The quality of water determines the quality of life, and with the attention of people to the health of drinking water, the competition in the water purifier track is also more intense. As a brand focusing on water purifiers, Yikaide has always focused on user needs, made continuous breakthroughs in products and technologies, and helped its own development with differentiated advantages.
When we entered the water purification industry six years ago, we were faced with a situation where foreign companies controlled the mainstream water purification technology, while Chinese local enterprises lacked R&D capabilities and basic theoretical research on water purification. However, now we have solved the core filtration technology, the life of the filter element, the actual monitoring of the purification effect, the wastewater problem, etc. Recently, Shen Weixing, general manager of Yikaide Group, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter frankly that the current water purification industry is facing the problem of product homogenization, and many enterprises are difficult to resist the competition and gradually disappear. The reason for this is the disregard for consumer needs, which leads to a lack of direction and imagination in product innovation.
At the same time, Yikaide released two new products at the 2023 new product launch conference, aiming at the two subdivisions of kitchen water purification and maternal and infant water purification, solving the problems of different groups of people and different scenarios.
In the view of Gu Junhui, a marketing positioning expert, the penetration rate of China's household water purifiers is only 20%, which is quite a gap with the penetration rate of more than 80% in developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan, which also means that the market space for water purifiers in China is huge.
Online and offline integration
In the past years, the competition in the water purifier industry has focused on drinking water and cooking water scenarios, and in a wider market, kitchen cleaning, bowl cleaning, kitchen wading appliances and other scenarios account for 80% of the demand.
Therefore, the market share of the entire water purifier segment is still relatively scattered. However, in the minds of consumers, it has gradually evolved from a mass comprehensive brand to a recognition of professional brands. In addition, at present, the post-90s generation, as the main consumer group, has strong consumption power and has higher expectations for quality life.
In this context, innovation is a new opportunity.
The Chinese market needs a local, professional water purification brand。Shen Weixing believes that the premise of focus is a full investigation of China's water conditions and consumer demand, "According to the different needs of different groups of people and usage scenarios, we have successively launched the countertop heat purifier A9 Pro, MQ9 heat purification for mothers and infants, the newly integrated kitchen heat purifier, and the split kitchen water purifier for the whole kitchen water purification scene." ”
According to the data of Whale Staff E-commerce, in the first quarter of 2023, the sales volume of water purifier products on the Tmall platform will be nearly 4 million, with sales of nearly 1.4 billion yuan. Among the top brands, there are not only traditional home appliance brands such as Midea and Haier, but also many professional water purifier brands such as Yikaide and Qinyuan.
Starting from March 25, 2021, Yikaide has reached an in-depth strategic cooperation with Tmall Genie, officially entered the smart home appliance circle, and plans to achieve millions of smart devices connected to Tmall Genie in the next three years. The new product MQ9 released this time not only realizes the whole kitchen water purification, but also recycles the "wastewater" generated by the traditional water purifier through the intelligent central sink and internal circulation system.
In addition to technological innovation, the sales service and channels of the water purifier brand are also constantly improving and expanding.
According to the data of Aowei cloud network, in the first quarter of 2023, the sales volume of the domestic water purifier market will be 33400 million yuan, an increase of 2 year-on-year2%。This trend also puts forward new requirements for the industry to upgrade its files.
Jiang Nanchun, CEO of Focus Media, believes that at a time when traffic dividends are disappearing and full of uncertainty, only by building high-quality brands can we go through the cycle, and the industry concentration will become higher and higher.
Consumption tiered upgrades
At present, the water purification products in the market are very different from the stage of just need and popularization, and those "primary products" that only meet the basic needs are difficult to overtake. The stratification of consumption is becoming more prominent, and the product strategies of enterprises in response to this scenario are also being adjusted. In recent years, a large number of brands in the field of water purifiers have emerged, and many of them have grown rapidly in a short period of time.
According to the analysis of the data of Double 11 in 2022, the distribution of **water purifiers**, the war has stopped and the proportion of low-cost products has been reduced, and the proportion of high-end products has increased online and offline.
From the perspective of the entire online channel, the sales of traditional e-commerce platforms fell by 3% year-on-year7%, and sales decreased by 7 percent year-on-year2%, but on average prices increased by 38%。The sales volume of water purifiers priced at 1599-1999 yuan accounted for 31%, and the sales of water purifiers priced at 2000-2499 yuan accounted for 22%.
As a result, some emerging up-and-comers are targeting the mid-to-high-end market, rather than falling into the cycle of low-price competition.
According to the data released by E-Kaide, since its establishment six years ago, its sales have grown at a peak annual rate of 200%, with an average annual growth rate of 30%. As of 2023, it has achieved full coverage in 274 cities, set up more than 600 offline franchise stores, and more than 1,200 offline retail outlets. It is reported that the company will also build a new smart factory in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in 2024.
The growth curves of these brands are markedly different from those of traditional brands. Jin Liyin, professor and head of the Department of Marketing at the School of Management of Fudan University, said that many new brands have achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 100% in less than five years since their establishment.
At present, quality is the core competitiveness of the brand, and only by developing truly high-quality products can we stand out in the fierce competition. With the release of Yikaide's new products, it will not only bring consumers a high-quality new experience, but also lead the high-quality development of the water purifier track.