Since the beginning of this year, the home appliance industry has seized the opportunities of domestic and foreign demand markets, stabilized growth, and promoted development. According to data, from January to May, the retail sales of household appliances and audiovisual equipment products by units above designated size in China reached 342.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%; The sales revenue of major e-commerce platforms increased by 81.8% year-on-year. Recently, Liu Peng, a resident of Changping District, Beijing, came to the Suning.com store in Lishuiqiao to purchase air conditioning. It's hot in summer. Liu Peng's air conditioning cabinet machine, which has been used for more than ten years, is not very awesome. It's also noisy and needs to be replaced urgently. After selection, he purchased a well-known domestic brand 3 horsepower cylindrical cabinet machine, which is not only compact and exquisite to save space, but also has first-class energy efficiency, saving up to 50% electricity compared to old cabinet machines. Due to enjoying the Beijing trade in subsidy and various discounts from manufacturers, this air conditioner was sold for 5220 yuan, saving a total of 2778 yuan. "This time, the subsidy for the replacement is strong, and the integrated service provided by the merchant for sending new items and dragging old items is also worry free and labor-saving, which is very suitable for the needs of office workers like me." Liu Peng said. Data shows that during the "618" period this year, Suning's strategy for major stores accelerated its implementation, driving the overall store traffic to double year-on-year, and store orders for trade ins increased by 46% month on month. In the sinking market, Suning.com's one-stop retail cloud for old to new orders increased by 75% year-on-year, air conditioning for old to new orders increased by 255% year-on-year, and embedded refrigerator sales increased by 152%. Currently, China's home appliance market has entered a stage where both increment and stock are equally important. In 2023, the total number of major categories of household appliances in China exceeded 3 billion, with over 100 units of air conditioning, refrigerators, and televisions per 100 households. Some appliances have been in use for a long time and have great potential for replacement. In March of this year, the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Exchange, followed by 14 departments releasing the Action Plan for Promoting Consumer Goods Exchange. With the gradual implementation of policies, a total of about 4 billion yuan has been allocated in various regions to support the replacement of old appliances and home furnishings. 29 regions have clearly provided subsidies for the replacement of old appliances and the renovation of home furnishings, kitchens, and bathrooms. Taking Hubei Province as an example, an additional 300 million yuan of financial support funds will be added to guide the upgrading of green and intelligent consumption of household appliances and home furnishings. Li Xiaoyan, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Commerce, stated that in-depth research will be conducted during the policy formulation process to ensure the efficiency and accuracy of the policies. One is to expand the scope of subsidies. Expanding from household appliances to 17 categories of products including home products such as air purifiers. The second is to highlight green intelligence. Include home appliances and household products such as dishwashers and sweepers, which represent new trends in daily consumption, in the subsidy scope, and clarify that all subsidized products must have energy and water efficiency of level 2 or above. The third is the linkage between online and offline. To adapt to the different consumption habits of residents, online e-commerce platforms and offline physical stores carry out activities simultaneously. Taking advantage of the favorable policies, relevant industry enterprises are taking active actions. Gree Electric Appliances announced an investment of 3 billion yuan to launch a trade in activity for household appliances. Midea Group plans to invest 8 billion yuan to vigorously promote the trade in of old products and equipment updates for its entire brand and category. According to preliminary statistics, major home appliance and home furnishing production enterprises, home decoration enterprises, e-commerce platforms, etc. plan to invest nearly 20 billion yuan to support the recycling of old machines, product replacement, and home decoration. Multiple financial institutions have launched financial products such as home appliance trade in consumer loans, interest rate preferential installment loans, and credit card payment discounts. On April 17th, Haier Smart Home officially launched the "Green Carbon Plan" and provided users with up to 20% renovation subsidies and a thousand technology home appliances through the "Hundred Cities, Thousand Counties, and Ten Thousand Miles Tour" activity. During this year's 618 shopping festival, the number of users participating in Haier's trade in program increased by 104%, and sales revenue increased by 88%. "Although the home appliance market is facing the dilemma of sluggish demand, there are still new development opportunities in the industry under the national policy of 'stabilizing the economy and promoting development'." Zhao Qilin, Secretary of the Board of Directors and Chief Compliance Officer of Sichuan Changhong, stated that in the first quarter of this year, the revenue of Sichuan Changhong increased by 3.61% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 111.77% year-on-year, achieving a "good start" and solidifying the foundation for stable business development throughout the year. Export performance exceeded expectations. Since the beginning of this year, China's home appliance exports have grown rapidly. According to customs data, in May 2024, China exported 410 million household appliances, a year-on-year increase of 29.7%; From January to May, the cumulative export volume was 1.738 billion units, a year-on-year increase of 24.6%. Regarding the reasons why China's home appliance exports exceeded expectations in the first half of the year, Zhou Nan, Secretary General of the Household Appliances Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products, analyzed that the global home appliance market sales have recovered this