Become the hardest hit area of unqualified products? How should induction cooker industry go in the future

The induction cooker industry has also been brilliant. The data show that more than 500 brands fought in this category during the peak period. However, with the problems of insufficient innovation and vicious competition in the industry, the induction cooker has been gradually forgotten from once popular to now. On February 9, the website of the State Administration of market supervision and Administration reported the state supervision and random inspection of the quality of 34 kinds of products such as children’s and infant clothing in 2020. Among them, 66 batches of electromagnetic cooker products produced by 66 enterprises in 4 provinces (cities) were randomly inspected, 8 batches of products were unqualified, and the unqualified discovery rate was 12.1%. This incident makes the induction cooker once again attract the attention of the industry. As a cooking appliance in the kitchen, compared with the gas stove, the induction cooker has the advantages of small volume, fast heating, no installation, unknown fire and so on, but why does it grow sluggishly year after year? In the next market development, what will be the trend of induction cooker industry? What direction should enterprises start from?

Become the hardest hit area of unqualified products

Enterprises call for standardizing industry standards

Looking at the historical data, the reporter of China home appliance network found that in 2008, the domestic induction cooker market reached 55.25 million units and the retail sales reached 15.1 billion yuan, reaching the peak of the induction cooker industry, and then fell into a downturn.

In recent years, the slowdown of induction cooker industry continues. According to the data of ovicloud, the online retail sales of domestic induction cooker in 2019 were 3.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5%, and the offline retail sales were 3.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%; In 2020, after experiencing the epidemic, many small household appliances ushered in contrarian growth, but the decline of induction cooker still continued. In 2020, the online retail sales of induction cooker were 3.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.7%, and the offline retail sales were 2.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 34.6%. Compared with the peak value, the current retail sales of induction cooker is only one-third of that at that time.

In view of why the induction cooker industry has declined year after year, the relevant person in charge of Midea, a leading enterprise of induction cooker, said, “in recent years, the industry lacks technologies to impress users and solve users’ deep-seated pain points, and the emergence of innovative products has slowed down users’ willingness to replace products, resulting in a slowdown in the growth of the whole market.”

The unqualified rate of Induction Cooker products notified by the State Administration of market supervision also confirms various problems of Induction Cooker products. This is not the first time that such a large-scale unqualified phenomenon has occurred in induction cooker products. In recent years, induction cooker has been the hardest hit area of unqualified products in many product sampling inspections at the national or provincial level. In January 2017, AQSIQ reported the special spot check of the national supervision on the quality of electromagnetic cooker products in 2016. It was found that 57 batches of products produced by 57 enterprises were unqualified, and the detection rate of unqualified products was 71.2%. In June 2017, Guangdong Provincial Bureau of quality supervision randomly inspected 100 batches of electromagnetic cooker products produced by 89 enterprises in Guangdong Province, of which 48 batches of products produced by 44 enterprises were unqualified, and the discovery rate of unqualified products was 48%. In 2018, the State Administration of Market Supervision announced that in the second batch of 2018, 20 batches of electromagnetic cooker products from 20 enterprises were randomly selected, and 9 batches of products were found to be unqualified. In November 2019, the State Administration of Market Supervision announced that 61 batches of electromagnetic cooker products from 61 enterprises in 4 provinces were sampled, of which 1 batch of products had no energy efficiency label. Among the 60 batches of products tested, 15 batches of products were unqualified, and the unqualified discovery rate was 25%.

It is a matter of concern that the vast majority of unqualified products are produced by small enterprises and workshops. As small household electrical appliances, induction cooker has long given the impression that the entry threshold is low and the technical content is not high. A large number of small enterprises pile up to enter the market at the time of industry prosperity, but small enterprises often lack supervision on product quality, This has caused irreparable harm to the whole industry. This unqualified event also sounded an alarm to the industry again. People in the industry believe that the quality access and supervision mechanism of the induction cooker industry should be standardized and strengthened to create a good environment for the healthy development of the industry, which is conducive to the further development of the industry.

Innovative products usher in new opportunities

High requirements for technology R & D in the future

The sudden attack of the epidemic makes consumers pay more attention to health. At the same time, with the rise of young consumers, new induction cooker products show new characteristics different from the past.

First, the head household appliance manufacturers vigorously promote the selling points of function integration, safety and health in induction cooker products. Midea recently released a new hybrid cooking stove. This new product breaks through the boundaries of categories. It is a new induction cooker product, which can adapt to different pots, 10 firepower can meet various cooking needs of Chinese style, and has built-in multiple safety protection systems, In case of abnormal conditions such as dry burning of pot, high temperature in furnace and sensor failure, the protection will be automatically opened.

Galanz recently released the new induction cooker wcl015, which adopts the modern simple design loved by young people in appearance, and has 8 built-in menus, including a large number of delicious cooking modes. Jiuyang previously released radiation proof induction cooker, which solved the user’s demand for radiation protection of induction cooker, and accumulated a number of radiation protection patents, meeting the current user’s demand for health products.

In addition, the induction cooker industry has attracted a number of scientific and technological enterprises, such as millet, diced fruit, circle kitchen, Turkey, etc. in addition to better appearance design, these brand induction cooker products also have many innovations in voice control, intelligent function and personality design, which has brought many new ideas to the induction cooker industry.

Each enterprise has its own judgment on the technical direction of future products, and the relevant person in charge of Midea believes that “In the future, Midea induction cooker will increase investment in high appearance, high quality and high intelligence, and create the maximum value for users in an all-round way. By deeply digging into the diversified and subdivided consumer needs, Midea will create a differentiated appearance for different groups, so that Midea induction cooker can not only meet the functional needs of cooking, but also express users’ personality and life attitude, such as becoming a work of art at home.”

Technology enterprises pay more attention to how to make induction cooker a “net red” small household appliance. After all, 2020 is a “harvest year” for many net red small household appliances such as wall breaking machine and air fryer , it is not known whether the repackaged induction cooker can take the road of wanghong small household appliances. However, the disadvantages of focusing on marketing and neglecting technology of wanghong small household appliance enterprises have been criticized by people in the industry, and induction cooker, which has learned from the lack of technological innovation, needs to avoid this point.

In view of the next trend of the induction cooker industry, relevant people familiar with the industry said that “the scale of the induction cooker has gradually shrunk in recent years, the combination of electric ceramic and electromagnetic, and functional integration is the opportunity point for future development”.

Midea believes that “in the future, the market will have higher requirements for the innovation and professionalism of induction cooker product functions, which puts forward higher requirements for the enterprise’s technology and R & D strength. The market will further focus on excellent enterprises and brands with advanced technology and excellent quality, and the industry will develop healthily in the future.