What were your domestic sales in the first half of 2020?
In the first half of this year, the market shares of our indoor air conditioners (RAC) in both the offline and online markets increased by 16.5% and 30.7%, respectively, and sales increased by 8.6%. In the commercial air conditioner segment, in response to customer inquiries, we launched central air conditioner cleansing type for home, commercial and medical facilities, which has contributed to Haier's growth in a downturn in the industry. At the same time, Haier occupies a leading position among elite brands. Casarte's air conditioner market share continues to grow, reaching 40.63% in the product range worth more than 15,000 yuan (US $ 2,200).
Could you present your new health products designed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic?
Faced with a pandemic, consumers began to prefer air conditioners with air purification and sterility functions. Aware of consumer concerns, Haier was the first in the industry to release a sterilizing air conditioner in late February with a temperature of 56 °C. According to industry experts, 56ºC is the temperature at which the virus is destroyed. When the air conditioner turns on the self-cleaning function, the evaporator surface cools down to frost. Bacteria and dust are removed from the evaporator by high-temperature drying and sterilization at temperatures above 56 ° C, resulting in a degree of removal of dust and bacteria of 99%, and consumers get healthy air.
To meet the needs of consumers in air ventilation, Haier has developed a new antibacterial air conditioner with fresh air function. When the CO2 level in the room exceeds 1000 ppm, the fresh air function is activated. Outside air enters the room after a five-level cleaning to make the air cleaner. At the same time, it has a unique function of temperature compensation, which provides a constant and comfortable temperature in the room.
Haier has become a leading manufacturer of centrifugal chillers with magnetic bearings. Share the experience of such success?
As the first and only company in the industry to move to the base of promoting energy-saving technologies at the National Center for Energy Conservation (NECC), Haier is a leader in the production of centrifugal chillers with magnetic bearings in the Internet erathings (IoT) through the use of energy-saving technologies. The success of Haier chillers with magnetic bearings is that we fully research the various needs of the industry and develop individual products. The quality and intelligent functions of the products create a good ecosystem among users, design institutes and experts. The most important is the leadership in the product, including cooling capacity, energy efficiency, size and noise level.
Now our magnetic bearing chillers are mainly focused on the markets of Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and South Asia. We have achieved leading positions in Thailand and Malaysia.
Manufacturers of chillers with magnetic bearings are appearing more and more, which indicates the approach of this technology to maturity. As a leading player in the field of magnetic bearing chillers in the world, Haier will not wage price wars. We strive to achieve the best product performance, quality and reputation to maintain healthy competition in the industry. In addition, we will adhere to product differentiation by further exploring user needs to truly implement customized product customization.
Haier has integrated several sales channels in Oceania. Is this approach useful for selling chillers
This is very useful for Haier chiller sales. Local channels not only help with sales, but also provide installation and maintenance services, and understand the experience of local users, which gives rise to suggestions for product updates.
What types of air conditioners do you make at your manufacturing base in Thailand?
Our Thai factory mainly produces household and light commercial air conditioners, taking full advantage of Thailand as a traditional production base for air conditioner production to provide high quality products for the market Southeast Asia. Haier aims to become an industry leader as a supplier of healthy, energy-saving and intelligent air to the Southeast Asian market. We will continue to implement the strategy of local research and development (R&D), production and sales.
Please tell us about the collaboration between Haier and General Electric (GE)
The acquisition of GE's home appliances division provides a good platform for Haier's air conditioning business to develop the US market. Haier produces more than one million window air conditioners annually under the GE and Haier brands. They are mainly sold in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The synergy is gradually taking shape, with the expansion of retail space, the expansion of the product line by the inclusion of systems with regulated refrigerant flow (VRF) and the deepening of cooperation between the two parties for active planning of the future.
Could you tell us about your mini-VRF and VRF sales?
Our VRF sales have doubled due to the efforts of local partners.
For the mini-VRF, we have updated the Zhizun + series, which is sold exclusively through the e-commerce channel. Thanks to its compact housing, it is equipped with a refrigerant with direct cooling, heat dissipation and a DC inverter (DC), and can also implement various intelligent air control functions with 5G IoT modules. Thanks to the integration of IoT and VRF technologies, the efficiency of equipment management is increased and energy consumption is reduced.
For VRF Haier has launched targeted VRF solutions for various application scenarios according to our "users and scenarios". Haier is also updating the plan of existing buildings, launching a plan to update the Internet of Things in 2020.