In the peak season of "golden September and silver October", the trade-in policy has become a powerful engine driving home appliance consumption. Since this year, home appliance manufacturers have aimed at market opportunities and continued to upgrade and strengthen the intensity of trade-ins. However, to go further with the "east wind" of trade-ins, it is not only necessary to let consumers get real benefits, but also to take advantage of the situation to answer the three questions of "why conduct trade-ins", "what to trade-in", and "how to renew the industry", so as to promote industrial upgrading, stimulate market growth momentum, and broaden the path of sustainable development.

On October 12, Hisense Air Conditioning held the launch event for its "Renew Quality Air, Build a Brilliant Home" 2025 New Air Renewal Plan and the kick-off meeting for the 5th New Air Festival (hereinafter referred to as the "Kick-off Meeting") in Anshun, Guizhou Province. This kick-off meeting is the first customer conference held by Hisense Air Conditioning for national partners after strengthening financial support for trade-ins in July this year and clarifying the "policy package" of joint government and enterprise subsidies. It interprets the confidence in "choosing new air conditioning for air conditioning upgrades, and choosing Hisense for new air conditioning" from aspects such as new product launches, user usage scenarios, and corporate trade-in activities, and also conveys Hisense Air Conditioning's sufficient preparations for trade-ins.

Why conduct trade-ins

-- Activate the existing market and "trade in" new market opportunities

After 40 years of development, the home appliance industry is facing a shift from "rapid development" to "slow and steady growth", entering an era where both incremental and existing markets are valued equally. According to Ministry of Commerce statistics, as of the end of 2023, the number of major household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners in the country exceeded 3 billion units, with approximately 730 million units exceeding their safe lifespan. The market space of trillions of yuan between "old" and "new" cannot be underestimated.

This round of trade-ins is an important measure to smooth internal circulation and activate the existing market. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance have coordinated the allocation of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to support the trade-in of consumer goods. As of now, more than 30 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have launched trade-in programs for home appliances.

On the other hand, consumers' demand for replacing home appliances has also been stimulated. Nowadays, large appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners have long been standard in domestic households, and many appliances have been in use for over 10 years, lagging behind newer models on the market in terms of product functionality and intelligence.

According to monitoring data from AVC (All View Cloud), after the government "stepped up" support for the trade-in of home appliances, from weeks 35-38 of 2024 (August 26 to September 22), retail sales of seven major home appliance categories, including air conditioners, in the online market increased by 36.8% year-on-year, while offline retail sales increased by 30.5% year-on-year. It can be seen that the powerful fulcrum of trade-ins is helping enterprises leverage the stock of the home appliance consumption market and stimulate new growth poles.

At this kick-off meeting, Hisense Air Conditioning launched its "Quality Renewal Plan" and new air conditioning products. Yang Suibing, Assistant Vice President of Hisense Air Conditioning, said that Hisense Air Conditioning will bring users a qualitative upgrade in quality of life through product renewal and upgrading, achieving a leap from "having" to "better." This is also a clear goal set by Hisense Air Conditioning: to seize the stock opportunities brought about by the trade-in policy and spark a nationwide trend of renewing air conditioners.

What to trade-in

-- Innovate product technology and "trade in" a better quality of life

As technology advances and life concepts change, consumers have set higher standards for product quality and experience, shifting from satisfying basic functions to extending into health and intelligence. Trade-ins are not just about replacing similar products but about meeting higher-level quality of life needs by upgrading product functions.

Creating differentiated products is the core of maintaining a brand's market competitiveness. At the kick-off meeting, Hisense Air Conditioning detailed the pain points of elderly people, second-child families, mothers and babies, and pet owners, and provided solutions by introducing new products such as the Mini Oxygen Bar X3 and X5 cabinet units, X6 and X7, the Brilliant C3X hidden air unit, the Brilliant C3 Art Central Air Conditioning Multi-Split System, and the Brilliant C2 All-Heat Fresh Air System.

For example, the X7 of the Mini Oxygen Bar series focuses on airflow control technology, with smart air delivery modes such as anti-direct blow and ceiling airflow, and uses a large air guide plate to assist in controlling air direction, creating an air delivery experience of "feeling cool without the wind." Combined with its performance in bacteriostasis and temperature control, it has obtained a maternal and child-grade product certification from the China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute, providing reassurance for mothers and babies.

