Recently, the State Administration of Market Regulation (Standards Committee) approved the release of GB 34914-2021 "Water Efficiency Limit Value and Water Efficiency Grade of Water Purifier", which is a national mandatory standard, which is used to replace the original GB 34914-2017 "Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier Water Efficiency Limit Value and Water Efficiency Grade" standard, which is expected to be officially implemented on July 1, 2022.
Bai Xue, a researcher at the China Institute of Standardization, said in interpreting the new standard that the current penetration rate of water purifiers in China is less than 10%, and there is still a big gap compared with developed countries, which means that China's water purifier market still has very broad prospects.
The image comes from a screenshot of an e-commerce product
The author believes that after the implementation of the new water efficiency standard of water purifiers, it means challenges and opportunities for water purification home appliance manufacturers, and the weak ones may be eliminated. For consumers, it will provide consumers with a better drinking water experience. It can not only promote the healthy development of the industry, but also correct the chaos of the water purification home appliance industry to a certain extent.
The new national standard for water efficiency will push up the industry threshold
As a national mandatory standard, the author notes that the new national standard for the water efficiency level of water purifiers that will be officially implemented from July 1, 2022 not only includes the water purifier products of nanofiltration technology into supervision, to achieve full coverage of mainstream water purifier technology, but also puts forward higher requirements for the comprehensive performance of water purifiers in multiple dimensions such as water efficiency limit values, water-saving evaluation values, technical requirements and test methods. We have seen that as soon as the news of the new standard was released, it aroused the continuous attention of the industry, society and public opinion.
Why does the newly released new national standard for water purification machine water efficiency arouse the attention of consumers and the industry? In my opinion, there are three main reasons. First, the release of new standards raises industry standards. For example, the water efficiency threshold is raised for water purification home appliance enterprises, which put forward higher requirements in water purification technology, assessing the water production rate and rated total water purification of water purifier products, and also putting forward clear requirements for water purification to produce "wastewater", if enterprises do not improve technology in time, innovative products may not keep up with the times. Some research institutions predict that after the implementation of the new standard, the water purifier market will eliminate about 40% of the products that do not meet the standard.
Secondly, the technical category of water purifiers has increased, and nanofiltration has been increased on the basis of reverse osmosis, releasing a diversified situation in the water purifier consumer market. For water purifier manufacturers, diversified development allows water purifier manufacturers to bear more development pressure. Market competition is cruel, in the process of enhancing strength, manufacturers can only find the right direction, in order to win in the future market competition.
Third, consumer perceptions of water purifiers have changed. Affected by the epidemic, consumers not only need the internal quality of water purifier products, but also need external intimate services to achieve both internal and external balance. In order to adapt to the new needs of consumers, many water purifier manufacturers have made efforts, such as Fangtai, Midea, Qinyuan, Quanlu, Angel, etc. as the representative of the water purifier enterprises are not only making efforts for healthy water purification technology, but also actively cultivating excellent marketing talents, and starting the transformation of the industry to service.
There is no doubt that in this era of the rise of individual consumerism, it is not difficult to find from the rise of smart phones, household appliances, and domestic electric vehicle brands that the emergence of new technologies, new ideas and new standards has not only brought about the rapid development of enterprises, but also the reshaping of the entire industry and huge development space.
Standardize the production and manufacture of water purifier industry
Earlier, the domestic water purifier market employment threshold was too low, resulting in a mixture of brands, uneven product quality, functional homogenization, local price war, high-end expansion is difficult to support the premium, and the product itself user slot point and other issues, so that water purifier products have been controversial, products in the domestic development for many years but the penetration rate is not high.
Why is the domestic water purifier terminal market share low? In my opinion, there are two main reasons. First of all, the development of water purifiers in China is relatively late, although the water purifier has a high degree of heat in China, but the user's acceptance of the product is still in the initial stage, and it is also necessary to cultivate the user market; secondly, the water purifier-related technology is not mature enough at present, and the user experience and after-sales service have room for improvement. In this case, with the official implementation of the new national standard of "Water Purification Machine Water Efficiency Limit Value and Water Efficiency Grade", it may usher in "new changes" in 2022.
