Three camps compete for instant-type electric water heaters

China's instant electric water heater market began to sprout from the mid-1990s, and has gradually grown from a fringe industry to a mature industry. Since 2003, with the increase in the number of companies involved in instant electric water heaters, product technology has become increasingly mature and stable, coupled with the improvement of the domestic electricity environment, the market began to start, the rapid growth rate. It is understood that more than 300 companies have involved in the production of such products, mainly in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta area. There are more than 60 enterprises and the annual output is less than 4 billion.

At present, instant electric water heaters only bath in the domestic hot water market for this single purpose, the survey results show that: 90.8% of families believe that they need to increase the hot water in their lives, 60% of families believe that the ideal amount of hot water use should be now 4 times more than that, in addition to bathing to increase hot water, laundry, rice washing, washing vegetables, etc. should also increase the amount of hot water. And in Europe and the United States (such as Germany) the family has basically been popularized, and its investment in hot water systems exceeds the sum of color TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines, which is about five times that of China. The cold water in these countries only uses potable water and toilets, and other areas use hot water. Among them, the ratio of cold and hot water use is 1:9, while in China it is 9:1 (domestic concentration of white-collar workers and well-to-do families concentrated in the consumption level in China). Experts predict that the total domestic hot water use in China will basically be synchronized with Europe and the United States. It is initially estimated that there will be a market capacity of about 30 to 45 billion yuan in this area in 10 years.

The market prospects for instant electric water heaters will attract more and more companies to compete for this attractive market cake, and the instant electric water heater industry has changed from a single production-oriented model to a water heater industry. Three camps.

The first camp: The brand camp camp refers to the fact that the companies in this camp are brand enterprises in the instant electric water heater industry. Despite the definition of the brand theory, the current brand of instant-type electric water heater companies can not be called "the theory of the definition of the brand", but the instant electric water heater industry, professional brands have emerged, such as the current professional brand has Autran, Ai Lejia, Harvard, Olaike, and Germany BAK and other brands.

The branded camp of the instant-type electric water heater industry is also the largest contributor to the instant-type electric water heater industry. In the brand camp, this camp has the best living conditions and the largest sales scale, and the brand camp has always led the instant heat. The direction of the development of electric water heaters, the backbone of the brand camp are mostly industry standards setters. Companies entering the brand camp generally have the following three characteristics:

First, companies have a more systematic concept of brand operations and a correct company development strategy, and they can adhere to a professional growth strategy. This is also an important reason for the healthy growth of these companies.

Secondly, most companies in the brand camp have a leading brand influence in the industry and lead the growth of this industry. Altron and Harvard are pioneering brand enterprises in the instant electric water heater industry, and they have been using their own good business to provide instant electric power. The water heater industry sets a benchmark for the market.

Thirdly, brand camps often provide consumers with greater industrial value. For example, Otran provided the popularity of the instant electric water heater industry to Chinese consumers; Hannover, Germany BAK, and Olek provide the instant electric water heater industry. The value of innovative experience for Chinese consumers, such as BAK's "Bathing Family" culture and Olek's "Aristocratic" beauty skin hot water culture; Ai Lejia, Harvard provided the instant electric water heater industry to Chinese consumers' fashion Aesthetic value.

The second camp: The technical camp technology camp consists of a group of specialized companies that are known for their technological development.

The technology camp is subdivided into two different types of companies: one is a brand-based technology-based company, such as Aotelang, Ai Lejia, and Germany BAK; and the other is a purely technical enterprise, such as Hanno Salt.