The C3X hidden air unit, which requires no ceiling installation and is free to install, meets the needs of users who want to replace the duct unit but do not want to damage the hardware decoration of their homes. It has won the "Red Dot Best of the Best Award," known as the Oscar of design. With a power of 3 horsepower and a delivery distance of up to 16 meters, it can simultaneously cover the living room and dining room, handle various house layouts, and provide a solution for replacing traditional air conditioners with duct units.

In July of this year, Yu Zhitao, President of Hisense Group, stated at the Global Customer Conference that "scenario upgrading" is a key focus of Hisense's future layout. Leveraging AI technology, Hisense Air Conditioning relies on fresh air and purification technologies to customize AI scenarios such as Bama air, formaldehyde removal during drying, and pet cooling, in addition to its championship-level quality. For example, the pet cooling AI scenario automatically adjusts the suitable temperature for pets when they are alone at home based on weather conditions.

Based on users' diverse needs for indoor environments, Hisense Air Conditioning has created a supreme quality "masterpiece" that has evolved from regulating temperature to providing indoor air solutions. Consumers can not only enjoy the comfort brought by new products but also feel an upgrade in quality of life.

How to renew the industry

-- Promote high-quality development and "renew" the industrial upgrading model

For enterprises, trade-ins not only boost consumption but also pose challenges for industrial renewal and upgrading. Making consumers "willing to trade in" has become an important force for enterprises to promote industrial transformation and upgrading.

Hisense Air Conditioning, which dares to innovate, has been committed to discovering new market opportunities and continuously upgrading its industry. In 1996, Hisense Air Conditioning, which was newly established, boldly introduced internationally advanced inverter technology and production lines and launched the first domestic inverter air conditioner in 1997. In 2008, with a keen insight into users' need for healthy breathing, Hisense Air Conditioning launched the first domestic fresh air air conditioner, standing out from fierce competition and leading the industry into the "fresh air era."

Over the following 16 years, Hisense Air Conditioning has continuously iterated its product technology around fresh air. Following positive pressure dual-drive and large fresh air without expanding holes, it launched the third-generation front-mounted mixed fresh air technology, with a cabinet fresh air volume of up to 220m3/h, efficiently renewing the air in the entire house 2.9 times per hour, allowing users to breathe fresh air at all times.

As the pioneer of fresh air air conditioners, Hisense Air Conditioning has actively taken the lead in formulating industry standards and norms, gradually filling the gaps in standards in the field of fresh air air conditioners and promoting healthy and standardized development of the industry. Before the kick-off meeting, the first industry standard for domestic fresh air air conditioners, "Evaluation Specification for Fresh Air Function of Room Air Conditioners," drafted by Hisense Air Conditioning, was officially released and implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, demonstrating Hisense Air Conditioning's professional capabilities in the field of fresh air technology.

Trade-ins are not just an economic account but also an environmental one. This round of trade-in subsidies only applies to products with first- and second-tier energy efficiency, significantly increasing subsidies for high-efficiency household appliances. A recent research report from Jianghai Securities believes that leading home appliance companies have a higher proportion of high-efficiency products in their product portfolios, and these companies are expected to benefit more significantly from this policy.

In recent years, Hisense Air Conditioning has focused on developing environmentally friendly products. Its first-tier energy consumption combined with dual-mode inverter technology enhances air conditioning efficiency, and it customizes power-saving solutions for users through AI intelligent calculations, guiding them to use AI power-saving modes in daily life and making the concept of green living ingrained in people's minds. Hisense's nationwide old home appliance recycling system realizes standardized recycling and dismantling of old home appliances, and its Internet+ model meets users' needs for green recycling and trading in of home appliances. The dual upgrade of product and service quality is expected to further increase Hisense Air Conditioning's sales and market share in this round of trade-ins.

Trade-ins are not just a consumption model but an effective way to promote the industry's development towards the "new." Regarding the three questions about trade-ins, Hisense Air Conditioning has identified the "core" of trade-ins with supreme quality. By strengthening quality renewal efforts and providing high-quality products and services, it has not only provided a new model and benchmark for promoting the renewal and consumption upgrade of the home appliance industry but also provided solid support for the implementation of the trade-in policy.