Dong Mingzhu’s phone didn’t touch Xiaomi at all. Can Lei Jun’s air conditioner make Gree uncomfortable？

At the 2013 "CCTV Annual Economic Figure Celebration", Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu initiated a 1 billion bet. Lei Jun said that if Xiaomi could not beat Gree in turnover within 5 years, he would lose one dollar to Dong Mingzhu. Dong Mingzhu also did not show weakness, directly contradicting Lei Jun’s views and implying that it is difficult for companies that only focus on marketing to develop by leaps and bounds. He also shot back, don’t mention a dollar, bet 10 billion if you want to bet.

Five years have not yet come, and Gree has made two generations of mobile phones, but it has not eaten the market of Xiaomi mobile phones. Mobile phones have also become industry jokes for various strange reasons. Xiaomi mobile phones have also been poached by friends because of their adherence to online channels.

Gree did not pose a threat to Xiaomi at all on the mobile phone, but Xiaomi has entered Gree’s old business: air conditioning.

To be precise, it is not Xiaomi nor Xiaomi’s ecological chain brand Mijia that releases air conditioners, but Xiaomi’s ecological chain enterprise Zhimi.

Zhimi has been established for three years and specializes in home appliances related to the home environment. Last year, during the smog wave in Beijing, Zhimi launched a Xiaomi air purifier that reaped a large wave of dividends, making the company one of the smart hardware unicorns. The release of air conditioners actually shows Xiaomi’s ambitions in the field of major household appliances.

In fact, three years ago, Xiaomi and Midea had an investment cooperation, launching the Midea i Youth series of air conditioners. Although the product attracted a lot of attention after its launch, the sales volume was mediocre, and it did not subvert the brand structure of the air conditioner industry. In an interview after today’s Zhimi press conference, the CEO of Zhimi also made a similar response after being asked about this cooperation: Midea has its own strategic direction, and it has been done for three years. However, Xiaomi still has its own ambitions in the field of white goods, so after two years of research and development, it released today’s Zhimi all-DC inverter air conditioner.

1.5 hp, full DC frequency conversion, first-class energy consumption, cooling power 3500 (780 – 4300) W, heating power 4500 (650 – 6100) W, price 4399 yuan.

If you look at some online shopping platforms, you will find that Zhimi’s all-DC inverter air conditioner does not have a tendency to sell at a low price, but sets a price for its own air conditioner that is close to the average price of the same level in the industry. Even if you have the heart to look at Gree’s product pricing, you will find that the price of Zhimi’s air conditioner is directly comparable to that of Gree air conditioners with similar parameters.

Dong Mingzhu’s phone didn’t touch Xiaomi at all. Can Lei Jun’s air conditioner make Gree uncomfortable?

I think this matter must first be viewed from the perspective of consumers choosing air conditioners. For consumers, choosing an air conditioner basically depends on several important factors: 1. Choose the product positioning you want to buy 2. Look at the brand and product reputation 3. Convenient and inconvenient purchase and installation 4. Convenient and inconvenient after-sales.

Air conditioners are still considered a large item for many families, and the update frequency is quite low, so this requires a high degree of product reliability. From a consumer’s perspective, without having used the product, the product’s mindset comes from two factors: brand and word of mouth.

Brand and word-of-mouth are somewhat similar to mobile phones. Market share is the most intuitive manifestation of brand value and word-of-mouth at the consumer level. At present, in terms of market share in the domestic air conditioner market, Gree occupies the top spot with 44%, followed by Midea and Haier. The reason why Midea did not start white goods services with Xiaomi after Xiaomi invested in the stock is also particularly clear, because Midea already has the initiative in this matter, and naturally there is no desire for further cooperation. Xiaomi’s smart home system is really of little value to Midea in the past.

When introducing this air conditioner, Zhimi emphasized that the suppliers of his own air conditioners are all the top suppliers on the market. Although they are not taking the Xiaomi route in terms of price, the cost performance is indeed quite high. Throughout the whole process of watching the press conference, I even had a bit of a feeling of watching the early Xiaomi press conference. A rookie in the market, using the best accessories on the market to stack up a cost-effective machine, attempted to subvert the entire industry.

Therefore, the reason why Zhimi’s first air conditioner did not launch an entry-level, low-priced air conditioner is also easy to understand: Zhimi, or Xiaomi, still hopes to obtain the first batch of young consumers who have a sense of identity with Xiaomi through a good product with performance in the past. From the sales and later promotion logic, these young consumers will get a better installation, use and after-sales experience than other air conditioners on the market after they are willing to spend a price slightly higher than the average market price to buy Zhimi air conditioners. The evaluation of these consumers will become the first wave of word-of-mouth for this brand to enter the air conditioner market, paving the way for the subsequent marketing activities of more sub-products.

