Online Sales of More Expensive ACs Show Higher Growth in 2017

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), and China Electronics News Agency jointly released the 2017 household electrical appliances online purchase analysis report.

The report indicated that online sales of air conditioners in every price range have seen growth. In particular, the sales value and volume of air conditioners with unit prices higher than RMB 7,000 (about US$ 1,100) saw the highest year-on-year growth rate, hitting 72.2% and 76.3%, respectively.

The sales value and volume of air conditioners with unit prices between RMB 4,000 and 4,999 (about US$ 640 to 790) saw year-on-year growth of 131.2% and 134.4%, respectively. Sales of units in the RMB 2,000 range (about US$ 320 to 480) also showed growth and the RMB 1,000 range (about US$ 160 to 320) saw the lowest growth rate.

Sales of high-end air conditioners with unit prices higher than RMB 4,000 accounted for 26.7% of a whole price range, and the gap between high-end and medium-and low-end air conditioners priced below RMB 4,000 is narrowing. Sales of air conditioners priced in the RMB 2,000 range accounted for the largest share of 35.6%. The RMB 1,000 range accounted for 20.8%, and has been dropping over the past two years.

In 2017, the price of air conditioners sold online rose slightly, and this was attributed to rising prices of raw materials and product structural upgrades. The differences in the features of products sold online and offline are becoming smaller.