All segments of the home appliances market will recover in 2022 says Nikhil Mathur, Managing Director for India and Head of data Partnership and Innovation – APAC for GfK. 

“Home has become the new headquarters and with a hybrid culture becoming the new norm, consumers are looking for solutions in appliances that bring comfort and support in improving their lifestyle,” said Mr Mathur.

“That’s why we have seen a clear shift towards premium products promising to simplify consumers’ lives and add convenience to the overall lifestyle. This shift in preferences is also the result of lesser avenues to spend during the pandemic and the increasing propensity to invest in quality products. As per our consumer life study, 43% of surveyed urban global consumers prefer to possess fewer but higher-quality products.”

Across categories, GfK has reported an increase in average selling prices in 2021 versus 2019, driven by both increases in input costs due to shipping, chip shortages, as well as a shift toward premium products such as fully automatic front-loading washing machine and 351+ litre refrigerators.

Mr Mathur said: “When we look across consumer technology and durables categories, the growth of average selling prices seems to be driven by both organic increase in prices and shift in the product-mix towards high-end electronics and appliances. 

“Apart from air-conditioning, the entry-level segments in refrigeration, washing machines and microwave ovens have declined in 2021 as compared to 2019 across channels. While the entry-level segments have declined, we have witnessed healthy growth for the total category, indicating a shift towards premium segments. However, in cooling, even at a total category level we have observed a decline versus 2019.”

The picture is slightly different when you look at online volume sales for home appliances, where the entry level segments have performed better and in the case of air conditioning and washing machine have also outgrown the total category. 

“It is important to note in these two categories the volume contribution of online to total sales is still 20%,” he said. “Microwave oven is a far more mature category with online contribution of close to 50%. In the case of cooling, the entry-level segment within the online channel has grown almost as fast as the total category, in terms of volume. It is true that online channel sales across these categories for the entry-level segments have shown double digit growth as compared to 2019.”

Mr Mathur continued: “We should see a bigger growth for entry level products in 2022. The last two years have been unusual and 2022 would be a recovery year across almost all segments be it entry, mainstream, or premium.”

It’s clear that the pandemic caused some changes in purchasing behaviour by consumers for home appliances across the globe. 

According to GfK data, online purchase through general shopping apps, brand websites and social media is becoming more popular. This reflects increased customer trust and the digitalisation of purchasing pathways, which are driving online retail’s contribution to overall category sales of home appliances.

Mr Mathur said: “At a total electronics market level, more than one-third of all value sales has been registered through the online channel, up from 27% in 2020. In 2021, online channel value contribution for small domestic appliances accounted for 47%, followed by IT computing at 39% and smartphones at 38%. 

“With omni- channel gaining significance in the retail market, it would be interesting to note how channel dynamics will evolve for the consumer tech and durables market in 2022.”

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