On July 1 next year, after the official implementation of the new national standard of "Water Efficiency Limit Value and Water Efficiency Grade of Water Purifier", high-standard and high-quality water purification equipment will become a new direction for the research and development of water purification home appliance enterprises. For example, the water efficiency standards well known to water purification enterprises, its improvement can force manufacturers to improve technology, strengthen research and development, produce more product models that can meet the water efficiency limit value to maintain sales and obtain profits, and promote the progress and promotion and application of water-saving technologies.
It is understood that an important indicator added by the new version of the standard is the total rated amount of water, that is, the total amount of water purification that can be prepared during the life cycle of the filter element. In the process of treating tap water, more than 60% of the concentrated water of ordinary water purifiers is directly discharged into the sewer pipe, forming a huge waste of water resources. The filter element used in the water purifier is a non-renewable resource, which improves the water efficiency of the water purifier, can improve the water yield and rated total water purification, and can also reduce the waste of raw materials of the filter element.
The author feels that the introduction of the new national standard for water purification machines can not only standardize the production and manufacturing of the water purification industry, but also accelerate the elimination of some backward production capacity without technical competitiveness, which is conducive to the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.
The implementation of the new standard will activate the new momentum of the market
Public data show that less than 5% of Chinese households use water purification equipment such as water purifiers, and the penetration rate of water purifiers is far from reaching the standards of other developed countries. Due to the lack of industry standards and consumers' awareness of drinking water safety is still in the cultivation stage, the penetration rate of water purifiers in China is much lower than that of developed countries in Europe and the United States. In the industry's view, the implementation of the new standard will activate the new momentum of the market.
The introduction of new standards in the water purifier industry is a challenge and an opportunity, earlier, China's water purification industry threshold is low, but up to 40%-50% of the industry profits continue to attract spoilers into the game, resulting in uneven prices and quality of water purifiers on the market. Whether it is a veteran water purification enterprise that has been deeply rooted in the industry for many years, or a traditional home appliance enterprise or An Internet brand that has begun to get involved in the field of water purification, it is based on its own background and advantages, and at present, the water purification industry has not yet formed a stable competitive pattern.
The introduction of new standards by the industry will force the acceleration of the transformation and upgrading of market participants. First of all, from the solution to carry out the transformation, with the promotion of "consumer channel full scenario" and "user multi-scenario demand", many water purification enterprises are transforming to the direction of solution service providers.
Secondly, the water purifier products are intelligent. Intelligence is not only a problem that home appliance companies need to solve, but also a "big mountain" that water purification home appliances need to overcome. For example, cross-border home appliance brands, in the production of water purifiers, products around the safe drinking water, healthy drinking water, comfortable water and other dimensions of development and iteration, but also spent a lot of effort on intelligence. For example, the HaierShanQuan 600 water purifier, equipped with the Internet of Things payment technology, that is, in the case of obtaining user authorization, actively perceive the needs of users and take the initiative to pay. Effectively help users to completely solve the problem of users changing cores, and at the same time lead the industry into a new era of "payment" active service.
Third, independent research and development of new technologies, to break through the bottleneck problems of the industry, the key to this transformation lies in hardcore technology. Taking Fangtai water purifier as an example, in the face of consumers' problems of drinking water cleanliness and health, Fangtai chose to independently develop "NSP selective filtration technology" to solve the problem that users need safe and healthy drinking water. The water filtered by the Water Purifier is "clean and rich in natural minerals", which breaks through the bottleneck problem of the industry through independent technological innovation.
In the author's view, with the improvement of the consumption capacity of Chinese residents, the awakening of health awareness, and taking into account the domestic environmental conditions, the long-term development space of the water purification industry can be expected. In the next 3-5 years, the water purification industry will achieve a stage of rapid development and become an obvious trend.
Write at the end
At present, the domestic water purifier is facing a more complex market environment, in addition to the brands in the industry, there are home appliance brands / Internet companies into the game, and even in the secondary and tertiary markets there are many OEM products. In the face of such a development dilemma, practitioners in the water purifier industry are also actively looking for a breakthrough. After the introduction of the new standard, the industry access threshold has been raised, and entrants need to dig deep into technology, quality and value to adapt to the development of the times. Enterprises without technology and capital are eventually eliminated by the market.
In the popularization and promotion of water purification products, enterprises need to take user needs as the core to develop new products, new technologies to overcome user pain points, grasp the direction of product development, and at the same time, with the assistance of relevant departments, strengthen industry norms by introducing industry standards, in order to better promote the benign development of the water purification industry.