Rural household appliances channel continues to heat up

In December 2011, the home appliances to the countryside policy will end in three provinces as scheduled. In the next two years, the rest of the country will also stop on schedule.

The intensity of manufacturers' penetration into the tertiary and tertiary markets has continued to increase. Analysts worry: How many stores can the township market accommodate? If enterprises blindly expand their stores, a new round of integration of township channels will not be far behind.

Let us look at this round of crazy construction. TCL Group will strengthen the channel construction in the third, fourth, and fifth-tier markets in the second half of this year and plans to add 800 TCL brand stores; Galanz will also invest 1 billion yuan, according to the principle of “one county, one store”. More than 2,000 counties nationwide have opened franchised stores; Foxconn has also opened a “Wanma Pentium” chain store in the 3rd and 4th tier markets.

Wang Jinliang, vice president of Midea’s Refrigeration Appliances Group, revealed to the “First Financial Daily (Weibo)” that the “Qianxian Wanzhen Project” has been implemented for four years, with 14,000 franchised stores and one-third of the camp has been created. Received. This year, the company's focus is on improving the quality of franchise stores. It plans to newly open and transform 1,000 county-level flagship stores. It has now opened 700 to 800 stores.

Haier Rishun is also ambitious. According to informed sources, there are currently 700 county-level shops and 2,000 township and village shops in Japan and Japan. This year's revenue is close to 50 billion yuan. Jiangsu Huiyin, which was listed on the market last year, has also released a signal that it is optimistic about the three or four-tier market.

In the interview with this newspaper, Peng Yi, director of research and development of Zhong Yekang, said that there are only 100 color TV sets in rural areas. Withdrawing from rural areas, the rural growth potential is still huge.

At present, the three or four levels of the market have three main forces: regional chains, specialty stores, and national chains. Among them, brand monopoly development is particularly rapid.

Xiong Linping is a home appliance distributor in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. He told the newspaper that Jiangxi's local home appliance chain "Siping" and "Tengda" have opened dozens of stores and more than ten stores in Zhangzhou respectively, of which Siping's stores have opened to townships. Gome (Weibo) has opened a store in Quzhou City and is preparing to open a second one. Gree, Midea, Haier and Galanz opened stores in the area.

Wang Fengen, the boss of Hebei Daxian County Dahua Trading Co., Ltd., operates the largest home appliance integrated store in the area. From May this year, he also opened a flagship store in the county. “In the past few years, the share of first-line brands in the county-level market has rapidly increased, and the second- and third-tier brands have been pushed into the township market.” Wang Fengen said that Gree, Haier and Midea all have stores in the county. “This year, the factory attaches great importance to the township market and requires us to open stores in the township.”

Xie Shaoliang, general manager of Zhengdong Home Appliances Co., Ltd. of Hunan Province, who has worked in Xiangtan for many years, believes that first-tier brands have basically completed the channel layout in the 3rd and 4th markets in recent years. Haier, Gree, Midea, Skyworth, Galanz, and Hisense , Changhong, TCL have local stores. "The United States and Haier are already one town and two networks."

Peng Yu said that the country’s home appliance stores have mushroomed in recent years and are now estimated at 20,000 to 30,000. At the same time, a number of regional electric appliance chains have also emerged in the country, such as Wuhan Industry and Trade, Jiangxi Siping, Xinjiang My Home, Jiangsu Huiyin, Yinchuan Xinbai, Changsha Tongcheng, Meishan. Leap, Baotou "with Lee", Changde "Huaxin" and so on. Gome and Suning are also infiltrating into the 3rd and 4th markets. "The rural household appliance channels are showing a flourishing situation."

In fact, this is not the first time that household appliances "channels go to the countryside".

Five or six years ago, with the words "Happy Tree" and "Yijiale", the power plant set off a wave of chain stores in the township market. At that time, the manufacturers wanted to get rid of the squeeze of the national electrical chain stores, because the entrance fee of the large chain gradually increased, and the channel cost of manufacturers increased sharply. However, the limited space for self-built channels in big cities has led the power plants to invest in the three or four-tier market with traditional advantages, and hopes to integrate the original scattered dealer resources in the form of franchising.

However, due to its own positioning problems, for example, "Happy Tree" hopes to contract sales of multiple home appliance brands against the background of its own TCL as a shareholder. Coupled with the limited purchasing power of the rural market at that time, "Happy Tree" and "Yijiale" later all went badly.

"But, this round of store booms, not everyone can survive." Wang Jinliang believes that brand strength, product line richness, service ability is the key factor for the franchise's success.

In the past few years, both Gree, Haier, and the United States have invested resources to “get up and send a ride” for these township stores—subsidizing door openings, interior decoration, and housing rentals. After the end of the three-year support, the key is whether the store itself has hematopoietic function and can survive.

Newcomers will also face challenges. Li Feng, general manager of Wuhan Industry and Trade believes that in recent years, the three-four-tier market stores have flourished, and the brand stores have found a survival model suitable for their own development. It is close to consumers and provides after-sales service in a timely manner and is recognized by rural consumers. “We define the market with annual sales of 5 million to 8 million yuan as the township market. In the past few years, the major home appliance brands have been completed in the township market, and those who come in will have some space apart from the black and white stores. There are not many opportunities for white electricity and kitchen appliances."

Peng Yu believes that after the township market experiences rapid growth, there will be a period of growth easing after the home appliances to the countryside policy is over. With the increase in the number of branded stores, the household appliances market in the 3rd and 4th level will have a “squeaky” situation in the future. Those stores with low single-store output will not escape the fate of being integrated.