Haier wants to return to the "top stream"

Authors | Huang Yu, Wang Lianqi

Thirty years ago, the animated series "Haier Brothers" significantly enhanced the visibility of Haier Group and opened the path for its growth into a global white goods giant.

Today, as Haier Group Chairman Zhou Yunjie joins Douyin, Haier Group has also re-launched a high-definition version of "Haier Brothers," sparking a wave of nostalgia.

Through the dual-line interaction of "classic IP + executive IP," Haier Group hopes to convert short-term traffic into long-term brand value and product innovation, while clearly accelerating its transformation from a traditional home appliance manufacturer to a "global smart ecological brand."

Faced with the growth bottlenecks in the home appliance industry and the aggressive rise of some new tech players, this is a change that Haier Group must make.

As the listed home appliance company under Haier Group and a pillar of its revenue, Haier Smart Home recently pointed out in its financial report that in response to challenges such as weak industry demand and intensified competition, the company is enhancing customer retail conversion efficiency through transformative measures such as model innovation, content marketing transformation, and multi-brand collaboration, in line with industry trends and demand changes.

Last year, Haier Smart Home faced pressure from slowing growth. The financial report shows that for the entire year, Haier Smart Home achieved revenue of 285.981 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.29%, with the growth rate decreasing by 3.04 percentage points compared to 2023; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 18.741 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.92%, with the growth rate remaining basically flat compared to 2023.

In addition, compared to its old rival Midea Group, Haier Smart Home's growth rate also appears slightly inferior. Midea Group's financial report shows that it achieved revenue of 409.1 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%, with a net profit attributable to the parent company of 38.539 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%.

From the specific revenue composition, refrigerators remain Haier Smart Home's largest business segment, with revenue of 83.24 billion yuan last year, but due to its leading market share, the year-on-year growth rate was only 1.96%; washing machines are the second-largest business segment, achieving revenue of approximately 63.03 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 2.02%; air conditioners were the fastest-growing product category for Haier Smart Home last year, with a year-on-year increase of 7.44% to 49.04 billion yuan.

Analysts from Huatai Securities pointed out that Haier Smart Home's stable performance last year was mainly due to three aspects: first, seizing the opportunity of the old-for-new policy in the domestic market, with multiple brands positioned at different price ranges; second, accelerating market share growth in overseas markets through product innovation and channel expansion; and third, deepening digital reform, enhancing operational efficiency and cost control capabilities.

Against the backdrop of the domestic home appliance market entering a stock phase, exploring overseas markets has become an important direction for various home appliance companies to break through growth bottlenecks.

As one of China's three major white goods giants, Haier Smart Home has the most significant globalization effect among them. This is largely due to founder Zhang Ruimin's early and firm promotion of Haier's globalization strategy, opening markets with self-owned brands and acquired overseas brands, giving Haier a first-mover advantage From the perspective of revenue share, in 2023, Haier Smart Home's overseas market revenue reached 136.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%, accounting for 52% of total revenue. In the same period, Midea Group's overseas revenue share was only 40.56%, while Gree's was less than 10%.

In 2024, Haier Smart Home's revenue from overseas markets is projected to be 143.814 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.43%, accounting for approximately 50% of total revenue.

It is worth mentioning that to further expand its global layout, Haier Smart Home strategically acquired South Africa's leading water heater company Kwikot last year, expanding its market development potential in South Africa.

Moving forward, globalization will undoubtedly remain an important strategy for Haier Smart Home to further open up growth space.

In its financial report, Haier Smart Home stated that by 2025, it will deepen the construction of global logistics and marketing platforms, replicating domestic models and system capabilities locally to enhance operational efficiency in various countries. At the same time, Haier Smart Home will leverage the advantages of localized production capacity in core markets and the synergy of its 131 global manufacturing bases to establish a more reasonable and flexible global supply chain system to respond to potential geopolitical impacts.

Regarding recent marketing actions in the domestic market, Haier Smart Home also provided explanations in its financial report.

Haier Smart Home stated that in the era of fan economy, direct and efficient communication with users and maintaining brand vitality have become more important and urgent. Since March of this year, the company's management team has successively opened social media accounts to share Haier stories, listen to user needs, and collect user suggestions, strengthening emotional ties.

This interactive model injects new vitality into the Haier brand by involving users in product design and brand co-creation. In response to suggestions from fans on social platforms, Haier Smart Home launched the Leader three-tub washing machine on March 11, with over 88,000 units pre-sold in the first week.

Bai YunJie's Douyin account and the 4K remastered version of "Haier Brothers" together construct Haier Smart Home's intergenerational brand narrative, as Haier Smart Home attempts to carve out new growth space through brand rejuvenation and digital marketing.

The competition in the white goods industry has never been a sprint but a marathon that tests strategic endurance