In 2021, the refrigerator market will show an overall growth trend. Affected by the upgrade of product structure and the rising cost of raw materials, the average price of the refrigerator market in 2021 will show double-digit growth, and the trend of high-end is obvious. In 2021, the retail volume of the refrigerator market will be the same as that in 2020, and the retail sales growth will change from negative to positive. The omni-channel retail sales will reach 104.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. The online market retail sales reached 47.3 billion yuan, with a penetration rate of 45.4%.

According to data from Aowei Cloud, in 2021, the retail sales of high-end refrigerators above 10,000 yuan will increase by 37.3% year-on-year. High-end refrigerators have a larger share of retail sales in offline channels, but the growth rate of online channels is significantly higher than that of offline channels, and the brand concentration is higher. The price of ultra-high-end products in the refrigerator market has exceeded the threshold of 15,000 yuan. Brands realize that functional upgrades around health, efficient and convenient integration, and green and low carbon will be the focus of differentiated competition in the future.

From the perspective of product structure, multi-door and side-by-side refrigerators steadily occupy the dominant market position, while the market for two-door and three-door refrigerators continues to shrink. The growth of online channels for side-to-side refrigerators and multi-door refrigerators was better than offline, with retail sales increasing by 38.4% and 24.5%, respectively. Among multi-door refrigerators, four-door products (including cross four-door and French four-door) are the most popular. Among the top 10 items in JD.com's refrigerator retail sales in 2021, four products are of the side-by-side and double-door types.

The trend of large volume of refrigerators is still the same, and the average volume further transitions to more than 500L. In 2021, the retail sales of online cross four-door and French four-door products above 600L will increase by 60% and 198% year-on-year. This consumption trend is also evident in the rural market. JD.com data shows that in 2021, in the fourth- to sixth-tier market, half of the top 10 items in the refrigerator market by retail sales will have a volume of more than 500L. At the same time, various brands are developing differentiated on the basis of large volume, and high volume ratio has become a new pursuit direction. Manufacturers have improved space utilization and strived to maximize the volume with the smallest volume, especially in free embedded products to gradually improve the efficiency of space optimization. According to the offline monitoring data of Aowei Cloud, the retail sales of free built-in refrigerators will account for 11% in 2021.

It is worth noting that in the refrigerator market at all levels, the sinking market has a large space for development, and the growth rate is higher than the overall market. The product structure of the rural refrigerator market is relatively balanced, the high-end market is in its infancy, and it is time for brand manufacturers to enter the market. In the sinking market, the price segment of refrigerators is mainly concentrated below 6,000 yuan.

In terms of brand competition, the refrigerator market has a relatively high brand concentration. Haier's market share is far ahead, followed by Midea, Rongsheng and Siemens. High-end brands Casarte and COLMO ranked among the top 10 brands in terms of retail sales by virtue of the excellent performance of products over 5,000 yuan.