Technology camp companies have three advantages:

First, with unique technological innovations, the camp's enterprise is purely based on technology or branded as a technological innovation tree. Therefore, product innovation is a major highlight. If the technology camp represents BAK, for example, BAK owns two patented water heater technologies that lead the world: the first is “Shijiayubao. HECC system”. Through the patented water heater thermal recycling design, it can fully recover heat. The heat in the water system increases the water temperature of the water heater by 12°C to 15°C, saving energy between 25% and 48%. Compared with the watt power of the traditional instant electric water heater 8000, the BAK Instant Electric Water Heater can produce hot water at the same temperature with 5000 watts of power, which not only saves energy, but also eliminates the small amount of water produced by traditional instant electric water heaters. The drawbacks. The second item is BIKE's “POWER·V8” heating element technology. The length of the heating cup is as high as 6 meters and the diameter of the tube is 8mm, which can make the water output larger and the constant temperature effect better. In terms of safety measures, and its heating body adopts a hydroelectric separation technology structure, it fundamentally solves the safety hazards of the instant electric water heater industry. The successful research and development of BYK's “POWER·V8” heating element technology has solved the four major industrial problems: traditional hot water heaters have small water output, water temperature is hot and cold, easy to generate scale, and low thermal efficiency. The development will also enter a new height.

The second is the excellent manufacturing process. Most of the technology camp companies have strong hardware manufacturing advantages and R&D advantages to ensure the excellent manufacturing process. BAK and Ai Lejia have advanced technology research institutes and investment equipment with more than 30 million investment. The products are well-known for their excellent manufacturing process. This is one of the most popular companies in the instant electric water heater industry. Opened an absolute distance.

The third is the "complementary balance" of the strategic model. As early as 2002, Mr. Bo Feng pointed out that the healthy growth of Chinese home appliance companies should implement the "complementary balance" of the company's strategic model. He believes that the "complementarity" of these two strategic models uses the "profit" of a strategic model to "complementarily support" the growth of another strategic model, and ultimately achieves the "complementary balance" of company operations, and never loses money. Bo Feng's "complementary balance" theory plays an active guiding role in the growth strategy of Chinese home appliance companies.

Many companies in the Instant Electric Water Heater technology camp adopt two strategic models: such as "OEM Manufacturing + Own Brand Manufacturing" or "International Market + Domestic Market". These companies use two complementary strategic models to ensure the company's own development. If BAK enters China from the European market, it will support the market cost of entering China with the profits of the European market; Ale will support the development of instant-type electric water heater products with the profits obtained from the deep-processing exports of other products; Hanover will use instant heat The export of water heater products is profitable to support the brand in the domestic market.

The third camp: Assembling the camp The assembling of the camp business is done through the purchase of common parts of the instant electric water heaters in the society for assembling and assembling. Senior Chinese brand marketing expert Mr. Bo Feng has a precise definition of this mode of production: "Simple assembly mode." Assemble the camp's enterprise's salient features according to the “Simple Assembly Model”:

First, the technology is low quality and homogenous. Assembled camp companies often produce quickly through assembly and imitation, because they are assembled and imitated, and the technology lacks innovation. Therefore, the technology of the products is low quality and homogenous.

Second, product style disorder. Assembled camp companies use the “industry public model” to produce products and assemble them in multiple manufacturers, so the product style is uneven and the style is disordered.

Third, small scale. Assembled camps lack the advantages of brand and technology, and they are often very small.

Fourth, the price war is prevalent. Assembled camp companies lack the advantages of brand and technology, and their products are of low quality and homogenization, so they can only be sold at low prices.

Fifth, life is broken and the company is frequently renamed. Because the assembled camp enterprises lack sustainable competitiveness and poor product quality, many companies have been struggling to survive, and they have been constantly shutting down factories or frequently changing plant names in order to evade risks and responsibilities.

In these three camps, excellent companies often ride the two brands of cross-brand and technology camps, because in order to long-term brand-based camp must rely on continuous innovation in technology, production of high-end instant electric water heaters. Under the new development pattern, the development prospects of those outstanding companies with strong brand vision and leading research and development technologies will become more and more promising, and the miscellaneous brand-based camps that rely mainly on assembly will slowly be caught up in the flood of the market. Phase out.