Can electric water faucets be seen as a key growth point for the future of the water heater industry?

Electric water faucets have close ties with the water heater industry. Water heaters are devices used for heating and providing hot water, and traditional water heaters typically rely on the principle of heating and storing water, which requires a lot of energy and space. In contrast, electric water faucets can provide instant hot water by using electric heating elements, avoiding the unnecessary energy waste of storing hot water in traditional water heaters. Therefore, electric water faucets can be considered a new type of product within the water heater industry.

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and the improvement of energy efficiency, electric water faucets as efficient and energy-saving hot water equipment are becoming more and more popular among consumers. At the same time, electric water faucets can be combined with traditional water heaters to provide double assurance for household water needs and increase the efficiency of water heater use. Therefore, it can be seen that electric water faucets will bring more opportunities and development potential to the water heater industry.

                                                         

Entering the hot water heater market with normalized consumption, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, by 2020, the number of hot water heaters per hundred households in urban households in China will reach 100.7, and in rural households it will be 76.2, which has basically been popularized. According to Jiang Feng, the Executive Chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, "both rural and urban markets are in the stock market phase." Under the stock market, coupled with the situation of the real estate market, the sales growth of traditional categories, including hot water heaters, will be low, which is the new norm for the entire home appliance industry.

Under the new normal, apart from the main theme of "replacing old with new", how to activate or create more new demands to drive a new round of industry growth has become a problem that many hot water heater companies are thinking about. "In fact, in addition to taking a bath, there are many hot water points for home use, such as now a family mostly have two bathrooms. If there are two bathrooms, hot water is needed for washing and brushing teeth, and hot water is also needed in the kitchen," Ye Shengli, the Vice President of A.O. Smith Electrical Appliances (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., believes that this is the direction that hot water heater companies can think about for layout.

At present, in meeting the multi-scenario demand for home use of hot water, according to China Household Electrical Appliances Network, for the gas hot water heater category, the "zero cold water" concept is more advocated. At present, most mainstream hot water heater companies have been effective in their technology and product innovation in this respect. However, from a comprehensive analysis of some related companies and industry perspectives, the "zero cold water" of gas hot water heaters is mainly achieved through internal circulating pumps and pipe circulation, which inevitably leads to higher usage costs. In addition, in order to ensure that there is always hot water in the pipeline, it needs to be heated repeatedly, and the corresponding amount of waste gas generated is also large. Therefore, the electric hot water heater has proposed another solution for "multi-hot water points" product layout-end heating. Products like small kitchen treasure and electric water heater taps are all products under the "end heating" concept of enterprise layout. "Therefore, 'zero cold water' not only has one solution for gas hot water heaters, but also electric hot water heaters, such as end heating products like the electric water heater tap, which also provides new market opportunities, especially for the electric hot water heater industry," Ye Shengli explained to China Household Electrical Appliances Network reporters.

 

In fact, the electric faucet market has already reached a considerable scale. According to Ye Shengli's estimation, the current market volume of electric faucets has reached approximately 10 million units per year, and this is only with the involvement of small and medium-sized brands, as large enterprises have not yet entered the market to compete at scale. Yieryi Electric, which mainly focuses on leakage protectors, also offers leakage protection devices for electric faucets produced by well-known brands like Midea. The company has also taken notice of this rapidly developing new subcategory, the electric faucet market. According to Liu Chong, sales director of the large client department of Suzhou Yieryi Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd., their market research indicates that the current market volume of electric faucets has actually reached about 20 million units. Both Liu Chong and Ye Shengli predict the immense market potential for electric faucets in the future.

Xu Dongsheng, the vice chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, also expressed optimism towards the electric faucet category. He believes that the current market size of electric faucets, around 10-20 million units, is deserving of recognition and that the category's development prospects are promising. However, in order to achieve success, companies need to have a more precise understanding of existing consumer pain points and regional water usage patterns throughout the year, and to maintain control over product quality.

Despite the industry's task being great and the road long, the pain points of the market still exist, and there is a lack of standards in the industry.