A sudden epidemic has made the national health awareness rise instantly, and the health demand of consumers has risen day by day, so that home appliances with "healthy" attributes have quickly become the darlings of the market. For a time, the deep digging of health demand has become a new direction for the upgrading of home appliance companies.
As an important part of healthy home appliances, washing machine products with health functions such as sterilization, mite removal, and partition washing have embarked on the fast track of development. Today, driven by a dizzying array of healthy washing methods and emerging health technologies, the blueprint for the development of healthy washing machines has been clearly presented.
The heat of healthy washing remains high, and the brand layout has its own advantages
In the post-epidemic era, with the continuous enhancement of people's health awareness, washing machines with health functions such as sterilization, mite removal, and partition washing have attracted more and more attention from consumers, and the market heat remains high. According to the "2020 China Health Home Appliances White Paper" released by Aowei Cloud Network (AVC), 92% of consumers pay special attention to health functions when purchasing home appliances. Among them, healthy washing machines and dryers are the third largest category of healthy home appliances in consumer awareness. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Haier said that the healthy washing machine is a washing machine that pays more attention to health, which is the product of the replacement of traditional washing machines and continuously meets people's growing demand for laundry care. Therefore, the good development trend of healthy washing machines also reflects the user's demand for upgrading the quality of life.
From the product point of view, nowadays, sterilization, mite removal function has become the standard of the best-selling washing machine on the market. As the epidemic gradually moves towards normalization, the proportion of washing machines equipped with health functions continues to rise. According to the data released by the National Household Appliance Industry Information Center, in 2021, the proportion of washing machines equipped with health functions in the online market and the offline market was 59.7% and 69.8%, respectively, an increase of 7.4 and 13.8 percentage points compared with 2020. Among them, washing machines with barrel self-cleaning functions account for nearly 70% of the online market.
The popularity of health awareness and consumers' attention to respiratory allergic reactions caused by dust mites and residues have increased the heat of the washing machine's mite removal function. This change is particularly evident in online markets. According to the data released by the National Household Appliance Industry Information Center, in 2019, the market share of washing machines with mite removal functions in the online market was 10.4%, and the market share of such products climbed to 20.9% in 2020, and the market share increased to 31.7% in 2021. "In the past, the health function of washing machines was mainly reflected in sterilization, hypoallergenic and odor removal, and in the past two years, it has gradually begun to extend to the removal of live mites and viruses." Speaking of the reasons for this change, Cai Lili, head of the functional architecture of BSH washing machine system design and young expert, said frankly: "The increase in the proportion of the washing machine market with mite removal function is more of a reflection of the product function and requirements after people's health awareness is improved. The washing machine equipped with the devirus function is mainly affected by the epidemic, and more companies have begun to carry out some new designs for the devirus function, so as to adjust and upgrade the relevant parameters of the washing machine. ”
With the upgrading of consumption, the laundry needs of different consumer groups have begun to be subdivided: families with babies pay attention to health, and hope that washing machines can wash clothes softly and can prevent cross-infection; families with cute pets require washing machines to be deodorized and hairless; middle-class families require washing and nursing appliances to achieve fine washing and care according to the fabric of the clothes. In response to the market segmentation market, a number of products focusing on the concept of healthy washing and cleaning will divide the track of healthy washing machines into two.
Some enterprises have launched wall-mounted, mini wave wheel washing machines and other small capacity products positioned as "the second washing machine in the home" to meet the needs of consumers to wash and protect small clothes and children's clothes, and once launched, they have captured the hearts of a group of consumers, especially young people, mothers and babies.
