Consumption upgrade "new four big pieces" popular

Editor's note: From the "three turns and one ring" in the 1950s to the color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, tape recorders in the 1980s, and nowadays smart home appliances, the changes in best-selling consumer goods reflect the upgrading of China's spending power. On February 22, the Ministry of Commerce announced data that during the Spring Festival of 2018, the national intelligent HDTV, drying integrated washing machine, sweeping robot, water purifier sold well, has replaced the traditional four major pieces, becoming the new "four big" appliances. In this series of "From the Spring Festival shopping to see consumption upgrades" series of reports, in addition to exploring the power behind the "four big pieces" of home appliances, we also collected sales of three sales channels of Shangchao, shopping centers and e-commerce during the Spring Festival. The data focuses on the best-selling products and high popularity during the Spring Festival in 2018, exploring the changes in consumers' preferences and the reasons behind them in the context of consumer upgrades, and providing consumers with consumer guidance.

Focusing on quality has become a prominent feature of the Spring Festival in 2018. On February 22, the Ministry of Commerce released data showing that from the New Year's Eve to the sixth day of the first month (February 15th - 21st), the national retail and catering enterprises achieved sales of about 926 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2% over the Golden Week of the Spring Festival last year. It is worth noting that the “Four Big Pieces”, which ranks first in the list of consumer durable goods, have undergone new changes. Since the 1980s, popular TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, and tape recorders have become intelligent HDTVs and baked. It is a smart, quality home appliance that combines a washing machine, a sweeping robot, and a water purifier. The “four big pieces” rejuvenated, reflected in the upgrading of the consumption structure and the pursuit of quality of life by Chinese consumers.

"Four big pieces"

The data released by the major platforms after the Spring Festival Golden Week is undoubtedly an important indicator for monitoring changes in the consumption trend in the Chinese market. On February 22nd, a group of data released by the Ministry of Commerce attracted attention. In this group of data, in addition to the national retail and catering enterprises achieving sales growth of more than 10% year-on-year, a noteworthy change is ranked in the forefront. Changes in household durable consumer goods, intelligent HDTV, drying integrated washing machine, sweeping robot and water purifier were included in the shopping list, replacing the traditional "four big pieces" and becoming the "new four big pieces" that lead the consumption upgrade.

The change of "four major pieces" reflects the deep upgrade of the consumption structure. The earliest word "four big pieces" originated in the late 1950s, referring to the ability of China to produce at the time, and the four family items that the family wanted to have were radios, bicycles, sewing machines and watches. Then, with the continuous advancement of reform and opening up, the items represented by the four major items have gradually changed. The era of consumption of electronic products represented by televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and tape recorders has greatly enriched and improved the daily life of our families. .

"These emerging products are characterized by practicality, fashion, convenience, etc., and are gradually becoming the "new four big pieces" with the characteristics of the times. Gao Bo, vice president of the Beijing Commercial Federation, said that with the development of the times, consumer demand is also In the case of changes, in the case of water purifiers and air purifiers, in the past, consumers have limited knowledge of water and air, and now they are more concerned about health needs.

Zhao Ping, director of the International Trade Research Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, pointed out that if the earliest "three turns and one ring" was only mechanical energy, then in the 1980s and 1990s, color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines and other products were successfully "powered". Nowadays, the intelligent high-definition TV and drying integrated washing machine not only “connects electricity” but also “touches the net”, but also contains sophisticated artificial intelligence technology.

Smart home appliances are popular

Intelligentization is an important trend in consumer upgrades. According to Hong Tao, director of the Department of Trade, School of Economics, Beijing Technology and Business University, smart home appliances are a very important part of smart consumption. From the rise of smart home appliances, consumers’ consumption habits are moving from material consumption to spirituality and enjoyment. Cultural consumption changes.

Judging from the sales data of home appliances announced in 2017, this intelligent and consumption upgrade trend can be clearly seen. According to the "Electronic Information Manufacturing Operation in 2017" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on February 2, the growth rate of color TV production in 2017 dropped by 7.1 percentage points year-on-year, while smart TV increased against the trend, up 6.9% year-on-year. This comparison is more obvious in the online shopping channel. According to the “2017 Home Grid Purchase Analysis Report” released by the CCID Research Institute on February 8th, the current market accounts for 38.1% of HDR TVs, with high performance and other performance. Advantages, the growth rate in the past year reached 235%, accelerating popularity; the artificial intelligence TV market accounted for 16.1%, with a growth rate of 284%, and will soon become the standard TV type on the line.

Not only TV, "2017 home grid purchase analysis report" shows that the washing machine industry is quietly carrying out consumption upgrades, washing and drying machine has become the fastest growing washing machine category, 2017 retail sales increased by 84.4%, which can form In contrast, the retail sales of the traditional drum washing machine and the pulsator washing machine increased by 43.46% and 35.32% respectively. In addition, the dishwasher has seen a spurt increase in retail sales of up to 180%. In the "2018 Chinese New Year's Vulgar Report" released on February 21, the New Year's Cookery Festival data from Tmall shows that the New Year cooking robot has increased by 145%, the window cleaning robot has increased by 169%, relying on smart appliances, young consumers are Gradually freed from the traditional housework.

Consumption structure upgrade

Innovative product and service consumption is the main direction of this year's consumption structure upgrade. With the maturity of artificial intelligence, Internet, cloud computing and big data technology and application to many durable consumer goods such as traditional home, home appliances and automobiles, these new types Consumer goods will have huge room for growth. Zhao Ping told the Beijing Business Daily that “the consumption of durable consumer goods has always been one of the important signs reflecting the upgrading of the consumption structure”.

In Hong Tao’s view, unlike the traditional “four big pieces”, the emerging “four big pieces” have three characteristics at the same time. They are both physical goods, service goods, and experiential goods, and are becoming a new fashion. . It should be noted that the rise of smart products behind the support of smart technologies, such as the Internet, Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, AR, VR, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc., the breakthrough of new technologies is driving the emergence of new products, It also promotes the rise of new formats, such as experience stores, smart stores, and unmanned stores, all in order to adapt to new products and to be market-oriented.

Zhao Ping believes that under the background of the strong development of the Internet and the Internet of Things, more household appliances will “touch the net” in the future, and smart refrigerators, smart kitchen utensils, smart air conditioners and even automatic lifting curtains and drying racks will become more consumption. The "new darling" of the people, the consumer market will also usher in a new era of connected objects and connected people.

"However, it should be noted that the key to intelligence is not to become too complicated. It is necessary to work hard in practicality, convenience, and aesthetics. To improve the cost performance, we can truly achieve popularization." Gao Bo pointed out.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Wu Wenzhi Qu Yingjie

(Editor: Cui Zhiming HF118)