year, and demand in the European and American markets has rebounded after the destocking cycle. Sales in emerging markets have continued to grow, while exports in markets such as ASEAN, South America, and the Middle East have continued to improve. The combination of these two factors has driven the growth of China's home appliance exports. At the same time, China's electricity industry is vigorously expanding its international market, accelerating the promotion of new projects and the launch of new products. In order to avoid trade protectionism, relevant enterprises have become more proactive in exporting in the first half of the year. This year is a big year for sports marketing, and the hosting of heavyweight sports events such as the European Cup has driven the consumption of large screen televisions. In June of this year, Hisense TV's market sales share in Germany, the host country of the 2024 European Championship, reached a historic high of 15%. The person in charge of Hisense Video stated that Hisense adheres to high-end overseas and localized research, production, and sales operations, continuously sponsoring the European Cup and World Cup, allowing overseas consumers to quickly understand the high quality of Hisense TV. Hisense's two self-developed high-end products, ULED ultra high definition TV and laser TV, have entered the mainstream sales channels overseas, and laser TV has become a popular product in the overseas high-end market. The global clean appliance market has huge potential, and domestic brands have great potential to expand into emerging categories such as sweeping robots and floor scrubbers. Since its establishment 6 years ago, the Tianke brand has achieved leapfrog development with a compound growth rate of 292%, with sales approaching the 10 billion yuan mark, and its overseas business accounting for 30%. Leng Ling, CEO of Tianke Intelligent Technology, stated that Tianke has been targeting the mid to high end market since its initial entry into overseas markets. In order to make consumers willing to pay, Tianke will conduct thorough market research. Initially, the team used the "stupid method" of checking Amazon store reviews one by one to understand overseas consumer groups. This also marks the beginning of Tianke's shift from simply focusing on product function evaluation to promoting the integration of product functions with user needs and experiences. Facing consumers from different regions, Tianke also conducts localized product research and promotion. At present, the domestic sales market of the home appliance industry has remained stable, and policies and activities to trade in old appliances and promote green home appliance consumption are frequent. However, the real estate market is relatively sluggish, and consumer confidence still needs to be strengthened. The demand for new and new home appliances needs to be further stimulated. Jiang Feng, Executive Director of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, stated that according to the "Safe Service Life of Household Appliances", the safe service life of refrigerators and air conditioners is 10 years, and that of washing machines, water heaters, and range hoods is 8 years. At present, many consumers still have certain cognitive misconceptions about home appliances, believing that as long as they are not damaged, they can continue to use them and do not want to replace them as long as they can be repaired. More work needs to be done on updating consumer attitudes in relevant areas. "The reason behind exchanging old appliances for new ones is not only economic accounts, but also environmental and resource accounts." Jiang Feng stated that innovative home appliance products and scenario based solutions can not only bring consumers a better life experience, but also significantly reduce safety hazards caused by extended service of home appliances, significantly reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource waste. The difficulty in recycling waste electrical appliances is also one of the important factors that hinder consumer replacement and consumption. The Action Plan for Promoting the Trade in of Consumer Goods clearly proposes to improve the recycling system of waste household appliances, break through the bottleneck of the "venous cycle" of waste household appliance recycling, and facilitate the consumption cycle of household appliance renewal. Specific measures include reasonable layout of recycling outlets, street (township, town) transfer stations, and regional sorting centers, cultivating a group of typical cities and enterprises for recycling recycled resources such as waste household appliances. In terms of China's home appliance industry exports, in addition to being affected by short-term factors such as overseas inflation, inventory cycles, local regional conflicts, and technological trade barriers, the global industrial and supply chains are also facing reshaping. Jiang Feng stated that home appliance companies should pay more attention to the flexibility and adaptability of their globalization strategy, and it is imperative to choose appropriate regions to invest and build factories. At the same time, the continuous deepening of China's home appliance industry's competitive advantages in the entire industry chain, digital iteration, research and development innovation capabilities, as well as the continuous penetration of channels and brands, have become important manifestations of its global market influence enhancement. Zhou Nan believes that in order for China's home appliance industry to expand into the international market, it is necessary to strengthen the exploration of medium - and long-term growth points. For example, supply chain adjustments and functional innovation drive category growth, while online opportunities in marketing channels drive the development of independent brands. Looking ahead to the future, Yang Jin, Vice Chairman and General Manager of Sichuan Changhong, stated that Sichuan Changhong will steadily focus on its main business and implement "intelligent transformation and digital transformation" and "AI empowerment". At the same time, we will further strengthen our global operations, continuously deepen our overseas business in mainstream markets, expand into emerging markets, and expand our overseas market growth, forming a dual circulation development pattern both domestically and internationally. (Lai Xin She)