This year’s 618 shopping festival has witnessed notable transformations in the home appliance market, prompting major brands and retailers to reevaluate and adapt their operational strategies. It is evident that this year’s 618 event marks a crucial turning point, potentially shaping the trajectory of home appliance market promotions for the next decade.

Written by Ning Yan

During this year’s 618 shopping festival, the focus has shifted away from the sheer volume of units sold by home appliance companies or the year-over-year revenue fluctuations. Questions regarding the return on investment for retailers, the conversion rate of website traffic into orders, or how frontline manufacturers plan to manage market shipments and stimulate consumption without relying solely on price cuts are no longer the primary concerns.

As the “quietest” 618 mid-year shopping festival in history concludes, brands and retailers in the home appliance market are not experiencing a complete release of pressure. Instead, new worries and anxieties have emerged. Several manufacturers have noted that, unlike previous 618 events where significant market pressure was alleviated, this year has seen the accumulation of new and greater pressures.

What accounts for this shift? By analyzing the performance reports from leading e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Tmall, as well as major participating companies like Haier, Midea, Gree, Hisense, Changhong, TCL, Xiaomi, Fotile, Robam, Vatti, Joyoung, and Supor, we can uncover a series of changes that have taken place behind the scenes of this year’s 618 shopping festival.

Firstly, while the 618 performance reports from JD.com and Tmall reveal substantial year-over-year increases, surges, and doubling figures, a closer examination reveals that these data points are predominantly from segmented product categories, star products, and mainstream brands, with overall market shipment data remaining undisclosed.

Secondly, leading home appliance brands like Haier and Midea claim numerous first-place finishes across the web in their 618 battle reports, yet actual data remains undisclosed. A deeper look reveals a focus on the year-over-year growth of AI-enabled home appliances, bundled solutions, and ecosystem partnerships, along with an emphasis on implementing more scenario-based, experiential, and service-oriented innovation initiatives.

Furthermore, many home appliance brands have chosen not to release their 618 performance reports, while some companies have only passively summarized their operational highlights for product promotion in the frontline market, with a greater emphasis on promoting new products and technologies.

It is clear that this year’s 618 shopping festival has been marked by systemic turmoil and sudden changes, driven by factors such as the government’s ongoing crackdown on “involutionary” price competition in e-commerce, a shift towards rational and subdued consumer behavior, a policy shift from encouraging e-commerce to favoring offline brick-and-mortar retail, and a recognition among leading home appliance manufacturers that “scaling up is taking a backseat to structural adjustments” and “low prices are ineffective.” Both e-commerce platforms like JD.com and home appliance companies like Haier are seeking new operational directions and levers to stimulate consumption.

After considering these various factors, the home appliance industry believes that the core change that has emerged is that 618 is no longer a “major window of opportunity” for home appliance manufacturers to join forces, concentrate shipments, and rapidly boost sales. Instead, 618 should serve as an important opportunity for leading consumption trends, promoting technologically advanced new products, and accelerating the implementation of scenario-based solutions.

In the view of the home appliance industry, the changing value and role of the 618 shopping festival in the home appliance market represent not a simple disappearance but rather a new rebirth, driven by three main factors.

Firstly, the fundamentals of the home appliance market have shifted to a scenario characterized by “rising operating costs, increasing inventory backlogs, declining terminal shipments, and weak consumer demand,” further squeezing the cash flow and operational space of home appliance manufacturers. In the short term, the operational pressures and survival challenges for all manufacturers have surged, necessitating the discovery of new breakthroughs.

Secondly, the role of promotional events like 618 in the home appliance consumption market is rapidly diminishing. Since the beginning of this year, promotional nodes such as the February “opening red,” the fiery March and April, as well as May Day and 618, have collectively experienced a “dampening,” indicating a fundamental shift in the home appliance consumption landscape, with mainstream consumer habits and perceptions becoming more diverse.

Thirdly, market downturns, weak demand, and corporate growth pressures have escalated conflicts in the home appliance market this year. How to achieve growth amid a downturn has naturally led major home appliance manufacturers to utilize “year-round seamless” time nodes to accelerate the sustained pressure on their peers. The competition has evolved from the past “big fish eating small fish” to a “small fish hibernating” and “big fish strangling” confrontation.

Of course, the significant shift in the home appliance market during this year’s 618 is not just a short-term cooling of a single promotional event but a symbolic signal of the industry’s transition from “incremental expansion” to “stock quality improvement.” The home appliance industry has observed that an increasing number of home appliance brands and retailers are awakening to the belief that “abandoning low-price involution, discarding scale obsession, and focusing on product technology and scenario value” represent the industry’s development trends and future.

Looking ahead, the home appliance market will no longer be a short-term sales competition during promotional events but a comprehensive contest of long-term product strength, service capabilities, and solution capabilities.

Whoever can first escape the price competition trap and complete a comprehensive upgrade of their product structure, operational model, and user services will be able to stand firm and seize the initiative in the new round of industry reshuffling, defining the new competitive landscape of the future home appliance market!

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