In the first half of 2022, the attention of refrigerators and freezers surpassed that of air conditioners and became a topical star in the field of white goods.

From the perspective of the overall situation of the white goods industry, the performance of the top brands has been steadily rising, and the growth rate of Midea Group, Haier Zhijia, and Gree Electric has exceeded the industry average.

  The freezer market performed better than refrigerators, and upright freezers ushered in new market opportunities. However, due to rising raw material costs, the gross profit margin of the industry generally declined.

The concentration of the air-conditioning industry has further increased, the gross profit margin of leading companies has been relatively stable, the gross profit margin of second- and third-tier brands has continued to suffer, and industry competition has intensified.

  Optimizing marketing channels, white goods giants rise steadily

  The "2022 China Home Appliance Industry Semi-annual Report" released by the National Household Appliance Industry Information Center shows that the complex international situation and relatively sluggish domestic consumption in the first half of the year have brought pressure to the production and sales of the home appliance industry. In the first half of the year, domestic home appliances The market sales scale was 360.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.2%.

  However, home appliance giants are more resistant to pressure.

The first half of 2022 is a half year for Midea Group to accelerate the transformation of the B-end. The company's operating income was 182.661 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.09%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 15.995 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.57%.

  In the first half of 2022, Haier Smart Home's revenue was 121.858 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.07%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 7.949 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.89%.

  In the first half of 2022, Gree Electric also accelerated its diversification transformation. The company achieved operating income of 95.222 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.58%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 11.466 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.25%.

  In terms of revenue growth, Haier Smart Home is better than the other two.

In terms of the growth rate of net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company, Gree Electric ranks first.

The performance of the three home appliance companies in the first half of the year was stable and rising, also thanks to the continuous optimization and improvement of marketing channels.

  CICC believes that Gree Electric continues to promote channel reforms and improve its sales structure. Coupled with the recent improvement in demand for air conditioners and the relief of raw material cost pressures, the company's profitability is expected to continue to improve.

However, considering that the second half of the year is a traditional inventory pressure period, it is expected that the year-on-year base in the second half of the year will be high.

  Judging from the semi-annual reports of the second-tier brands, the overall performance of white goods companies is acceptable.

In the first half of 2022, the operating income of Hisense home appliances was 38.307 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.15%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 620 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.79%.

The growth rate of net profit remains stagnant.

  Although Changhong Meiling's net profit growth rate is high, the base is small.

In the first half of the year, the company's operating income was 10.225 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.47%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 60.38 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 62.48%.

  Refrigeration company Aucma achieved operating income of 5.029 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 14.58%, and realized a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 112 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.07%.

  Judging from the performance of white goods companies, the growth rate of net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is generally lower than that of operating income.

In addition, the concentration of industry brands has increased, and the competitiveness of leading brands has become stronger.

  Freezers outperform refrigerators, but the industry as a whole is under pressure

  In the first half of this year, freezers and refrigerators have become the focus of the white goods industry.

According to the total data pushed by Aowei Cloud, in the first half of 2022, the omni-channel retail sales of freezers were 5.322 million units, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%, and the retail sales were 7.09 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%.

  However, the sales of refrigerators were not satisfactory. In the first half of the year, the retail sales of refrigerators was 15.07 million units, down 5.5% year-on-year; retail sales were 45.6 billion yuan, down 3.4% year-on-year.

  As a faucet for ice washing, Haier Smart Home Refrigerator's revenue in the first half of 2022 was 37.913 billion yuan, compared with 33.637 billion yuan in the same period last year.

The growth scale of refrigerator revenue exceeded that of washing machines and air conditioners.

  Among them, Haier Smart Home's domestic refrigerator and freezer business achieved revenue of 21.744 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%.

The revenue of high-end brand Casarte embedded products increased by 36% year-on-year, driving the unit price of products to increase by more than 1,000 yuan; the revenue of freezers in the domestic market increased by 5%.

  The performance of other brands of refrigerators and freezers was similar to that of the broader market.

In the first half of the year, Hisense's home appliance ice washing business, which owns refrigerator brands such as Hisense and Rongsheng, achieved main business income of 10.427 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.30%; gross profit margin was 16.29%, a year-on-year decrease of 2.71 percentage points.

