"From projection whiteboards, to interactive tablets, to LCD blackboards, the education multimedia market is entering a new round of 'brand' pattern adjustment period!" In the face of the "surge" of the LCD blackboard education application market in 2021, industry experts believe that this may be an opportunity for a round of "color TV brands" to rise. At present, Hisense, Skyworth, TCL, etc. have increased the layout of the "LCD blackboard" market.
The rise of LCD chalkboards has accelerated, changing educational multimedia
The traditional educational multimedia application model is "standard classroom addition"! The significance of the educational LCD blackboard is that it has "directly changed the application mode of the standard classroom".
That is, the rise of LCD blackboards is certainly based on technological progress such as "interactive touch and large-screen display", but more importantly, it depends on the "status" of "education multimedia" in the education process: in recent years, the quality, quantity and application of multimedia digital teaching plan content have increased significantly, especially since the new crown epidemic in 2020, which has greatly promoted the development of "digitalization and informatization" in the education process - electronic teaching plans, electronic lesson preparation, and electronic teaching have become "real mainstream trends".
When the main technical methods of classroom teaching become "digitalization and informatization", it means that the traditional multimedia equipment "adds an additional multimedia screen on the side of the student's field of vision" becomes no longer "suitable" - the educational LCD blackboard is directly integrated into the traditional "blackboard" space structure, located in the middle of the student's vision, which can allow all students to get a better perspective as much as possible. This is particularly in line with the new teaching model in which "digitalization" has become the core.
Therefore, the outbreak of the LCD blackboard market in 2021 is not "the luxury consumption of a small number of well-funded schools", but the "inevitable requirements" of the future "standard classroom" multimedia equipment application pattern. Whether to choose the traditional projection whiteboard, interactive tablet, or choose the LCD blackboard, the essential difference lies in whether the school has taken a decisive step in "teaching digitization and informatization"; whether the school teaching process is highly supportive of "digital and informatization teaching content".
According to data from LOTTO Technology (RUNTO), the domestic market LCD blackboard in 2021 increased by 60.5% year-on-year. 5%, an increase of more than 200% compared with 2019 before the epidemic, accounting for 30% of the overall education interactive market procurement share. LCD blackboard has become the fastest growing subdivision "category" in the "education" market, and has driven industry enterprises to "increase revenue and profit".
In this regard, industry experts said that at the current growth rate of education blackboard, it will soon become the "main technical form" of educational interactive multimedia equipment, and bring about the "once again evolution and upgrading" of the education interaction industry.
The rise of color TV brands in the LCD blackboard market
The rapid development of the LCD blackboard market since 2020 has also changed the competitive landscape between industry brands. In particular, color TV companies have shown "the emphasis on new opportunities and a series of advantages in competition".
For example, in April 2022, Hisense Shangxian released three new products such as the U series of the smart blackboard flagship, the professional P series, and the smart S series, and took the 6 major health eye care technologies and 2 eye protection models as differentiated technologies as competitive advantages. For example, in 2021, Skyworth performed well in the LCD blackboard market, with an increase of 88% in the same period, becoming one of the representatives of the rise of color TV brands in the educational interactive multimedia market.
The rise of color TV companies in the LCD blackboard market is inevitable. Color TV companies in terms of brand power, after-sales, capital, etc., compared with traditional education equipment, or simple projection, business display and other enterprises have "scale" advantages. In recent years, the color TV industry is relatively sluggish, with the help of the demand for smart society to break out, entering the broader commercial market is the main line strategy of color TV companies " emerging large screen" category. The rise of liquid crystal blackboards provides a good opportunity for such a "new species".
More importantly, color TV companies in the LCD blackboard market have advantages in the supply chain: statistics show that the LCD blackboard market, 86/85 inches in 2021, accounted for 84. 6%, followed by 75 inches accounting for 10. 4%, including 98 inches and other remaining dimensions accounted for 5. 0％。 That is, lcd blackboard is a typical "large size display" category.
For the liquid crystal display industry, the supply of 85/86 inches and larger products is "insufficient". The market is in the early stages of development. Color TV companies rely on the three major product lines of LCD blackboard, commercial conference panel and large-size color TV, which is conducive to obtaining the procurement advantage on these large-size panels. In contrast, traditional interactive tablets have a large number of products with 55-inch, 65-inch and other size lines: these panels are more abundant than larger size products. The early development of traditional educational equipment and professional display brands is the rise of 55/65-inch interactive tablet products.
Another advantage of color TV companies at the supply chain end is that the "interactive touch" technology choice of LCD blackboard: the traditional projection whiteboard and interactive tablet mostly use lower-cost infrared touch technology. Infrared touch technology is a relatively independent component, and the supply industry chain. Even many companies enter the interactive tablet market by virtue of the accumulation of infrared touch technology. And lcd blackboard, in 2021 nano silver and metal mesh technology represents the "capacitive touch" products accounted for more than 80%.
The overlap between the capacitive touch industry and the infrared touch industry is extremely low. The use of capacitive touch is the main technical choice of LCD blackboard and business conference tablet products. At the same time, further technological innovation trends also support the development of ITO in-cell's capacitive touch LCD blackboard products. The difference in touch technology is not only a new species opportunity for color TV companies to rise in the education market, but also allows color TV companies to further exert their procurement advantages in the semiconductor display chain.
