Air-conditioning manufacturers hit the smart card market

With Internet companies such as LeTV and iQiyi launching smart TVs, the smart television team has grown and consumers are increasingly feeling the joy brought about by the intelligentization of home appliances. Nowadays, intelligence is expanding from television to air conditioners. Some air conditioner manufacturers have also begun to develop smart functions. In addition to formaldehyde, human-machine dialogue, and intelligent adjustment of room temperature, the application of new smart technologies in air conditioning can be described as varied.

With the end of the subsidy policy for energy-saving products, the air-conditioning market will also enter a period of deep adjustment in the second half of 2013. The market outlook is not optimistic. At this time, new technologies and new selling points are indeed needed to boost the market. However, judging from the current market conditions, consumer acceptance of smart air-conditioning is not high due to high prices and other factors. Experts believe that the intelligentization of home appliances is a trend. Manufacturers need to make more efforts on technology and also need to gradually reduce costs.

Air conditioning market is not optimistic in the second half

With the dramatic increase in the effectiveness of the stimulation of the air-conditioning market, the air-conditioning market in 2013 will show a trend of opening higher and lowering throughout the year.

According to the monitoring data of Zhong Yikang, from January to May, air-conditioning retail sales and retail sales increased by 16.56% and 20.89% respectively year-on-year. However, due to the frequent impact of rain in the south, the air-conditioning market during the “May 1st Golden Week” performed poorly, sales were lower than expected, and retail sales showed a negative year-on-year growth. Due to the increase in market share of inverter air conditioners, retail sales still grew by 2% year-on-year.

For the slight increase in air-conditioning sales from January to May, GfK analyst Wei Jia said that the main reason was that the base figure for the same period last year was too low. At the same time, the impact of the energy-saving product subsidy policy that was implemented in the second half of 2012 appeared, and the real estate market also appeared short-term. Warmer. In addition to the small year-on-year growth of the overall market, there are two changes in the air-conditioning market that warrant attention: First, corporate inventories must be digested, and second, the potential of the three or four-tier market is still relatively large. According to data from Zhongkang, in the first five months of this year, the performance of air conditioners in all levels of the market was better than last year. The retail volume and retail sales in the third-tier markets increased by 15.56% and 19.21% year-on-year, respectively. Retail sales increased by 20.26% and 24.13% respectively year-on-year.

With the continuous upgrading of energy efficiency in the air-conditioning market, the new version of the inverter air conditioner energy efficiency standard that has been revised and released and will be implemented in October has caused widespread concern in the industry. Qi Yun, deputy chief engineer of the China Household Electrical Appliances Inspection and Testing Institute, said that because the revision of this standard not only improves energy efficiency, it is necessary for enterprises to adjust product structure, improve heating efficiency, increase heating, reduce standby power, and enhance experimentation. Room test capabilities and other aspects to proceed to adapt to the changes in the new standard.

For the industry trend in the second half of 2013, Peng Yi, vice president of Sino Excel, analyzed that: “Although air-conditioning sales in the first two quarters of 2013 were better than last year, the overall market pull was still insufficient, and the energy-saving product subsidy policy was withdrawn. With the housing market continuing to slump, the air-conditioning market is not optimistic in the second half of 2013. Wei Jia also pointed out that the impact of the withdrawal of policies and the imminent implementation of the new national standard will stimulate the effectiveness of the substantial growth of the air-conditioning market, while the new five-nation regulations Implementation will also drive real estate market volatility. In 2013, the air-conditioning market will show a trend of opening higher and lowering throughout the year.

Diversified smart technologies

With the end of the energy-saving product subsidy policy on June 1st, air-conditioning sales will decline in the second half of the year, and new air-conditioner products using various smart technologies will become the main selling points of all manufacturers.

