With the rise of China's local home appliance companies, Japanese and Korean home appliance brands have gradually declined in the Chinese market. At present, there are not many foreign home appliance brands that are really competitive in the Chinese market, and Panasonic is one of them.
Of course, Panasonic's relatively competitive home appliances are not many, and washing machines are more prominent categories. According to the statistics of Aowei Cloud Network, the sales share of Panasonic washing machines in the offline market in 2021 ranked fourth (9.76%), and the online also ranked among the top five (4.14%).
Such a performance is second only to Siemens among foreign brands, and it should be said that it is more outstanding. Of course, compared with Haier and Little Swan, the gap between Panasonic is still very large. In 2021, Haier and Little Swan's sales share in the offline market reached 38.13% and 15.54% respectively, and the online sales share was 39.45% and 21.2% respectively.
Panasonic washing machines benefit from their higher average price. In 2021, the average price of Panasonic washing machines online reached 2840 yuan, and offline reached 4838 yuan, which is only lower than Siemens in the top 5 brands.
What underpins the high price of Panasonic washing machines? In addition to branding, technology is certainly a factor that cannot be ignored. But what is the technical color of Panasonic washing machines?
From the ALPHA laundry robot released by Panasonic in 2021, we can more or less see the technical strength of this foreign brand.
"Nail Technology" noted that at the end of 2021, Panasonic ALPHA laundry robot was first listed on the e-commerce platform. In fact, this product was already released in mid-2021, when Panasonic highlighted it as the world's first laundry robot.
According to a number of media reports, this laundry robot, with the simulation of manual pressing, can use the original airbag pressing method to wash clothes without damage for underwear, sweaters and other clothes that need to be washed by hand.
The media publicity also said that this laundry robot has created more than 20 patents, which is a new washing method other than stirring, drum and wave wheel, filling the technical gap since the birth of electric washing machines for 110 years, and subverting the entire washing machine market.
So, are such black technology products really as subversive as the media advertises? According to the observation of "Nail Technology", the propaganda of the media has a certain suspicion of exaggeration.
Panasonic laundry robot uses the so-called "bionic soft pressure washing", although it is different from the washing method such as wave wheel and drum, but it still belongs to the category of water washing. Whether it's rinsing in cold water or vacuum dehydration, it will bring the water into deep contact with the clothing. If you want to say subversive, it is only in the category of water washing, a new innovative exploration of washing methods.
However, in the "washing machine" section of "personal consumer products" in the official website of Panasonic, this laundry robot does not appear. In the section that introduces laundry technology, there is no related content of "simulated kneading laundry".
In fact, in addition to washing, there are two different washing methods in the industry today - dry cleaning and air washing. Specifically, dry cleaning is the use of organic chemical solvents to wash clothes, during the washing process of water does not directly contact the clothes. Air washing uses water vapor to open the fibers of the clothes, and then uses strong winds to blow away the dust, debris and odors on the clothes.
It is generally believed that dry cleaning and air washing are more high-end washing methods, and they can better meet the needs of high-end clothing washing.
In fact, the washing and care of high-end clothes, there are many brands in the market at present. Haier, Little Swan, Siemens, Midea and other brands have air washing related products, and have done technology and function extensions, such as Haier intelligent steam drying, Siemens superoxide washing machine, Hisense ion steaming and ironing, etc. Whether Panasonic's laundry robot can overwhelm the crowd, I am afraid that it will still have to see the real chapter in the market competition. (Nail Technology original, reprint must indicate the source: Nail Technology Network)