Another partitioning scheme was initiated by the Casarte Twin Cloud Series. It is understood that since its listing in 2016, the Casarte Twin series has been widely recognized by users at home and abroad. According to the latest data from Zhongyikang, in the TOP10 best-selling washing machines of more than 10,000 yuan, Casarte occupies 8 seats. Among them, 4 models are Casarte twin series washing machines. Compared with traditional washing machines, Casarte Twin series washing machines are equipped with Fisher & Parker direct drive motors, which fundamentally reduce the vibration of washing machines. Nowadays, brands such as COLMO, TCL, LG, and Hisense have kept up and become the "resident army" of this market. According to the data of Aowei Cloud Network (AVC), during the "618" period in 2021, the online market of partition washing products achieved a bright result of 55.6% year-on-year increase in retail sales and 107.8% year-on-year growth in retail volume. The rising market heat has also made health washing a new platform for brands to show their strength and compete for the layout of health. In fact, the product characteristics and technical advantages of different brands of healthy washing machines can be described as different. The person in charge of panasonic washing machine told the "Electrical Appliance" reporter that the current health concept of Panasonic washing machine is mainly based on health washing and clothing care. In terms of product technology, Panasonic mainly uses nanoeX nanoitechnology technology and Ag + photodynamic silver dual sterilization technology to achieve the effect of clothing care, sterilization and odor removal. Through the industry's first "pollution-free small blue buckle" exclusive patent technology, TCL solves the industry problem of secondary pollution of laundry directly from the source of pollution, and then cooperates with the self-cleaning procedure of the barrel to achieve pollution-free in the whole space.
There are also differences in the layout of the health function of the washing machines of the two major brands of BSH. Bosch washing machine new products through the use of five-dimensional active oxygen sterilization technology, the use of reactive oxygen species to deep sterilization of clothing, without the use of sterilization liquid can achieve 99.99% sterilization rate, 100% mite removal rate, while the effect of removing viruses, fungi and mold can be achieved. Siemens Ouyun Super Oxygen Washing Drying Kit is equipped with the industry-leading "Superoxide Air Washing" technology, which can quickly remove viruses, dust and odors without washing.
It can be seen that in today's popular health demand, the exploration of health functions has become the trump card of various washing machine brands to compete for the market. The brand that gets this card is more likely to become the next "dark horse" in the market.
The advantages of sterilization methods are different, and the superposition of functions is an important development trend
Healthy development is an inevitable trend for washing machine products to break the shackles of high ownership and introduce new ones. In the face of this development trend, the entire washing machine industry can be described as full of energy, starting from consumer pain points and demand, and constantly exploring new technological growth points.
The "Electrical Appliance" reporter learned through the interview that the more common sterilization methods currently used in washing machine products are mainly divided into two types: physical methods and chemical methods. Physical methods mainly include high temperature sterilization, steam sterilization, ultraviolet sterilization, etc. Compared with physical sterilization, washing machines use chemical methods to achieve higher technical requirements for sterilization effects, and there are also requirements for product service life and conditions of use, so there are fewer ways of chemical sterilization, mainly including ozone sterilization, blue oxygen sterilization, silver ion sterilization, negative ion sterilization and photocatalyst sterilization.
From the characteristics and principles of each sterilization method, the existing sterilization methods on the market have their own advantages.
High-temperature sterilization technology mainly coagulates or denatures the proteins and enzymes of microorganisms through high temperature and dies, which is currently the most widely used and easiest way to sterilize in the industry.
Silver ion sterilization technology mainly achieves broad-spectrum sterilization by destroying the cell wall of bacteria, thereby achieving long-term sterilization and bacteriostatic. Ultraviolet sterilization technology mainly uses ultraviolet light to destroy the DNA or RNA of microorganisms to achieve the purpose of sterilization, which has the advantages of safety and no residue.
Blue oxygen sterilization technology is sterilized through the principle of electrolysis of water, mainly using some strong oxidizing ions generated after water electrolysis to achieve the purpose of sterilization, with safe, environmentally friendly and residue-free characteristics.
Ozone sterilization technology mainly uses strong oxidation to destroy the structure of microbial membranes to achieve the purpose of sterilization, the use of ozone gas diffusion ability and no dead angle, can quickly penetrate into the interior of clothing, for microorganisms have efficient broad spectrum, and will not produce secondary pollution.
