Access Asia has published Air Conditioners in China as part of the China Contact Market Research report series. The report covers the market and current state of development of the private use air conditioner market and industry in Mainland China.
Since Deng Xiaoping opened-up China’s economy to the outside world in the 1980s, there has been a massive growth in its consumer market, and the demand for white goods has benefited from the new wealth generated in this new economic climate. Economic expansion has brought with it a rapid increase in average worker incomes in China, leading to improved standards of living and stronger consumer purchasing power. The market has now reached a stage where households ownership of white goods is very high. The white goods market is therefore, by Chinese standards, reasonably mature, and has reached at point at which point the emphasis of those involved in the market has shifted from trying to reach every home in China with a first sale, to improving purchasing levels per household and selling to consumers wishing to upgrade the products they have at home. This does not mean that the market is at all stagnant. One of the key features of the white goods market at present is that it is highly competitive. This has meant that competing companies have to work harder to find the niche sector sales of new products, and win over an increasingly well-informed consumer constituency that is looking to buy better quality, more advanced and better priced goods. This has also meant that price-cutting has become a key feature of the market over recent years, forcing manufacturers to be even cleverer in their product design, distribution, marketing and cost of sale. Greater home ownership levels over recent years have also meant that Chinese consumers are investing much more in the decoration and equipping of their homes.