中小家电厂商不能在躺平中出局

Since entering 2024, the survival status and development prospects of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises in the home appliance industry are worrying. The home appliance industry believes that small and medium-sized manufacturers are constrained by their own scale, strength, and team resources, making it difficult to compete head-on with top companies. However, they have their own unique commercial value and survival space, and they must not be passively eliminated in the past two years while lying flat.

He Yang | | Writing

Has the exit of numerous small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses in the home appliance industry entered the countdown?

Since entering 2023, the competitive landscape of China's home appliance industry has accelerated under the leadership of large brands and enterprises, accelerating its concentration towards the top, which has greatly limited the survival space for many small and medium-sized manufacturers. Faced with intense competition, sluggish consumer demand, and endless internal competition, many small and medium-sized home appliance manufacturers choose to "not act, not struggle, and not break through" and take advantage of the situation to lie flat.

The home appliance industry believes that a large number of small and medium-sized manufacturers of investment models have been eliminated from the home appliance market, which is in line with commercial laws and an inevitable result. However, a group of small and medium-sized manufacturers driven by value and technology cannot choose to lie flat in the competition and industry reshuffle in the home appliance market, but should find their own space and territory. At the same time, the home appliance industry also believes that although the development trend of the home appliance industry is "strong always strong", and the development space of small and medium-sized manufacturers is limited everywhere, this does not mean that small and medium-sized manufacturers do not have the value of survival and room for development.

Firstly, from the perspectives of commercial laws and market economy, the mature home appliance industry has obvious competitive advantages for large enterprises, but this does not mean that small and medium-sized enterprises do not have a place to survive. From the perspective of industrial ecology, in many industries, many small and medium-sized enterprises are actually "ice breakers" of new technologies, new categories, and new models. The main reason is that they are highly sensitive to the market, have small platforms, short processes, and can make quick decisions. Moreover, their trial and error costs in the face of the market and users are relatively low, making it easy for them to restart and start again. More importantly, today's large enterprises have also developed from small and medium-sized enterprises in the home appliance industry.

So, under the current business landscape and competitive state of the home appliance industry, small and medium-sized enterprises do not lack space for survival and commercial value, but rather need to find their own competitive advantages and development space. Therefore, the principle and bottom line are: no matter how the market shuffles or how large enterprises integrate, small and medium-sized enterprises must firmly adhere to their direction, choices, and strategies, and consolidate the foundation of their own development. Be honest, energetic, maintain enthusiasm, and not easily back down, ultimately maintaining sensitivity and enthusiasm towards the market, and listening and providing feedback on user needs.

Secondly, from the dimensions of enterprise management and user value, compared to large enterprises, although small and medium-sized enterprises are not large in scale and strength, their business strategies are more focused and concentrated, and they are prone to sinking. They have more time and resources to invest in target users and market operations for deep cultivation and maintenance. For example, as a specialized benchmark in a certain category or field, becoming a professional design manufacturer for large enterprises; Becoming a professional operator in a certain category that covers "research, production, sales, and service", constantly pushing up the competition threshold of the industry and the moat of the enterprise, are all directions worth exploring and breaking through. In this process, many powerful and innovative dealers can also take the lead in transforming into comprehensive service providers that directly meet user needs, achieving the integration and implementation of resources for home appliances and home decoration.

It is undeniable that many small and medium-sized manufacturers in the home appliance industry, although weak in strength and small in scale, are rooted in regional markets or certain fields, have emotions and connections with local users, and are therefore the last link for many large home appliance manufacturers to deeply cultivate their users. For example, Haier and Midea store owners, as well as offline franchisees of JD Home Appliances and Tmall Youpin, are mainly local small and medium-sized businesses. Similarly, in recent years, leading large enterprises such as Haier, Midea, Hisense, and TCL have a group of upstream small and medium-sized suppliers, providing them with stable and excellent design and manufacturing services. Oma Electric and Xueqi Electric are professional contract manufacturers in the refrigerator industry. In the washing machine and air conditioning industry, companies such as Konka and Skyworth are also expanding their professional contract manufacturing business.

Although the future development trend of the entire home appliance industry will be dominated by large enterprises squeezing, cleaning, and rectifying small and medium-sized enterprises under the trend of "the strong will remain strong", the value and space of small and medium-sized enterprises and merchants need to be redefined in China's market environment and consumption pattern. It is also a force and resource that some major home appliance manufacturers need to unite.

Secondly, small and medium-sized enterprises tend to be conservative and cautious in strategy, but aggressive and proactive in tactics. Based on the principle of "leveraging strengths and avoiding weaknesses" and the logic of "Tian Ji racing", accelerate the concentrated expansion in advantageous projects and markets, root in one or more regions, target circle users, provide more extreme products and prices, and provide more considerate and non disruptive services. It is necessary to learn to be friends with users and grow together with them. This is the advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises. Don't be dragged down by temporary scaling or confused by temporary business indicators. Believe in the return and value of continuous investment.