The One More Thing of Zhimi’s conference was a toilet lid priced at a very small price, but the air conditioner did not receive the same cheers as the toilet lid. The reason was that when the price was announced, the public’s mind seemed to be preset at a low price of Xiaomi style. The price of 4399 was obviously higher than expected, even if it was the average price of the same level on the market.

And the CEO of Zhimi, obviously, also knew that he would see such a kind of audience feedback. In the press conference and the exclusive interview after the meeting, he repeatedly talked about this year’s super hot concept: consumption upgrade.

Of course, for white goods, the sales channel is a completely different set of gameplay, and offline sales will account for a large part. However, at present, Zhimi’s air conditioners are still sold online. During the interview, Zhimi CEO slightly avoided this problem, saying only that there is still a large market space online, and the channel tendency of white goods will gradually change.

Perhaps due to my career in technology and media, my parents have accepted the behavior of buying home appliances online. This year, just in time for the frequent breakdowns of home appliances, the family has bought an air conditioner and refrigerator online in the first half of the year. In theory, if the delivery and after-sales are done well enough, consumers can still gradually accept online sales.

Therefore, this air conditioner of Zhimi actually has a strong sense of testing the water. Xiaomi has not directly listed its own or the ecological chain Mijia brand for sale, nor has it directly launched a whole series of air conditioner series with power from small to large. Young people with certain spending power are still the main target users of this air conditioner. From this release, it seems that the sales expectations of this product are not strong. But Zhimi seems to be quite optimistic about such a market prospect. After all, the white goods market is not an oligopoly situation. There are still opportunities for new small manufacturers, let alone relying on a brand like Xiaomi. Zhimi can rely on Xiaomi’s brand endorsement to obtain high bargaining power when negotiating with suppliers.

Just over a month ago, a Gree air conditioner was installed at home, and before this press conference, I experienced the installation of Zhimi air conditioner. From the actual experience, aside from the low psychological expectations of the product and the psychological obstacles to the brand’s reputation when actually buying, Zhimi’s air conditioner still left a quite good impression on me, and my previous doubts and worries were broken.

From the appearance, the design of Zhimi’s air conditioner from the main unit to the external unit is obviously higher than that of the same level of products on the market. The size of the main unit and the external unit is very large, which is convenient for heat dissipation. The weight of the external unit is also quite heavy, reaching 37KG. As a technologist, I certainly know that enhancing the strength of the fuselage in this way will obviously help reduce jitter and noise. From my parents’ perspective, they think that such a body is very solid and will last for many years.

Zhimi said that the larger internal machine is convenient for the fuselage to dissipate heat, but in fact, this size is still slightly abrupt in a small room. Fortunately, the design style of the whole machine actually continues the pure white trend of Mijia products, and the texture is good. The LCD screen on the right side of the fuselage can display color fuselage information, which is convenient for viewing and adjustment.

The remote control uses a user-friendly design that picks up the bright screen, but the full-icon button is really not easy to learn for the elderly at home, so you have to teach it. But you can also control the mobile phone through the Mijia app, or you can share the control with the Mijia account of your family. Those who are skilled in operating smartphones feel more direct than the remote control.

From the perspective of the remote control, it can actually be seen that the first air conditioner of Zhimi is actually targeted at young people.

The parameters have been placed at the beginning of the article, talking about a few more intuitive experiences. The noise of the fuselage is not obvious but it can still be heard. Placing it in the bedroom will not affect sleep. A room of about 20 square meters has a fast cooling effect. The data provided by Zhimi official is 16-23 square meters of applicable space. During the release period, it was dog days, so I didn’t try heating, for fear of heat stroke.

In the middle of the article, it is said that installation and after-sales service will also affect the reputation of the product. From my experience of installing air conditioners twice, the installation of Zhimi this time is more professional than the installer I bought from Gree on an e-commerce platform. After installing the air conditioner, the installer specially tested the electricity of the plug-in board, found the problems left by the wiring arrangement of my home nearly ten years ago, and gave suggestions for safe use.

Returning to the original question, can Lei Jun’s air conditioner make Gree uncomfortable? It is absolutely impossible in terms of market share. Gree is still the first in market share, but the air conditioner launched by Zhimi this time is actually the first step for Xiaomi to enter white goods.

The biggest advantage of Zhimi air conditioners is their appearance, and from the product parameters and sales channels, Zhimi obviously needs some effort to turn the product into "Xiaomi".

However, it seems that the 999 yuan instant toilet cover is very cost-effective in line with Xiaomi’s tone, but the specific launch date has not been announced yet, and it will take a long time.