How should companies respond to the shift in the trend of wall mounted furnace industry towards the retail market

Gas wall mounted boilers (hereinafter referred to as "wall mounted boilers") have been developed for many years, integrating the bathing function of traditional water heaters and the heating function of traditional boilers. In recent years, they have also been regarded as a branch of the water heater industry in the industry. However, compared to traditional water heaters, wall mounted boilers have only been developed in China for more than 20 years, and most consumers still know little about them.
Wall mounted stoves originated in Europe. Since the 1990s, some European and Korean brands have successively entered the Chinese market and gradually expanded their market share advantages. However, the development of wall mounted furnaces in recent years has mainly focused on the engineering market, leveraging their advantages under factors such as the coal to gas policy and refined decoration.
In recent years, the topic of heating in the South has attracted people's attention. The heating cycle is relatively short, and the heating period in some areas is only 40 days. Considering the complexity of heating equipment construction, it is not suitable for central heating, and wall mounted furnace heating has become the optimal solution for heating in the South. In addition to the southern refined decoration, there is also a growing demand for consumers to use wall mounted stove products at home. In the process of communicating with reporters, many practitioners of wall mounted furnaces believe that the future of wall mounted furnaces is not in the coal conversion market, but in the retail market.
Under the impact of the epidemic, the wall mounted furnace industry has been impacted in both the engineering and retail markets this year. According to industry online data, the sales of wall mounted furnaces in Q1 this year were 230800 units, a year-on-year decrease of 36.67%; Among them, the sales of condensing wall mounted furnaces (including secondary heat exchange) were 23500 units, a year-on-year decrease of 66.03%. The engineering (including coal to gas engineering) had 169300 units, a year-on-year decrease of 24.07%, and the retail sales were 61500 units, a year-on-year decrease of 56.55%.

The wall mounted furnace market is subject to short-term fluctuations due to policies and the real estate market, but overall, this market will still be in an upward phase for a long time. Even if the sudden outbreak of the epidemic this year has had a significant impact on retail market sales, especially offline channel sales, the overall market growth direction will not change in the long run.
On the one hand, the determination and intensity of the country towards the use of clean energy have not changed, and the epidemic has not affected the process of coal to gas or coal to electricity in most regions; On the other hand, the rapid development of e-commerce during the epidemic has led to more users recognizing the online understanding and purchase of wall mounted stove products.
Although the retail market for wall mounted stoves tends to focus on offline channels, under the impact of the epidemic this year, wall mounted stove companies have also begun to try to break through the bottleneck of product sales through online live streaming sales. It is understood that Qingdong Nabian has previously launched a live streaming sales session for wall mounted stoves in Xinjiang and Hebei regions, achieving good results. Bosch has also tried to sell products in this form this year.
Previously, many wall mounted furnace companies had low investment in the online market, and this year's change in user consumption habits is also driving these companies to accelerate channel transformation. Live streaming sales is the most popular online traffic aggregation and product promotion method nowadays. If you want to bring dividends to sales through this method, you need the brand to engage in relatively long-term cultivation and planning.

At present, wall mounted furnace products need to face localization challenges that are completely different from the European market. The geographical and climatic conditions in different regions of China vary significantly, and the usage habits of residents are also different. Wall mounted stoves are different from ordinary household appliances, and their operation and use are also influenced by the local air source quality, water quality, climatic conditions, and building structure. How to make the wall hanging furnace products adapt to various use conditions and ensure the safe, stable, normal and efficient work of the wall hanging furnace products is a problem that every wall hanging furnace manufacturer has to face.
Wall mounted furnace manufacturers need to conduct in-depth research and understanding of the Chinese market and application environment, while utilizing mature technologies in the heating industry in advanced regions to provide professional solutions for specific problems, rather than blindly copying the research and development experience of these regions. It is understood that Bosch will introduce mature technologies applied by the company in the European market, and based on the characteristics and application scenarios of the Chinese market, launch wall mounted furnace products that are suitable for the Chinese market and in line with the usage habits of Chinese people; According to the requirements of domestic air pollution prevention and control, Qingdong Nabian has also increased investment in environmental protection and energy conservation, and further optimized and upgraded the low nitrogen condensing wall mounted furnace.
At the same time, product research and development, product quality and durability, and after-sales service will greatly constrain the overall development of the industry.
It is worth noting that the recognition of wall mounted furnace products is relatively low, which is also a problem that the industry has been facing so far. Data shows that compared with 90% of the penetration rate in Europe and the United States, the penetration rate of domestic wall mounted furnaces is less than 10%. Considering that the penetration rate of domestic gas is increasing at this stage, the market share of gas equipment such as gas wall mounted furnaces and gas water heaters is also increasing year by year. Even if the situation of large area central heating in northern heating areas is excluded and wall mounted furnaces are not suitable for heating, the market of wall mounted furnaces still has huge room for growth.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire industry to cultivate the wall mounted furnace market correctly and actively guide wall mounted furnace consumers. Due to the involvement of water, electricity, and gas in wall mounted furnaces, there are high requirements for the design, manufacturing, installation, use, maintenance, and repair of equipment. Consumers are greedy for cheap purchases of "parallel imported machines", often unable to receive formal after-sales service from the original factory after malfunctions and accidents, resulting in economic losses and safety hazards.
Many wall mounted furnace practitioners believe that health, environmental protection, and intelligence will become important directions for the future development of the wall mounted furnace industry. During the epidemic, consumers are paying more attention to home appliance products that are closely related to their own health. Unlike air conditioning, wall mounted stove heating does not have a forced hot air circulation, thus reducing the risk of virus transmission through air circulation and may become a selling point that attracts consumers to purchase in the future. Considering the investment in clean energy in China, the combination of solar energy, air source thermal energy, and ground source thermal energy will become an important development direction for wall mounted heating systems in the future. In addition, there is hope that the wall mounted stove heating system will gradually be incorporated into smart home systems. For example, Qingdong Nabian has already embedded intelligent and Wi Fi modules in last year's new variety of wall mounted stoves, aiming to improve user experience while laying the foundation for the development of smart homes.