In recent days, Chigo Air Conditioner has obtained the patent authorization of "Cloud Computing Technology-based Cloud Air Conditioning System" issued by the State Intellectual Property Office. Different from ordinary air conditioners, the cloud air-conditioner pioneered by Chigo is the perfect match for cloud computing technology and air-conditioning products. Zhigaoyun Air-conditioner is supported by cloud computing technology. With the help of cloud service platform, through the interaction among people, machines, and service centers, it has achieved cloud control, cloud diagnosis, cloud customization, cloud adaptation, and cloud Five major advantages, such as upgrading, make the air-conditioning more human and intelligent, highlighting the charm of modern technology.

Haier launched an intelligent air conditioner with 48 smart air supply functions. It also has the health function of purifying air in addition to formaldehyde. It adopts RCD catalytic decomposition technology to decompose airborne formaldehyde pollutants into water and carbon dioxide, effectively removing formaldehyde, and air conditioning. No catalyst consumption, make the service life more durable.

Gree introduced an air conditioner, which can intelligently regulate room temperature, give priority to the cool areas of the crowd's regular activity area, reach comfortable temperature and then enter the power-saving mode. Gree has established a “triple body temperature system - automatic air-conditioning operating temperature - indoor temperature” trinity system database, so that the temperature adjustment and human comfort to achieve the best balance, not only can quickly cool, but also save energy, but also to prevent due to long Time to blow cold air caused by air conditioning disease.

In addition, Hisense launched a smart air-conditioner capable of man-machine conversation, tracking temperature data around the human body with smart portable sensors, and using remote sensing technology to communicate with the host for intelligent information, intelligently self-adjusting temperature, intelligently perceiving the human body's location, and promptly correcting temperature deviation.

In addition to domestic air-conditioning companies playing smart cards, Panasonic and Fujitsu in Japan also applied smart technology to air-conditioning. Panasonic's smart air conditioners recently introduced can be used for voice control via mobile phones. Fujitsu also introduced "smart" air conditioners, which can calculate the amount of electricity consumed by each degree of cooling to estimate the most energy-saving options for air conditioners.

Need to improve technology to reduce costs

Faced with a variety of smart appliances, consumers are mixed, some people believe that "the more intelligent home appliances, the higher the price, and the more likely to use problems during the process, and late maintenance cumbersome", "home appliances intelligent technology is good, but More is not better, simple operation, responsive, functional and practical is the king." However, some consumers think that "smart appliances meet the current life rhythm and reflect a high quality of life."

The novelty of the air-conditioning's smart features is indeed appealing, but from the market perspective, consumer acceptance is not high. Price and technology are two important factors.

Through market research, it has been found that smart air conditioners on the market are very expensive. Taking Chigogao Air Conditioning as an example, at the beginning of this year, Chigo Air Conditioning held a new promotion conference for cloud air conditioners in Beijing. The price of two air conditioners with display cabinets for cloud air conditioners was as high as RMB 10,000. Store sales staff said that many consumers will choose the ordinary products with higher cost performance after comparing smart air conditioners and ordinary air conditioners. Exorbitant prices are the barriers to the popularity of smart air conditioners.

Lu Jiebo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, believes that people are increasingly demanding smart home appliances, and intelligence, cloud integration, and human-computer interaction have become the industry's development trend. At present, China's smart home appliances are still in a period of replacement. To continue to stimulate the market's consumption potential, the key is to study the consumption habits and needs of mainstream consumer groups, so that new concept products can be marketed and sold well.

The intelligent upgrade of home appliances is the future development trend. In the future, smart home appliances that incorporate network technologies and IT technologies, including smart controls, infrared sensors, global positioning systems, automatic RF identification, and automatic scanning, will become more and more commonplace in people’s daily lives. . Lu Renbo believes that intelligent air conditioners undoubtedly embodies the development of home appliances intelligence, but at present it is only at an experimental stage. Due to the low technical level of manufacturers, high manufacturing cost of products, high technology has not been popularized, and improvement of technology can not only improve product quality, It can also reduce production costs and increase market acceptance.