2024 China Household Whole House Water Industry Summit Forum Roundtable Forum

"Holding a bowl of tea for no reason, send it to tea lovers." The lingering aroma of tea not only exudes a peaceful and leisurely attitude towards life, but also cherishes and welcomes friends who come from afar! Next, we will invite Teacher Peng and industry leaders from different fields to start a dialogue with wise people. We believe that their ideas will collide and explore more new opportunities for the development of the industry. Now, let's applaud. The guests participating in this round table dialogue are:
Mr. Li Jiahong, Head of High end Product Development for Whole House Water Use in Midea Kitchen and Water Heater Business Unit
Ms. Xu Lili, Product Director of Huadi Water Heater
Mr. Li Hui, Marketing Director of Kaidu
Mr. Zhu Xiaodong, Director of Water Heater Operation in Tiktok E-commerce
Mr. Yu Xiaoqi, Excellent Respondent for Zhihu Home Design
And our teacher Peng
Question 1: Two survey reports were also released on site today, analyzing the consumption trends and pain points of household water use. People's focus on household water use is on health and comfort. Among them, health involves the freshness of water and the removal of impurities such as heavy metals, microplastics, viruses, etc. in water. Comfort is related to water temperature, water volume, water hardness, etc. From your own professional perspective, please share your views on the current situation, products, and solutions of household water use.
Firstly, let's invite Mr. Li to share.
Li Jiahong: Currently, users have a low understanding of the concept of whole house water, so what needs to be done is to deepen the understanding of solutions for whole house water among peers and promote science to users.
If we look at the concept of whole house water, it is divided into two major scenarios: drinking water and water use, consisting of some individual products to form a solution, covering many segmented needs. From COLMO's perspective, drinking water is based on kitchen water purification and filtration technology, equipped with drinking water pipeline machines and embedded products, which can cover household drinking water scenarios. There are some different customized solutions for soft water and clean water, which we already have.
We will discuss with the industry how to enhance product strength and how to meet the segmented needs of users.
Host: Enhancing product strength to better meet consumer needs is the core point that Mr. Li brings to everyone.
Next, let's invite Mr. Li Hui, the Marketing Director of Kaidu, to share your views.
Li Hui: Before using water, people always thought it was drinking water. Now, people are gradually paying attention to water used for cooking and bathing. As you can see from previous reports, 30-40% of people are already aware of whole house water, so now whole house water is also from the embryonic stage to the stage of concept popularization. In addition, many brands have launched whole house water purification solutions and a series of products. Now, the water industry is also transitioning from drinking water to users and developing rapidly. This is a good opportunity because people are more concerned about health and water use. Kaidu has been focusing on new kitchen appliances, developing some products for whole house water purification, and focusing on how to launch better products to solve user pain points.
Because just now you saw a science popularization video, the whole house water purification currently involves a variety of products and installation is also quite complex, including maintenance and price issues, which will temporarily restrict the popularization of whole house water purification. However, the momentum is now on the rise, which is the beginning of a very good momentum. I believe that everyone in the industry will work together and quickly push this forward.
Host: The entire household water industry has this concept of health, and it is introduced to consumers during the popularization process. When considering its maintenance and cost during the installation process, some consumers may hesitate. But as Mr. Li Hui said, working together, water use for the entire house will definitely be accessible to thousands of households in the future.
Next, let's invite Ms. Xu Lili to share your thoughts.
Xu Lili: There are still three aspects. Firstly, no matter which direction the industry develops in, it is always based on user needs. Nowadays, users have higher demands for our products than before. When we visited before, they said that hot water would suffice, constant temperature in the middle would suffice, and there were no other requirements. But now when we go out for a visit, it's different. They will say, can we make our skin better after washing it? They do indeed propose such demands, which are based on user needs.
The second one is that our companies have all responded, for example, there are many colleagues and friends here, such as A O. Smith used to do soft water in his early years, Lin Nei used bubble washing, and we used separate baths. Everyone's exploration is focused on meeting the health needs of users.
The third one is that the industry has done a lot of things, such as the two standards released by the industry today, as well as the formulation of various standards that were not released today.
So users led to changes in the product, and then the industry pushed this towards a higher level of development.
Host: Thank you, Ms. Xu, for sharing. Nowadays, many consumers are accustomed to searching online for various strategies or ways to save money during the decoration stage. As we all know, Zhihu is a platform with a very high search rate. Now, let's invite Mr. Yu Xiaoqi to share your opinions.
Yu Xiaoqi: My idea has a very important point. For C-end customers, what they value more is results. When promoting water purification, they should show others before and after water purification. Because water purification is not about perceiving temperature, it is more about perceiving test results. We need to increase efforts to make C-end users aware that the water quality at home is so poor, and after using water purification products, the water quality is so good!
The sudden changes in water flow, multi-point water use, and stable temperature of outlet water from wall mounted boilers and water heaters require continuous deepening of "algorithm+hardware", which is what I learned in my evaluation.
Everything is based on the customer's feelings. If the customer cannot feel it, we use data to feel it and other evaluation methods to make them feel the real usage situation.
Host: Good products also need to have good competitiveness, truly making consumers feel the competitiveness of the product. Next, let's invite Mr. Zhu Xiaodong to share your views.