"Synergy with the commercial display of color TV enterprises, synergy with the inherent scale advantages of color TV companies, and synergy with the advantages of color TV companies in the supply chain", combined with the collaboration between the intelligent and social aspects of education blackboard and the accumulation of related technologies of color TV companies, this makes color TV companies have a "rising" foundation in the education blackboard market. According to DATA FROM LOTTO TECHNOLOGY (RUNTO), it shows that the CR3 concentration of the top three professional brands in education blackboard in 2021 is 59. 3%, down 9.5% from 2020. 5 percentage points - the main reason is the "rise of the education LCD blackboard" of the color TV brand.
Cost changes have further driven the popularization of educational LCD blackboards
Industry research believes that the growth of LCD blackboard products is still in the fast lane. There are three main reasons for this. The first is the necessity of liquid crystal blackboards in the era of "information" education mentioned above.
The second is that large-size LCD and touch products are in the cost reduction channel. Especially since the second half of 2021, the price of 85/86-inch LCD panels has fallen, almost raising the proportion of the annual education LCD blackboard market by 5 percentage points. The LCD blackboard with large-size display and capacitive touch is obviously the "high-end goods" in the commercial display products. The decline in the price of advanced products has a decisive effect on the impact on product popularization. In this regard, the 85/86-inch LCD panel and touch products, the cost of which still has a large room for decline, is also currently in the core price decline channel.
The third is that educational interactive display and simple educational display devices have a "large-scale" trend. For example, in 2021, the number of educational LCD whiteboard shipments was 910,000 units, a slight increase of 1.2% year-on-year. However, 75-inch shipments of 214,000 units, an increase of 7% year-on-year; 85/86-inch shipments of 420,000 units, an increase of 23.4% year-on-year, the market share increased by 8.3 percentage points; 98-inch product growth doubled. ——That is, the market share of 55/65 inches has fallen sharply, and large sizes have become the mainstream: although compared with the high share ratio of 87.7% of lcd blackboard 85/86 inches and above, the proportion of 85/86 inches in LCD whiteboard is only 45%, but the large size trend of traditional LCD whiteboard/interactive flat panel is very obvious.
This raises a problem: large, capacitive touch LCD whiteboard/interactive tablets will not cost much less than LCD blackboards. In other words, not only the price of large-size LCD and capacitive touch screen has dropped, which has lowered the absolute price of LCD blackboard; the large size of LCD whiteboard and interactive tablet has also lowered the relative price of LCD blackboard - in addition to the "information, digital" teaching just need, LCD blackboard future growth can be expected. It is a high probability that the short-term market will maintain rapid growth. The high increment is naturally the opportunity for emerging brands and color TV brands, and it is an opportunity for the market pattern to change.
The integration of the two aspects makes the education LCD blackboard more "variable"
For the opportunities of the LCD blackboard industry, it is not enough to analyze the "education equipment" circle simply, which is not enough to summarize the development trend of the industry: for example, the comprehensive advantages of color TV companies in the procurement of large-size panels and touch screens mentioned above are beyond the scope of the simple education market.
In fact, unlike the "historical application background" of LCD whiteboard/interactive tablets that began to be popularized 10 years ago, LCD blackboard is facing an era of "increasingly integrated" intelligent applications: on the one hand, the application of LCD blackboards is combined with "smart classrooms" and "smart campuses", requiring LCD blackboard providers to provide opportunities for "the whole campus" and even "regional education information network" solutions. At the same time, the LCD blackboard is no longer just "the interaction and large-screen display of the LCD whiteboard", but has more intelligent functions, such as built-in cameras, AI voice functions and so on.
The integration of the entire teaching environment and teaching process is the characteristic of the LCD blackboard era. If the LCD whiteboard is a multimedia product used alone; then the future of the LCD blackboard is "a component" integrated into smart education. Education information equipment enterprises will also have more "comprehensive" business and more "comprehensive" capabilities.
On the other hand, the development of liquid crystal blackboard products must also be considered in the large territory of the "overall commercial display" industry. The simple classification of "educational projection" and "educational television" in the early days of the education multimedia market is not in the space that can meet the "survival of enterprises". Lcd blackboard adopts the common technology and industrial chain of many large-screen commercial display industries; the large-screen commercial display industry itself grows rapidly under the needs of smart society, and more industry practitioners with "scale value" are born; the application of educational multimedia equipment such as LCD blackboard is popularized, the market scale has grown, and related enterprises have also become "brands with scale strength"...
Whether it is the scale trend in the industry or the scale trend outside the industry, the "enterprises are becoming more and more giant" in the business display industry, rather than the traditional "fine professional brand development model of subdividing professional fields", which will inevitably bring the LCD blackboard market "comprehensive competitive pressure from the brand side". For example, the rise of color TV giants in the LCD blackboard product line is parallel and associated with its comprehensive rise in the conference panel and business display industries. ——The LCD blackboard industry is facing comprehensive scale competition from "the entire business display" and "even the entire display market": this means that either small brands achieve their own growth and growth, or large brands bring dimensionality reduction blows.
In summary, the growth climax of the education LCD blackboard market is facing the rising trend of color TV brands as "the educational multimedia latecomer force of the changers". In the education interactive market, the growth of LCD blackboard is not only a replacement of existing categories by a new category, but also a change in the status of manufacturers and brands. This requires industry practitioners to plan ahead!