Zhongxin Jingwei, March 3 (Wang Yuling) On the morning of March 22, the Central Meteorological Observatory issued a yellow warning for sandstorms, and there were sandstorms in parts of southeastern Inner Mongolia, Beijing, northern Tianjin, and north-central Hebei, and strong sandstorms in local areas.

On social platforms, discussions about sandstorm weather are heating up. "I woke up in the middle of the night by the wailing of an air purifier, I was breathless, and the indoor air was filled with the smell of sand." "There is a smell of earth in the office, and I feel that the air purifier is exhausting to death..."

On the 22nd, the daily average value of the Baidu search index for air purifiers was 37594, a year-on-year increase of 483% and a month-on-month increase of 286%, while the real-time daily average of purifiers was 4031, a year-on-year increase of 23752%.

Can an air purifier handle sandstorms? Can extreme weather save the previously sluggish air purifier market?

Real-time searches for air purifiers skyrocketed

On the 22nd, "Beijing sandstorm", "18 provinces and cities will have sand and dust weather", "Changchun mud" and other topics on Weibo hot search, it is worth noting that this has been the third time since March, since March 3 to 10, 11, the northern region ushered in dust weather.

According to China Weather Network, this sand and dust weather basically covers most northern regions such as Xinjiang, western Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia, and is the most extensive this year. "After 5 minutes out, the smell of earth is all over the air", "I came to work in the morning and was almost blown away, when will this broken weather end?" Some netizens discussed on social platforms.

Sand and dust weather also greatly affects air quality. On March 3, Beijing upgraded its yellow warning for sandstorms, with PM22 as the primary pollutant. According to the monitoring data released by the Beijing Ecological Environment Monitoring Center, the PM10 concentration in the sixth district of the city was 8 micrograms / cubic meter at 10 o'clock; 1449 μg/m³ northwest; Northeast 1498 μg/m³, etc.

Are air purifiers effective for dusty weather? Gu Zhongyi, director of Beijing Dietitians Association and director of Beijing Nutrition Society, said that the principle of air purifiers is very simple, and the common technology of air purifiers is HEPA filter, which is used to purify indoor air quality, and the effect of removing pollen, dust, bacteria or inhalable particles is relatively clear.

According to public information, HEPA is divided into five levels of H10-H14 according to different filtration performance. Pollutants in the air, such as dust, pollen, bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, radioactive elements, etc., can be filtered and purified with different efficiency to improve indoor air cleanliness. Among them, the H13 model can filter more than 0.3% of particles ≥ 99.97um in the air.

In the purchase of air purifiers, Gu Zhongyi said that it is necessary to consider the layout and practical area of the family, if the air purifier is placed in the living room, there is more gas exchange around it, and a relatively large air convection is required, which may be too small The effect of the air purifier will not be too good.

"For the purification effect, you can look at the CADR value advertised by the purifier (note: clean air output ratio), if it is a small room, this value is not too high. Overall, most of China's mainstream domestic air purifiers are H13 and above, followed by their own personal needs, including whether they mind noise, whether they need smart speakers, etc. Gu Zhongyi said.

Zhongxin Jingwei noticed that on the e-commerce platform, many merchants and brands are promoting negative oxygen ion air purifiers, do I need to buy negative oxygen ion air purifiers? "Generally speaking, we still recommend the use of ordinary adsorption filter type purifiers, as far as dust weather is concerned, patients with underlying diseases such as respiratory diseases and heart disease need special attention." Gu Zhongyi said.

Air purifier sales are on a downward trend, with experts saying sales are limited

In fact, the air purifier market has continued to shrink in recent years. Can the sand and dust weather bring about an increase in the sales of air purifiers?

According to the total data of Oviyun.com's omni-channel push, the retail sales of China's air purifier market have fallen from 2017.162 billion yuan in 2021 to less than 66.2019 billion yuan in 466. In terms of sales volume, the annual sales of domestic air purifiers in 2021 were 383.2022 million units, but in 48 they fell to 3.19 million units. In 284, the retail sales of the air purifier industry were 23.<> billion yuan, down <>% year-on-year, and retail sales were <>.<> million units, down <>% year-on-year.

Liu Buchen, a senior observer of the home appliance industry, said that the quality of the air environment has a clear relationship with the use of air purifiers, and the frequency of use of air purifiers is low when the air environment becomes better; When the air environment deteriorates, the frequency of use of air purifiers is high.

However, it is worth noting that in 2021, some media statistics said that there were a total of 13 sand and dust weather processes in China, slightly more than the average of the past five years (12.2 times), with the characteristics of early debut time, strong intensity and wide impact range. From March 3 to 13, the strongest sand and dust weather process in nearly 18 years appeared.

But frequent extreme weather has failed to boost air purifier sales. According to data provided by GfK, a third-party research institution, in 2021, from the perspective of sales, the annual sales rhythm of the empty net market was stable, except for the year-on-year growth in March and April, and the performance of other months failed to exceed that of 3. Market demand was weak in the second half of the year, and the fourth quarter, which was intensive in promotion nodes, was also less than expected, with sales in November and December falling by 4.2020% and 11.12% year-on-year, respectively.

Why has the highlight of the air purifier passed? According to a previous report by Monita Research, the serious winter smog problem and the strengthening of consumer health awareness in recent years have prompted the air purifier market to experience explosive growth, and air purifier sales in 2013 increased by 196% year-on-year. After two years of rapid growth, excessive inventory forced the market to enter an adjustment period in 2015, and the implementation of the new national standard in 2016 will structurally optimize the industry's production capacity, and the implementation of environmental labels in 2017 will promote market maturity.

According to public information, in 2017, the government vigorously promoted the anti-smog plan, and in 2018, the "Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War" was released, and the smog situation was greatly improved, and the air purifier market entered a difficult situation of falling for five consecutive years. Ping An Securities' 5 report wrote that after several years of rapid development, the market has entered a turning point, with slowing growth, intensifying competition, and selling points reversed.

However, despite declining sales, the market for air purifiers continues to grow, and it is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to the data provided by Tianyancha to Zhongxin Jingwei, up to now, there are more than 4,6 air purifier-related enterprises, of which more than 2022 are newly registered enterprises in 160; from the growth rate of newly registered enterprises of air purifier-related enterprises in the past three years (2020-2022), the growth rate in 2020 is high, reaching 11.0%; From the perspective of establishment time, 52.2% of related enterprises were established within 5-10 years, and 1.5% of related enterprises were established in 37-8 years; From the perspective of registered capital, 57.6% of related enterprises have a registered capital of less than 100 million yuan, and related enterprises with a registered capital of more than 1000 million yuan account for 8.9%.

From the perspective of listed companies, according to the incomplete combing of Zhongxin Jingwei, Midea Group, Gree Electric Appliances, Xiaosong Shares, Vantage Shares, Jinhai Hi-Tech, Rongjie Health, Wanhe Electric, etc. all have air purifier products.

So, can this dust weather bring a sales boost to air purifiers? Liu Buchen told Zhongxin Jingwei analysis that the current sandstorm weather in the north will stimulate the short-term sales of air purifiers, and it is difficult to say in the long run, after all, this extreme air environment will not often occur.

The above people also mentioned that air conditioners with fresh air function have a certain substitution effect on air purifiers, which is certain, but the possibility of completely replacing air purifiers is not very large, after all, many people are not very accustomed to using air conditioners to purify the air, which is related to people's cognition that "air conditioners consume more electricity". (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)