Appliances: Manufacturers Transform Service Providers Are the Trend

Nowadays, on the market, the variety of home appliances is extremely rich, the intelligence of home appliances and interconnection, and the comprehensive utilization of new energy, etc., make the purchase of electricity and household appliances no longer a simple matter. How to make home appliances The formation of a sound ecosystem is gradually becoming more and more of a problem for consumers. In this regard, some experts pointed out that consumers cannot master the purchase and use of each product. Enterprises should transform from pure product manufacturers to solutions and service providers.

Appliance selection is often troublesome

“I listened to the promoters introducing the smart cloud TV as having a lot of features and buying it one at a time.” Beijing Consumer Weekly complained to reporters last year that she had purchased a smart TV with Internet access last year, but so far Haven't been. Miss Zhou said that her bedroom is southbound, but the network interface that has been opened for Internet access is in North House. The manufacturer's after-sales service engineer told her that if you want to make the TV available on the Internet, you need to purchase two wireless routers of the same model and install them on both sides. After debugging, you can use it. "I'm a blind person in technology. When I listen to this, it's big, so I still look at the cable TV honestly." Miss Zhou reluctantly said.

Ms. Liu also said that consumers are now popular smart cloud TV, not only the TV itself comes with many features she does not use, and some features also require a lot of external hardware, and the corresponding settings can be achieved, if there is no technical personnel to provide Professional services, many functions can only become furnishings. Related institutional surveys have also shown that although there are many consumers who currently purchase smart TVs, they are rarely used after purchase. Zhou Houjian, chairman of Hisense Group, revealed that the current smart TV access rate is only 40%.

Consumer Chow told reporters that in the past, people only needed hot water when bathing, but the improvement of the quality of life made people want to use hot water from time to time. The proper installation and use of water heaters is also a science. It is understood that Mr. Zhou’s new home needs to use hot water mainly in the kitchen and two bathrooms, but the three rooms are located in three directions: West, South and North. In order to install the water heater more rationally, he took a lot of thought. “Because there are no high-rise buildings in front of the building, the room is well-lighted. I once wanted to install a solar water heater. Later, I thought it was too complicated. Even if it is too complicated,” Mr. Zhou said. Nowadays, there are a wide variety of water heaters, especially some new energy-using products. For example, there are solar water heaters, air energy water heaters, etc., but different products have their own lengths, the average consumer simply does not know clearly, not to mention the spatial layout of the room and the combination, if the company can sell products at the same time to help design a A reasonable purchase and installation plan is just fine.

Consumers need system services
Hao Yabin, vice president of the China Electronics Video Industry Association, believes that when ordinary consumers use smart cloud television for the first time, they are often at a disadvantage because of the complexity of network construction and networking processes. This also results in poor product user experience and networking. The low rate of industry problems has further affected the promotion of products. He believes that the development of digital technology, network technology, and intelligent technology has caused the electronic video industry to face a revolution. A video-centric wave of new technologies merging many industries is emerging. To become a leader in the industry, we must not only carry out technological innovation in the traditional sense, but also establish an ecosystem that accurately grasps consumer demand. In the future, the degree of homogeneity of products will continue to increase. The competition among color TV manufacturers is not only the competition of terminals but also the competition of the entire ecosystem. The core of the competition is also the competition of services. Hao Yabin believes: "The future must be more and more intelligent terminals plus a good ecosystem of cloud services, and the quality of service depends on the degree of terminal intelligence and whether cloud services can be as convenient as using electricity."

Haier water heater responsible person pointed out that the current installation of water heaters there are two major problems, that is, improper installation location and product selection is unreasonable. On the product selection, many consumers are concerned about the lack of attention to the water heater, and often choose to make mistakes when purchasing. Therefore, it is very important to provide pre-sale services that provide one-stop hot water solutions for consumers.

Li Huizhen, head of the Wanhe Electric Brand Management Department, said that the forecast of the world energy consumption structure shows that the proportion of energy with renewable characteristics in the consumption structure will increase significantly. At the same time, from the point of view of water heater products, single-energy water heaters have limitations in use, and the comprehensive utilization of energy is the direction of product development.

“What consumers need is not water heater but hot water. This is an overall idea of ​​product development, technology transformation and technological innovation. However, many companies restrict product innovation only to the product itself.” Zhang Yachen, Deputy Chief Engineer, China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute It was pointed out that the water heater's product provider should gradually transform itself into a provider of domestic hot water solutions, including hardware products, hardware product offerings and services, and comprehensive applications on various energy sources such as air, solar, and electrical energy. . In the use of water resources, it also includes preheating and smart technology, smart grid applications. It is by no means the production of a single hardware product.

Xu Dongsheng, secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, believes that consumers cannot become experts in the purchase and use of all consumer products. The intelligentization and interconnection of home appliances should bring more applications and enjoyment to consumers. Allowing consumers to use the added features more easily, rather than to bring more trouble for consumers. At the beginning of design, companies should be able to accurately understand the needs of consumers and be reflected in the design plan. At the same time, through the improvement of pre-sales, sales and after-sales services, making the purchase and use of consumers more simple and convenient.

Enterprises have transformed service providers

Consumer demand is the business opportunity of the company. In the Internet age, simple products can no longer meet the changing personal needs of consumers. For this reason, companies have proposed the transformation from product manufacturers to providers of programs and services for consumption. Provide one-stop solutions and corresponding products and services.

Haier Group announced that it will introduce a new set of baby home appliances solutions such as breastmilk, blender, and sterilization pot on December 20th to integrate the world's five R&D centers, and provide personalized and on-demand customization to provide healthier and safer for new generations of mothers and babies. s solution. And for them to build a public community platform, the introduction of expert resources to answer doubts, to guide the "wave dad hot mom" science feeding.

"I'm not a water heater, but a hot water." Gong Peiqian, Vice President of Wanhe Electric repeatedly emphasized this point to reporters. He said that with the improvement of people's living standards, a water heater can no longer meet consumer demand for hot water for personal use. Wanhe proposed a strategic transformation from water heater manufacturers to water heater service providers as early as 2010, and explored more than 500 kinds of home water solutions.

The relevant person in charge of TCL multimedia said that with the advent of the smart cloud era, TV functionality is increasingly complex and requires more elaborate after-sales services. It is reported that in order to promote the full-scale landing of the dual-core intelligent cloud experience and achieve a double breakthrough in the sales volume and service quality in the end of the year, TCL has formed a million-person cloud service team composed of professional engineers and college students. Recently, this professional cloud service team has begun to shuttle through the streets of major cities, providing users with hardware installation and home network building services, setting up the best environment for the use of dual-core intelligent cloud TV, and intelligent Cloud function for home operation instruction.

Not only the home appliance manufacturers, in September this year, the traditional home appliance chain manufacturer Suning announced the launch of smart home solutions "private home". Suning executive vice president Wang Zhe said that it aims to provide consumers with air systems, water systems, Audiovisual system and intelligent system customization, procurement, design, construction and a series of services. Suning will continue to optimize and refine its customized service content and add new product lines based on the Suning cloud platform and cloud services, such as smart medical examinations, smart kitchens, and smart study rooms, to allow customers to enjoy cutting-edge life in a timely manner.