For a long time, Gree, Midea and Haier have occupied half of the air-conditioning industry in China, and their brand structure is relatively stable. However, in the past year or two, the industry has entered the era of stock, with a limited growth rate, and the growth rate of the air-conditioning industry has gradually slowed down, which has a great impact on the overall industry structure.

Over the past year, we have seen different development attitudes of Midea, Gree and Haier. Beauty puts its eyes first and tries to catch up. Gree's status is unstable and it is actively transforming. Haier is bold in innovation and insufficient in marketing. While competing with each other, it also shows its own development characteristics. Perhaps this is the true portrayal of the air-conditioning industry.

Catch up with beauty: keep an eye on the "first" and strive to catch up with it in quantity.

In the past two years, if we want to say who has the loudest voice in the air-conditioning industry, the United States will definitely do its part, which shows us an enterprise's efforts in gaining market share.

So we see that from the first half of 2020, Midea surpassed Gree in revenue for the first time, and the market share of air conditioners also surpassed online for the first time.

Aowei Compass data shows that in 2020, Midea's online market share of air conditioners reached 34.26%, up 3.75 percentage points year-on-year, ranking first in the market; In terms of offline channels, Midea's air-conditioning market share reached 34.7 1%, up 5.86 percentage points year-on-year, ranking second in the market, almost equal to Gree. Midea Air Conditioning won the first online and offline total sales champion in 2020 by virtue of its online channel advantage.

By 20021year, Midea's air conditioners had surpassed Gree in an all-round way, and its market share both offline and online exceeded Gree. This is undoubtedly a turning point of air-conditioning category, and the goal of "first" of Midea air-conditioning has finally achieved substantial results.

Under the downward trend of market growth, it is undoubtedly more advantageous to increase the quantity at a low price. The prices of Gree and Haier are generally higher than those of the United States, and they will naturally be at a disadvantage in a short time. Therefore, although the United States ranks first now, as long as Gree and Haier are willing to make profits and adopt the same low-price strategy in the future, there is still a great chance to surpass the United States, but this will inevitably lead to the biggest price war in the air-conditioning industry.

However, from the strategic development direction of the country, it is shifting from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. It seems that whether the beautiful air conditioner is suitable is still a question mark.

Gree transformation: unstable status, positive adjustment

It is really excellent to make a product to the extreme and gain recognition from the market and users. Gree is such an excellent enterprise in China's home appliance market.

However, in the past two years, in the process of competing with the United States for "the first brother of air conditioning", the development of Gree air conditioning was slightly difficult, and its share was gradually eroded by Midea and Haier.

For Gree, the market position is unstable, not because Gree's air conditioning technology and quality are not good enough, but because it is widening the distance from consumer demand and the balance of consumers has changed. The good cooling and heating effect of air conditioning used to be the long board of Gree's development, but now it has become the flat board of the industry. The image of "good air conditioning" established by Gree has been difficult to continue to enjoy dividends under the consumption upgrade. For example, when Gree was still selling "good air conditioners", Midea had already launched a set-up scheme matching other household appliances in the United States. Haier exclusively launched the whole house air customization scene, which jumped out of the level of "selling air conditioners".

Of course, as the big brother of the air-conditioning industry, Gree is constantly actively adjusting, especially taking the "network celebrity" route, hoping to make a comeback with the east wind of the Internet. So we can see that Gree not only invited Dong Mingzhu to broadcast the goods live, but also Meng Yutong, the secretary of the network celebrity, and the sales volume was really impressive. Even during the Double Eleven period of 20021,the sales volume of air conditioners in the whole network reached 3 billion+,beating Haier and Midea, and winning the first place in air conditioner retail in the whole network.

In essence, the adjustment pace of Gree air-conditioning needs to be greater. For example, the introduction of the policy of "free maintenance of the whole machine 10 year" can be said to be a big move of Gree, and it remains to be seen whether users will buy it or not. After all, under the circumstances that Midea continues to expand its leading edge and Haier starts the catch-up mode to reverse the situation, Gree obviously needs such deeper efforts to keep its current achievements.

Haier's obsession: bold innovation and insufficient marketing.

It is found that Haier, one of the three giants of air conditioning, runs faster and faster when Midea fights with Gree, as can be seen from the newly released data of 202 1.

Vertically, Haier's air conditioning market share rose from 20 16 to 202 1 for five consecutive years, and from 10.5% to17.9%. Horizontally, Haier air conditioning is the only one among the Big Three to achieve positive growth. 202 1 annual retail sales growth 16.4%, achieving the highest growth rate in the industry.

According to insiders, Gree and Midea have been locked in a fight this year, but I didn't expect Haier to work hard silently.

Actually, this is Haier's consistent style. Some people said that Haier Air Conditioning didn't know how to market itself. "Pay more attention to R&D than marketing" has always left an impression on the industry. It is not good at expressing itself to the outside world, and always does something silently. The most obvious is advertising data. According to third-party data, Gree and Midea's media investment far exceeds Haier Air Conditioning, whether in TV, Internet or outdoor media.

However, in the matter of innovative research and development, Haier air conditioning has always been at the forefront. For example, when the epidemic broke out in 2020, the word "56 C" suddenly caught fire, which originated from the industry's first 56 C sterilization air conditioner released by Haier. The evaporator temperature can reach above 56 degrees, and the dust removal and sterilization rate is as high as 99%, which upgrades the healthy air scene experience under the epidemic situation for users. It is Haier's high-profile innovation that has triggered industry follow-up. Midea Air Conditioning introduced the enterprise standard of "56 +30 minutes", Hisense introduced products with similar functions such as 57, and Gree also introduced the air purifier that killed COVID-19 at that time.

For the air-conditioning industry, when some enterprises pursue quantity and some enterprises carry out channel reform, enterprises like Haier really need to promote the high-quality development of the industry through technological innovation.

At present, the three giants of air conditioning are firmly on their own development path, Midea continues to pursue market sales, Gree seeks business increment through channel reform, and Haier promotes products to benefit more users through innovation. Under the background of the continuous expansion of 202 1 industry, the competition in the air-conditioning market will remain fierce in 2022. In February, the three major brands have been gearing up for the biggest marketing activities every year, Gree's Red April, Midea's Fire March, Haier's Healthy Air Conditioning ... whoever can respond faster in the fierce stock market will become the new "king of air conditioning" in 2022.