There are also drawbacks to various sterilization techniques. Taking high-temperature sterilization technology as an example, the relevant person in charge of Little Swan told the "Electrical Appliance" reporter that many brands in the industry have added high-temperature cooking and washing functions to washing machine products, so that the temperature reaches 60 ° C, or even 95 ° C, which plays a role in the sterilization of clothing. However, from the point of view of applicability, not all clothes can be sterilized by high-temperature boiling, and for wool, silk and other fabrics that are not resistant to high temperatures, high-temperature sterilization technology is not applicable.
"Other types of sterilization methods also have some drawbacks. For example, the sterilization effect of ultraviolet light is affected by the distance of action, and the ionic properties of the silver ions themselves lead to their high molecular weight, which affects environmental emissions. Therefore, BSH washing machines prefer to use ozone sterilization to achieve the effect of clothing sterilization. In Cai Lili's view, although the cost of ozone sterilization of BSH is high, the active oxygen washing machine of BSH is still in short supply.
Some people in the industry believe that compared with many water sterilization technologies, ozone sterilization technology mainly achieves the sterilization effect of washing machines through gas action, so it is difficult to remove bacteria adhering to clothing, and ozone will also emit a bad smell during the sterilization process, which is the problem faced by the current ozone sterilization technology.
Metal ion sterilization technology has the problem of emission pollution. In response to this pain point, the Little Swan washing machine proposed the concept of cold silver extraction technology. According to the relevant person in charge of the Little Swan washing machine, compared with other types of sterilization methods, the inside of the cold extraction silver technology is silver ion sustained release technology, plus cold water washing technology, mainly by slowly releasing silver ions during the washing process to regulate the release of silver ions, and finally achieve the drinking water level sterilization effect. In this way, the washing machine can well avoid the problem of ion accumulation leading to environmental pollution.
"Because the existing sterilization technology has its own advantages and disadvantages in the application of washing machines, any kind of sterilization technology cannot solve all the pain points existing in the sterilization of washing machines at this stage, so as far as the development of healthy washing machines is concerned, the use of a combination of various healthy washing technologies for sterilization and disinfection can better meet the increasing health needs of users." The person in charge of the duckling washing machine concluded on the future development of the washing machine sterilization method.
The person in charge of the Little Swan washing machine also said that the sterilization technology of the current washing machine may only be a technical point, and the future research and development of the washing machine sterilization technology will be more inclined to launch technical superposition products. At that time, the sterilization technology of the washing machine will not only be able to decontaminate, but also prevent the color of clothing, and have a sterilization effect.
Continuous upgrading to dimensions such as segmentation, safety, environmental protection, and efficiency
In the view of the heads of these interviewed companies, consumers' demand for healthy washing machines has always existed, but this demand has become more prominent and urgent due to the impact of the epidemic. In the future, healthy washing will be the main trend in the development of the washing machine industry. Cai Lili pointed out that under the rising demand for health, BSH washing machines will further develop more new health functions for consumers' health needs. She said that in the future, ensuring the hygiene of the bucket itself is still the most important aspect of the upgrading of washing machine products, followed by the sterilization ability of clothing, and finally the further exploration of the sterilization and bacteriostatic function, including the deep digging of subdivision health functions such as protective clothing and partition washing.
In the view of the person in charge of the duckling washing machine, in the future, the development direction of healthy washing machines will continue to upgrade and develop along the dimensions of safety, environmental protection and efficiency, and will be carried out from three aspects: one is the continuous improvement and application of washing machine self-cleaning technology; the other is the continuous improvement and application of disinfection, sterilization and care technology of washing materials; third, the application of sterilization materials and sterile technology in the structure of washing machines. "Duckling will also continue to make efforts to segment the market, continue to deepen the field of healthy washing, and launch more and healthier washing machine products." The person in charge of the duckling washing machine said.
Talking about the attitude towards the future market of healthy washing machines, a number of business leaders said in the interview that as more consumers pay attention to the health function of washing machines, the product popularity of healthy washing machines will be maintained and continued in 2022.
When all brands focus their core innovation on health functions, the blueprint for the development of washing machine health technology has been fully launched, and the new era of healthy washing machines has arrived.
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