  In the first half of 2022, Changhong Meiling's refrigerator and freezer business realized revenue of about 3.344 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.53%; gross profit margin was 14.18%, a year-on-year decrease of 4.19%.

Overall, in the first half of the year, the two companies' refrigerator and freezer categories were under heavy pressure.

  Omar refrigerators, as the main business of Omar Electric Appliances, are also under pressure.

In the first half of the year, the company's refrigerator manufacturing and sales business achieved operating income of 3.927 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 18.30%; net profit was 407 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.76%.

  The industry is under pressure, which is inseparable from the rise in raw material costs, and the overall decline in the gross profit margin of the company affects the net profit level of the category.

  According to Pei Dongmin, Research Director of Aowei Cloud's Home Appliances Division, the refrigerator market has been in a state of high inventory for a long time, and the product homogeneity is serious, the technology iteration is slow, and the demand is constantly deepening, and the demand is not released as expected.

At the same time, with the rise of emerging channels and the continuous sinking of online e-commerce into the fourth and sixth tier markets, some of the demand will be released in the low-end market, and online price growth will be weak.

  "The demand for new scenarios drives the iteration of freezer products from horizontal to vertical. The retail sales of vertical freezers in the offline market will rapidly increase from 8.1% in 2021 to 15.5% in May 2022. The replacement of vertical freezers The opportunity has appeared." Pei Dongmin thought.

  The gross profit margin of second-tier air conditioners continues to suffer

  The peak season of air-conditioning was not prosperous. Although growth resumed at the end of June, it was difficult to resist the general decline in the first half of the year.

According to the total data pushed by Aowei Cloud, in the first half of 2022, the omni-channel retail sales of air conditioners was 72.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 15.3%; the retail sales volume was 21.54 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 20.9%.

Among them, the volume of offline channels fell by more than 20% year-on-year.

  In the first half of the year, Gree Air Conditioning and Midea Air Conditioning made adjustments to improve quality and efficiency.

Midea's HVAC revenue was 83.236 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.94%; gross profit margin was 21.05%, a year-on-year increase of 1.33%.

The gross profit margin of Midea Air Conditioning has been restored after multiple periods of small profits but quick turnover to seize market share.

  Gree Electric's air conditioning segment includes household air conditioners, central air conditioners, precision air conditioners, automotive air conditioners, and commercial cold chains.

The air-conditioning business revenue was 68.746 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.18%; the gross profit margin was 29.87%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.21%.

Gross profit margins are fairly stable.

  Haier Air Conditioning has accelerated to seize market share. The revenue of Haier Smart Home Air Conditioning business in the first half of 2022 was 23.671 billion yuan, compared with 21.627 billion yuan in the same period last year.

Among them, the domestic air-conditioning business achieved revenue of 19.46 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%.

  The second-tier brand is under heavy pressure.

Hisense Home Appliances owns household air-conditioning brands such as Hisense and Kelon. As a second-tier player, Hisense's air-conditioning business focuses on health functions.

In the first half of the year, the HVAC business achieved main business income of 18.947 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.47%; gross profit margin was 24.87%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.57 percentage points.

  Changhong Meiling's O2O channel outbreak in the first half of the year exceeded expectations. The company's air-conditioning business achieved revenue of about 5.351 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.16%.

However, the gross profit margin was damaged. In the first half of the year, the gross profit margin was 8.29%, a year-on-year decrease of 2.28%.

  With the implementation of the new national standard for air-conditioning energy efficiency and the rising cost of raw materials, the concentration of brands in the air-conditioning industry has continued to increase, and long-tail brands are being reshuffled.

  The scale of the central air-conditioning market has grown steadily.

In the first half of the year, Haier Smart Home achieved a 26.1% increase in domestic revenue from commercial air conditioners.

Hisense Hitachi's revenue in the first half of 2022 was 10.047 billion yuan, and its net profit was 1.289 billion yuan.

  Pei Dongmin said that in 2022, the market will start unfavorably and the peak season will not be prosperous, and it is a foregone conclusion that the whole year will decline.

Influenced by favorable factors such as the easing of cost pressure, the pull of high temperature and the release of favorable policies, the overall trend in the second half of the year will be relatively positive, but it may be difficult to level the downward trend of the whole year.

  Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Chen Weicheng