In August, Beijing Zhimi Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhimi Technology"), a subsidiary of China's technology upstart Xiaomi's ecological chain, officially launched a new product "Zhimi Air Conditioner" for young consumers, a 1.5 DC inverter air conditioner.

Xiaomi, which is good at marketing and design, has created miracles in many consumer electronics products, such as power banks, bracelets, air purifiers, and balance cars. In particular, Xiaomi mobile phones jumped from 7.19 million in 2012 to 70 million in 2015.

Can the "Smartmi Air Conditioner", which was born on the platform of Xiaomi's technological innovation, also create a miracle?

Through analysis: Smartmi is very unlikely to succeed in air-conditioning, because the air-conditioning market pattern has been formed, and consumers' brand concept is also very strong. What's more, Zhimi is a "three-no" enterprise - no R&D, no manufacturing and no after-sales. "It is very difficult for such a company to succeed."

Is the concept of speculation still really advanced?

Zhimi Technology is trying to create a new product that can subvert traditional air conditioners.

The design of this air conditioner released by Zhimi Air Conditioning is called "cool and minimalist".

Zhimi Technology CEO Su Jun tried to emphasize the "high-end" of Zhimi air conditioner components and the high performance of air conditioners at the press conference. For example, the three main components of Zhimi air conditioners use Hitachi compressors, DC motors produced by Hitachi and Panasonic, and electronic expansion valves from Fuji Koki.

Smartmi air conditioners amplify and publicize more common technical points, which reflects Xiaomi's tendency to over-market its products.

For example, the compressor, Su Jun said at the press conference that the compressor of Zhimi air conditioner is Hitachi. But the product manufacturer is Shanghai Hitachi Electric Co., Ltd.

It is understood that Shanghai Hitachi is held 75% by Shanghai Highly (Group) Co., Ltd., and Jiangribo Hong Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. holds the remaining 25%. The latter is a subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi Air Conditioning Home Appliance Co., Ltd. and Johnson Controls of the United States established in Hong Kong in order to better expand the global air conditioning market.

Another example is the electronic expansion valve that achieves precise temperature control. Su Jun said that the electronic expansion valves used in Japan's high-end air conditioners are all produced by Fujitsu, and Zhimi air conditioners also use "the world's top electronic expansion valves from Fujitsu."

What else is there for Jimi?

This may be the biggest advantage of the Smartmi air conditioner. Xiaomi's Sina Weibo has 12.08 million followers, and Lei Jun himself has 14.96 million followers. The fans of Midea Group, which has entered the Fortune Global 500, are only 440,000, and Fang Hongbo is only 570,000. Li Dongsheng, chairman of TCL Group, a star entrepreneur in the home appliance industry, has only 8.79 million fans.

But technically speaking, the foundry chosen by Zhimi Technology is Hefei Meiling Co., Ltd. controlled by Sichuan Changhong Group. The aforementioned person in the air-conditioning industry, who did not want to be named, said that Meiling Electric has been in the industry for many years without much improvement, which shows that Meiling Electric's air-conditioning manufacturing technology does not have too many advantages.

According to Euromonitor International Consulting, among the top nine brands in terms of market share according to retail sales from 2011 to 2016, although the rankings are not exactly the same every year, the top three Gree, Midea and Haier also have market shares. Adjusted, but its status has never been shaken, and Meiling Electric is "not on the list."

In terms of channels and after-sales service, Xiaomi cannot compete with Gree, Midea and Haier. Taking channels as an example, Xiaomi can only sell Smartmi air conditioners online and through its own proprietary system, but its experience in home appliances is not very helpful for air conditioner sales.

More importantly, Xiaomi can only rely on social resources for after-sales service, and there will not be too many problems in the off-season; once it enters the peak sales season, if the sales of Smartmi air conditioners increase rapidly, a lot of problems will be exposed. Consumers will definitely choose traditional air conditioner brands.

On the contrary, Gree, Midea and Haier have their own system of specialty stores. Gree is also the only home appliance company in the air-conditioning industry that dares to challenge sales giants such as Suning and Gome.

The analysis believes that Smartmi air conditioners will not have any impact on the current pattern of the air conditioner industry, because air conditioners are different from small electronic products such as mobile phones, and belong to a typical asset-heavy, manufacturing-heavy, service-heavy and logistics-heavy industry.

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May 21, 2023