According to runto'Chinese mainland s latest "China Interactive Board Market Analysis Quarterly Report", in 2021, the total shipments of large-size interactive tablets in Chinese mainland exceeded 2 million, reaching 2.02 million units, an increase of 19.3% year-on-year.
2021 is a year of change for many industries, and all walks of life in China are actively following the development pace of industrial policies, energy planning and financial reform promulgated by the government, and adjusting strategic planning. Large and medium-sized enterprises attach importance to talent training and the intelligent upgrading of supporting hardware, and small and micro enterprises accelerate innovation and development and attach importance to the improvement of management efficiency. Under such a background, the attention of the large-size interactive tablet industry has reached an unprecedented height.
2019-2021 Chinese mainland interactive tablet market shipments and changes
Source: LOTTO, unit: 1,000 units, %
Application scenario: The commercial market is still growing rapidly, and the education market is relatively stable
RUNTO divides the interactive tablet into educational interactive tablet (E-IB, Educational Interactive Board) and commercial interactive tablet (C-IB, Corporate Interactive Board) according to the application scenario.
2019-2021 Chinese mainland interactive tablet market shipments by scenario
In 2021, the shipment of educational interactive tablets was 1.357 million units, an increase of 7.6% year-on-year. The K12 education market, which has received the highest attention and is also the largest market demand, is close to saturation, and has not ushered in a large-scale demand for replacement, resulting in relatively stable shipments in the overall education market. It is worth noting that the field of vocational education is obviously incentivized by policies, the market demand is increasing, in 2021, the vocational education market shipments exceeded 180,000 units, accounting for more than 13% of the market, becoming an important incremental market for education tablets in 2021.
In the same period, in 2021, the shipment volume of commercial interactive tablets reached 664,000 units, an increase of 53.6% year-on-year. The normalization of the epidemic has accelerated the habits of enterprise users for online meetings, and the user groups involved and the applicable areas have gradually become widespread, which has promoted the application of interactive tablets to a large extent; and with the polishing of the product touch writing experience and the continuous maturity of supporting industries such as conference software, the interactive tablets have not only been widely used in traditional conference scenarios, but also gradually recognized in major business clubs, shared office spaces, etc. The C-end consumer market such as this has begun to emerge. Gradually affect the supply and demand relationship of commercial interactive products. Therefore, the entire commercial interactive tablet market will show a very rapid growth trend in 2021.
Competitive landscape: The traditional business brand Hengqiang, home appliance ICT is affecting the market
The competition pattern of education tablet market is relatively stable, the market concentration is high, and the TOP4 brand camp has always been Xiwo, Hitevision, Hisense and Skyworth. According to data from RUNTO, in 2021, the concentration of CR4 is as high as 73%, of which Seewo ranks first with 41% of the market. From the overall shipment situation, the traditional commercial display brand has not risen much; the traditional TV brand Changhong has become the fastest growing brand in 2021 with a year-on-year growth rate of 52%, followed by Hisense with a growth rate of 18%. Skyworth performed well in the LCD blackboard market, with the fastest growth in the same period, with an increase of 88%. It can be seen that the brand power, after-sales, capital, supply chain and other competitiveness of traditional home appliance brands such as Changhong, Skyworth and Hisense that have accumulated in the TV field for many years still have room to play in the commercial display market.
Unlike the stable pattern of the education market, the commercial market itself is still in the initial stage of development, and brand competition has undergone many changes in recent years. According to RUNTO data, MAXHUB, a subsidiary of Shiyuan, still maintains the top spot in the market, accounting for 24% of the market in 2021, up 4 percentage points from 2020. Huawei entered the commercial tablet market in 2020, and in 2021, with a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 160%, it jumped to the second position in the market, accounting for more than 11% of the market. Hisense, Haoli and Skyworth became the remaining three seats of the TOP5 brands.
In 2021, ICT companies accounted for 16% of the market, an increase of 3 percentage points, and the growth share squeezed traditional home appliance brands and other tail brands. With the continuous evolution of the brand pattern, the share of more long-tail brands has begun to decline, accounting for 16.9% from 31.4% in 2019 to 16.9% now.
