According to runto's "China Smart TV Box Online Retail Market Monthly Tracker" data, in the first quarter of 2022, China's smart box online market sales of 779,000 units, down 9.9% year-on-year; sales were 160 million yuan, down 17.9% year-on-year, and the average online transaction price was 212 yuan. Monthly, although in January, driven by the Spring Festival promotion and the tide of returning home, sales exceeded 300,000 units again, but the market demand is still sluggish, and the sales in the first three months have declined to varying degrees year-on-year.
China's smart box online market is divided into monthly sales and changes
Source: LOTTO, unit: 10,000 units, %
Brand concentration is low, Xiaomi, Tencent, Tmall Magic Box, Dangbei ranked in the top four
Small and medium-sized brands entered and sales increased, seizing market share, and brand concentration declined. According to the online data of LOTTO Technology (RUNTO), the CR4 of the smart box online market reached 56.5% in the first quarter of 2022, down 13.4 percentage points from the same period last year.
The top 4 brands are Xiaomi, Tencent, Tmall Magic Box and Dangbei. Xiaomi ranked first with its advantages of high brand awareness, cost-effective products and efficient user operation, with a market share of 21.9%, but down 6.5 percentage points from the same period. Tencent rose to second place, its product layout is perfect, and launched a game box specifically for game scenarios, favored by consumers, with a share of 16.2%, an increase of 5.0 percentage points over the same period. Tmall Magic Box was the hardest hit, slipping to third place and sales plummeting 57%. Dangbei is better than the industry average in terms of hardware configuration, content, system, etc., and the high-end market performance is eye-catching, accounting for nearly 60% of the market share of more than 500 yuan.
Compared with the same period last year, among the TOP10 brands, BSWAY, Phini, Seminy, and Xenas are new brands, and only 1-2 low-cost products have seized market share.
Q1 2022 China smart box online market sales share by brand
Source: RUNTO Online Data, Unit: %
In addition to the standard functions, differentiated functions and designs are revealed
4K clarity is widespread in smart box products. According to RUNTO online data, the 4K resolution market share in the first quarter of 2022 increased from 73% in the same period of 2021 to 94%.
Smart boxes usher in innovation in product design. In the first quarter, Dangbei released the MAX 1 with a front-facing display, which can display the time in real time, support the display of weather and networked status expressions, improve the appearance of the product, and also bring new vitality to the smart box in the field of appearance.
Scenario-based functionality accelerates penetration. With the increased demand for video calls, yoga fitness, games and other functions, far-field voice, cameras and cloud games have become representatives of high-end added value of products. In the first quarter of 2022, the market share of products equipped with near-field voice functions was close to 50%, a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points over the same period last year. The penetration rate of supporting far-field voice, equipped with cameras and game boxes is still low, all of which are around 0.5%, but sales increased by 68.2%, 71.0% and 104.1% year-on-year, respectively, and the growth rate and potential are huge.
Online sales are expected to be 1.29 million units in the first half of the year
Due to the popularity of smart TVs and the rise of screen projectors and similar devices, the traditional transitional value of smart boxes is disappearing, while repeated epidemics have also aggravated the low purchase sentiment of the smart box market. RUNTO believes that the overall market size in 2022 will still be in a downward channel, and it is expected that China's smart box online sales will reach 1.29 million units in the first half of the year, down 11.5% year-on-year.
For enterprises, on the one hand, it is necessary to adjust the product strategy in time to deepen the brand label and user stickiness; on the other hand, it is necessary to enrich the content and expand the scene, integrate it into the scenes of family education, games, offices, etc., and stimulate the new mission and value innovation of the smart box, so as to ensure the stability of its own market share and overall pattern.
RunTO's "China Smart TV Box Online Retail Market Monthly Tracker" report contains monthly updates on retail sales data on the size of retail volume, channels, brands, and product configurations in the online market, as well as best-selling models and price trends.