In recent years, the aging of China's population has accelerated. The latest data shows that by the end of 2022, the elderly population aged 60 and above in China has exceeded 2800 million, accounting for 19 percent of the total population8%。Among them, the elderly population aged 65 and above is 209.8 billion people, accounting for 14 percent of the total population9%。According to the United Nations classification standards for aging, China is basically in the stage of moderate aging.
Under the general trend of deepening population aging, home care has become the first choice for many elderly people, and the resulting demand for home appliances for the elderly is also growing rapidly.
According to the "2023 Insight Report on Consumption Trends of Silver-haired People - Household Appliances" released by Ebang Think Tank, from the perspective of Tmall's supply and demand index, the demand side of the "suitable for the elderly" home appliance industry has risen far more than the supply side. In 2022, the search volume of Tmall's "home appliances for the elderly" products will be **200% year-on-year, and the demand is mainly concentrated in categories such as integrated home appliances, refrigerators, and cleaning and care, as well as categories such as environmental health, home life, and personal care. Consumers are more interested in the convenience, safety, functionality and health of products.
At the same time, the "2023 Double 11 Electrical Appliance Consumption Observation" released by Suning Tesco shows that during the Double 11 period, the sales of household appliances suitable for the elderly such as 4K TVs and anti-dry burning gas stoves increased by nearly 100%;Small household appliances such as low-sugar rice cookers and low-fat steam ovens are favored by elderly users, with sales growth ranging from 97% to 105%.
Although age-appropriate home appliances are still a niche market, many leading home appliance companies, including Midea, Haier, Gree, etc., have already begun to lay out related products and nugget new tracks.
Midea: Launched the age-appropriate brand "Meiyixiang" and established the "Silver Ecological Alliance".
As early as 2016, Midea and Jiangnan University have started a special research on the silver-haired family. In May 2021, Midea released a new brand for the elderly home furnishing "Meiyixiang", focusing on three types of products: gas stoves, water heaters, and range hoods, which have the functions of anti-dry burning, anti-carbon monoxide, and anti-oil fumes, respectively. In 2022, Double 11, Meiyixiang's sales volume continued to rank first in the home appliance industry for the elderly.
In 2023, Midea Yixiang has successively launched a number of age-appropriate home appliances such as AI voice one-click call water heater, Jingxiang Wuxia dishwasher, and Muyang water heater, all of which have been selected into the "2023 Elderly Products Product Promotion Catalog" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
It is worth mentioning that in order to meet the needs of the whole life scene of the silver-haired population and establish an ecosystem and service system for the innovation and application of silver-haired technology, Meiyixiang also jointly established the "Silver Ecology Alliance" with various industry authorities in 2022 to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the industry.
Haier: Establish an industry platform for the elderly to build a whole-house home ecosystem for the elderly
Founded in 2022, Haier Ageing Industry is a one-stop solution provider for healthy and age-appropriate life under Haier Smart Home. At present, the industry has four major business segments: home appliances for the elderly, health network appliances, home appliances for the elderly, and mobile convenience.
Based on Haier Smart Home's years of research and development of age-appropriate home appliances, Haier's age-appropriate industry has innovated in terms of safety, health, humanization, and personalization in the direction of user experience convenience: the care series washing machine with large fonts and large buttons, the anti-dry-burning gas stove that can automatically turn off the flame, the AI voice smart fresh-keeping refrigerator that can understand the dialect and accent of the elderly, and the Casarte Galaxy air conditioner that can be linked to the smart pillow to feel the sleeping state of the elderly.
At the AWE 2023 exhibition, Haier Age-Friendly Industry released Haier's smart home-based elderly care scenario solutions and a variety of new products for the elderly. Focusing on users' life scenarios such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, entertainment, and health, we will create full-scene solutions for smart homes such as bathing, toileting, sleeping, traveling, and health for the elderly, and create a whole-house home ecosystem for the elderly.
In addition to high-quality products for the elderly and full-scenario solutions for smart home care for the elderly, Haier has also participated in the formulation of a number of national standards for age-appropriate technologies. In April this year, the national standard of "Technical Specifications for the Aging of Intelligent Air Conditioners" declared by Haier Air Conditioning was officially approved, which is also the first national standard for the aging of the air conditioning industry, marking that the "suitable for aging" process of China's smart home appliances will enter a new stage led by standards.
Gree: Focus on product advantages, focusing on age-appropriate air conditioners
In May 2021, Gree launched the "Xintianrong" elderly air conditioner designed for the silver-haired group from multiple dimensions such as the comfort of the elderly experience, the convenience of operation and the healthy demand for air.
Based on the insight into the pain points of the use of air conditioners by the silver-haired group, in view of their sensitivity to temperature, worries about air conditioning disease, vision loss, operation difficulties and other problems, Gree "Xin Tianlong" elderly air conditioner has customized an exclusive operation algorithm, which can achieve the effect of mild refrigeration according to the physical condition of the elderly, and is also equipped with anti-direct blowing function and dust-proof sterilization device for the whole refrigeration process. In addition, this air conditioner remote control is specially designed for the elderly, with a larger screen display, more streamlined buttons, and a voice broadcast function.
In addition to the three major appliance giants, there are many other brands that have carried out layout and extension around the aging business. For example, Hisense TV has been specially designed for the elderly"Simple mode",Make the control of smart TV simpler than traditional TV,Let the elderly enjoy the convenience brought by scientific and technological progress,In addition, Hisense operating system also supports Cantonese、Sichuan dialect、Changsha dialect、Shanghai dialect, etc.24Dialect recognition,This is very practical for the elderly who don't speak Mandarin。
In 2019, Panasonic also put forward the "healthy pension" strategy for the Chinese market, and launched products suitable for the elderly such as "non-bending washing machines", which greatly reduced the burden on the elderly by moving the washing machine slot up and increasing the opening size of the washing sink, so that the elderly group can reach the clothes without bending over.
From the perspective of the aging development of the home appliance industry, the current focus of the industry is still on product research and development. It is gratifying that when home appliance companies develop and innovate for the aging household appliances, they do not simply and rudely understand the needs of the elderly as "enlarging the font" and "increasing the voice", but fully consider the special needs of the elderly under the gradual decay of their physical functions, and at the same time take into account the psychological and emotional factors of the elderly, starting from the physiological and emotional aspects of the elderly, and pay attention to the product use and operation experience in terms of function and details.
Driven by the leading enterprises of household appliances, the aging household appliances are accelerating from concept to reality. In the future, home appliance companies need to pay attention to how to promote the market popularization of household appliances for the elderly under the general trend that the market is moving closer to young people.