2019-2021 Chinese mainland the sales of commercial tablet markets in different brand camps
Source: LOTTO, in %
Ms. Wang Yuhong, COO of RUNTO, believes that the market pattern of Chinese mainland commercial tablets will continue the unstable situation of full competition and competition in 2022, and variables can be expected at any time. First of all, as a leading interactive tablet company, MAXHUB has a very obvious advantage after digging the first bucket of gold in the market. After feeling threatened by new entrants, we are making every effort to improve our competitiveness in terms of products, channels and brands. In the near term, there is a possibility that the market share will continue to expand. Second, Huawei, Lenovo and other ICT companies have inherent advantages in the business and industry markets, and are currently conducting in-depth exploration and practice in the commercial interactive tablet market, which will occupy an important position in the head camp in time; third, traditional home appliance companies rely on the supply chain advantages of the original TV industry to accelerate catch-up with a short product development cycle, and their e-commerce competitive strategies and sinking sales capabilities have actually not yet been fully exerted.
In fact, commercial interactive tablets are a special category with To C attributes in the large category of commercial display To B. The elements of competition are relatively diverse, and each power camp is not to mention more. In the long run, a large number of long-tail brands will gradually decline in competition.
Product structure: Educational LCD blackboard and commercial LCD whiteboard increased significantly
RUNTO divides the interactive tablet into projection interactive whiteboard (P-IWB, Projection Interactive White Board), LCD Interactive White Board (L-IWB, LCD Interactive White Board) and LCD Interactive Black Board (L-IBB, LCD Interactive Black Board) according to product technology. Among them, liquid crystal interactive whiteboards are used in education and commercial markets.
The demand for projection interactive whiteboards in the accelerated replacement of liquid crystal display products continues to decline, with shipments of about 44,000 units in 2021, down 60% year-on-year, accounting for about 2% of the overall interactive tablet market and only 3% of the education market.
Due to the price advantage and high maturity of the product, the shipment volume of LCD interactive whiteboard reached 1.576 million units in 2021, including 912,000 units in the education market and 664,000 units in the commercial market. From the perspective of the education market, it increased slightly by 1% year-on-year, with a market share of about 67.2%, which is the largest share of the product category, and from the perspective of the commercial market, it increased by 53.6% year-on-year.
LCD interactive blackboard should be the fastest growing subdivision product category in 2021, with annual shipments of more than 400,000 units, an increase of 60% year-on-year, accounting for 20% of the overall market, an increase of about 5 percentage points over 2020. The market share in the education market reached 30%, an increase of 10 percentage points over 2020. Next, with the upgrading of the demand for interactive product experience, there is still more room for growth in the education market for LCD blackboards with their product advantages.
Market Outlook: 2.34 million units in 2022, up 16% year-on-year
Looking forward to the future, the K12 education market has gradually entered the replacement cycle, and after the double reduction policy, the main body of education responsibility will return to the campus, and the school will further accelerate the construction of the smart campus, which will follow the relevant demands for product updates to the education tablet market. In the next three years, higher education, vocational education, adult re-education, adult vocational training and other education-related fields will release a new round of market demand, according to Lotu Technology (RUNTO) is expected, in 2022 the education market sales will continue to grow steadily, an increase of 6%, shipments of 1.44 million units.
Considering the current stage of development, the commercial market will continue to grow at a high speed, and the competition of enterprise brands that frequently enter the market will also push up the overall market size. However, squeezed by competitive products such as office projection in the conference market, the marketing strategy of interactive tablets in the conference market will continue to face tests. The product experience, after-sales service and brand labeling of enterprise users will all affect the procurement choice, which in turn will affect the market sales. Although more and more enterprises are including interactive tablets in the procurement list, for interactive tablet products themselves, to match the development speed of Chinese mainland enterprises and become the standard of enterprise office supplies, from the current rhythm of investment returns, it still takes a long time to ripen and digest. In 2022, the commercial tablet market is expected to grow at no less than 35%, and the annual shipment volume will start from 900,000 units upwards.
Overall, according to the forecast data of LOTTO, the market size of Chinese mainland interactive tablets will reach 2.34 million units in 2022, an increase of 16% year-on-year. This is a conservative prediction given the recurrence of the pandemic, the socio-economic impact of geopolitics, and changes in buying sentiment.
The "2021 Chinese mainland Interactive Tablet Market Summary and Outlook" of the "Education Market" and "Commercial Market" will be launched in the near future. For more detailed information on global markets, product sizes, touch technologies, brand competition, and supply chain, please refer to RUNTO's latest Quarterly Report on Global and Chinese mainland Interactive Tablet Market Analysis.