Water dispenser industry accelerates reshuffle

According to the data from China Yikang, the overall retail sales of water appliances in China reached 18.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.7%, but the retail sales of traditional water dispensers fell by 6.5% to 8.6 billion yuan last year. The barrel market dropped sharply by 33.3%. The annual retail sales amounted to only RMB 500 million.

The industry expects that once the drinking fountains are included in the national energy efficiency label management catalog, from the perspective of the entire industry, it is estimated that at least 20% of the products will exit the market because they fail to meet the three levels of energy efficiency standards of the standard.

Energy efficiency national standard accelerated elimination

For a long time, due to the lack of market demand for energy-saving products, the lack of research and development power of manufacturers has led to a very weak sense of energy conservation in the entire water dispenser industry. It is understood that a water dispenser with a rated power of 300W consumes 0.3 degrees of electricity in one hour, and operates for 12 hours a day. The power consumption is as high as 3.6 degrees, which is about 10 times the energy consumption of refrigerators. Therefore, drinking fountains are also used. It is called the "power consumption king" in the home appliance industry.

Until December 6 last year, the National Standards Commission formally notified the World Trade Organization of the above energy efficiency standards. According to the person in charge of the China National Institute of Standardization, the management committee has now received comments from the WTO. At present, the overall changes to the standard are minor, and the formalities for approval are being fulfilled. The specific release date has not yet been determined.

Zhang Heng, Manager of Shenzhen Angel Drinking Water Industry Group Co., Ltd. Technical Management Center, believes that if all goes well, the energy efficiency standard is expected to be released as soon as possible in the first half of this year. It is reported that due to the stringent requirements for the formulation of this indicator, even the current industry leader Angel Company cannot guarantee that all existing products will reach the three-level level of energy efficiency.

According to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, the new standard mainly stipulates the energy efficiency rating, energy efficiency limit value, energy conservation evaluation value, test method and inspection rule for drinking water dispensers for household and similar purposes. The drinking fountains are designed in accordance with heating and cooling systems. The combination of different methods, divided into non-cyclic heating water dispenser, circulating heating and cooling water dispenser and combined drinking fountains three categories.

Among them, the most important chapter is the technical requirements, which stipulates that the safety requirements for drinking fountains should comply with the "Safety Part I: General Requirements for Household and Similar Electrical Appliances". In addition, the energy efficiency test needs to be in the specified test environment, ie, the temperature of the external heated drinking fountain hot water should not be lower than 95°C, the temperature of the hot-hot drinking fountain hot water should not be lower than 90°C, and the cyclic heating and cold drinking water The hot water outlet temperature of the machine should meet the original "requirements for hot and cold water dispensers."

"For smaller, underpowered water dispenser companies, it is very difficult to meet the standards." The insider of Life Electronics of the United States told reporters that due to the large increase in the level of energy efficiency, companies need to have greater technological breakthroughs. It can be achieved not only by increasing insulation measures.

“If there is no technological transformation, some of the existing products will be eliminated.” The relevant person in charge of the Guanyuan water purifier anticipates that the water dispenser companies will intensively carry out the technology after the standard is approved and before the formal implementation. Transformation, a large number of small water dispenser companies lack of capital and technological transformation capabilities will be eliminated, the industry will usher in a new round of reshuffle.

Drinking fountains decline, water purifiers grow

In fact, as more and more people attach importance to the quality of drinking water, traditional drinking fountains are no longer able to meet people's health needs for drinking water, and drinking fountains in the home are gradually becoming furnishings, and the idle rate is also getting higher and higher.

“Even if the water from our waterworks is qualified, it does not mean that the water from our household taps must be qualified.” According to Gu Jiuchuan, Secretary-General of the China Water Purification Industry Association, with the economic development, people The increasing demand for water quality will inevitably increase people's demand for the second treatment of water, and the clean water has become the development trend and direction of the entire water appliance industry.

“There is more important safety issue. We do not advocate drinking with a clean bucket. If the water is safe and clean, if it is not consumed within three days, it will breed bacteria, then the quality of water will be better than that of tap water. To be worse, the same problem exists in the water storage tank,” said Jia Dongsheng, general manager of Zhong Yikang, who told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.

Home appliance industry observer Hong Shibin believes that the value of drinking fountains lies in convenience, but they are prone to scaling up in health. “If the drinking fountains do not change, they will still go step by step to development and production. The final outcome is definitely abandoned by the market.”

In fact, in recent years, drinking fountains companies are also aware of the existence and threats of the problem. Some companies have begun to try to develop the drinking fountains to the high end, and they have introduced additional features that use segmented temperature control technology to make tea with coffee, and the price is also a few hundred. Yuan Yue rose to a thousand dollars.

However, the market reaction is generally cool. “Just added a small electric kettle, the price has been doubling, and extra heating is needed. What's the significance of the water dispenser that buys over a thousand dollars? It's better to buy a tens of dollars directly. Electric kettles are not cheaper and more affordable." One consumer complained.

With the decline in the water dispenser market, the water purification equipment market, especially the high-end water purifiers, has shown rapid growth of 150% to 200%. According to the forecast of China Yikang's demand for water purification equipment market in 2013-2020, the market size of water purification equipment will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 45%, from 9.5 billion yuan in 2013 to 120 billion yuan in 2020.

Ren Minqi, a researcher in the household appliance industry of China Investment Advisors, believes that water purifiers have a strong substitution effect for drinking fountains, and they have advantages such as less energy consumption and one-time purification and direct drinking than drinking fountains.

Around 2010, giants of major domestic water appliance brands began to lay out their own water purification products, but due to technical constraints and other reasons, the product structure has not been clear yet. Until 2012, the domestic appliance market was dismal and the water purification products began to show a differentiation trend. In 2013, under the influence of various brand development forces and residents’ high attention to environmental issues, pure water machine products surpassed water purifier products in one stroke and established Its market position.

Professor He Xueli, a well-known expert on domestic water problems and a professor at the China Center for Disease Control, witnessed the struggle and transformation of water household appliances companies. In his opinion, homogenization of products is still a major problem in the current water purification industry, and companies are constantly seeking Solution, "This requires a process."