the development of the enterprise. Not long ago, some users posted on the pulse saying "50%of the layoffs of the United States". As the tide of layoffs set off in a large number of Internet factories, the traditional white electric giants have become more and more. Midea was also rushed to the cusp. In response to this beauty, "Given the judgment of the internal and external environment, the company's orderly contraction of non -core business in an orderly manner, unsuccessful non -operating investment, and multiple measures." Later Essence

As mentioned in the foreword, on the one hand, Midea's profit growth rate has significantly declined, the overseas market development is unfavorable, and the diversified and high -end progress has slowly progressing slowly. On the other hand, the home appliance industry continues to encounter cold, upstream costs, and challenges of supply chain. When people are in danger, Fang Hongbo believes that due to the strategic contraction of 2013, Midea's talents exceeded 300 billion yuan in 2021. According to the 2021 financial report, the one -year -old personnel expenditure reached 20 billion. According to this trend, the future Midea personnel spending may become a key item in cutting costs. At the same time, the old opponent Gree has released the second phase of the second phase of the employee holding plan, as well as the benefits such as "room division" and free use of work calls for employees. However, some internal employees have pointed out that Gree's employee shareholding plan is confusing. In the past 13 years, Gree Electric has not implemented any incentive measures to be linked to equity. It was not until 2021 that the first phase of employee holding plan was launched.

In 2021, the Gree employee shareholding plan adjusts before and after adjustment.

Due to the slowdown in Gree's performance growth in 2021, the net profit attributable to mother was 23.064 billion yuan, an increase of 4.01%year -on -year. As a result, the first year's performance goals cannot be achieved. According to professional analysis: If according to the deferred rules, the second assessment of the company's performance assessment indicators will meet the standards, and the total net profit of 21 and 22 years will not be less than 230%of the 20 -year net profit. Only 27.94 billion yuan can unlock the shareholding benefits, and the pressure on employees can be imagined.

Whether it is personnel optimization or inspiration to inspire, the "cold winter theory" thrown by Fang Hongbo has made people become more pessimistic about home appliances. The diverse route gradually deviates from the subversive play. Some time ago, when he was asked how to look at Haier's weak growth, he said, "Either people, career, or business, and sometimes you don't know what you want."

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