Zhu Xiaodong: According to the category classification, clean water belongs to small household appliances, and hot water belongs to large household appliances. When we connected, we found that there were two groups of industry operators and industry leaders. For consumers, we also have the same question: large household appliances have a stronger consumer resistance attribute, while small household appliances have a stronger fast selling attribute. The decision-making cycle, purchasing population, and links are completely different. Now we are talking about the whole house water use as a scenario concept. How to convey the scenario concept to consumers, or accurately let consumers know and understand, needs a carrier. It is a good opportunity to do live broadcast and industry education in Tiktok, so as to explain the whole house water use knowledge to users. For many consumers, it is difficult to think comprehensively when decorating for the first time. When decorating the bathroom, they do not think of pre installing clean water, but only when they install it in the kitchen do they realize that the clean water has been installed late. Therefore, we gradually use live streaming as a tool to convey industry ideas and concepts to consumers, allowing them to make more comparisons and choices.
Host: Thank you, Mr. Zhu, for sharing. The problem just now is development and solutions. From product strength to the idea of C-end customers, to the Tiktok platform mentioned by Mr. Zhu to increase its traffic and exposure, these are all development solutions.
Next, let's continue with the collision of thoughts. Question three: More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of household water use, which stems from people's demand for improving their quality of life. However, when it comes to the design and installation of household water use for new homes or the upgrading and renovation of old houses, many people feel very confused and troublesome, and even give up before starting. Do you have any solutions or reasonable suggestions for this problem? What measures do companies currently have on the consumer end to address the different needs of users? For example, new houses or new users? Also, I would like to consult with the on-site home designers to provide us with guidance from your perspective. What are the issues that need to be paid special attention to in home design for our whole house water solution?
Firstly, let's invite Mr. Li, the representative of the company, to share.
Li Jiahong: From a decoration perspective, if it is already renovated, the family is not willing to do too much renovation. I suggest they first choose a net heat integrated product to meet two regular needs, one is for water purification, and the other is hot water that can meet cooking and brewing needs.
If the kitchen is already renovated but there is no space for installation, I suggest their solution is to use a desktop water purifier, which can expand the drinking water demand and scene at home.
In addition, for new houses or new users, they have the conditions to do some pre installation transformation. Here, we can guide them to embed water and electricity through Zhihu, Tiktok publicity, etc., and distribute their daily drinking water behavior in the guest restaurant pipeline machines to meet the demand, as well as install embedded drinking water products with a larger trend. These are different solutions for different decoration stages or situations.
Host: Thank you, Mr. Li. Next, please share with Mr. Xu.
Xu Lili: As a company, if you want to attract new users, the first thing is to solve their patterns. What we need to do is to have a very professional team. Why does he have such concerns? Just thinking about it, he gave up because he might have been too involved in the process and thought it was troublesome, so he decided not to do it. But if there is a very professional team, you can refer the requirements to me and don't worry about the rest, which will undoubtedly dispel their concerns.
Secondly, our team needs to provide professional and personalized services to users. The decoration of current users is different from ten or twenty years ago. They are more interested in some decoration styles that are suitable for themselves, at least not uniform. However, if you give them similar sample rooms, they cannot meet their needs. So we need to think of solutions that are suitable for different home styles of small, medium, and large units.
The third point is that pre-sales, in sales, and after-sales services must be done well, even exceeding expectations. It goes without saying that pre-sales expectations, if not done well, he may not buy. In this way, because it is an installation property, it is important to consider it very carefully during the process. After sales is the best. Without after-sales service, all problems should be solved during sales. Once they occur, they should be resolved quickly.
Host: Just now, Mr. Li was always from the user's perspective, while Mr. Xu was from the enterprise's perspective. Next, please share your thoughts with Mr. Kaidu Li Hui.
Li Hui: There are many aspects involved in product and renovation, step by step, divided into three points:
The first point is to first solve the problem of regular water usage. Everyone may use boiling water lakes and heating water quickly. First, look at the budget. If you don't have enough budget and don't want to make major renovations, you can use a desktop water purifier, such as our desktop water purifier T2. Nowadays, mineral water is popular, which produces weakly alkaline mineral water. In addition, there is a 1.8-liter hot water lake, which is more convenient to pour out the water.
The second point is that new or renovated houses have a certain budget and conditions, and the combination is a pipeline machine+embedded water purifier under the kitchen. For example, we have a C5 series. Just now, the temperature of water is also very important. We have infinite temperature regulation, 14 levels of regulation, and different types of tea have high water temperatures. Everyone has a lot of needs, and we have 14 levels of infinite water temperature regulation to produce different types of water. In addition, using hot water to produce hot water in real time, like a faucet, requires a high flow rate.
The third point is that if there is a deeper budget, it will be better and more integrated, with pre water purification and embedded water purification. We held a press conference earlier and released the world's first embedded ice making product Z10. It is now summer, and many people want to drink water that can be enjoyed 24 hours a day with just one click at 5 degrees Celsius. The second point is that one click can have bullet ice, up to 180 bullet ice pieces, which can be quickly made. When you want to have ice cubes to drink water 24 hours a day, it is clean, convenient, and meets your needs. Ice can be made in 6 minutes. The traditional ice maker in the industry takes about 15 minutes, which has doubled the speed.
So look at it separately based on user needs and budget.
Host: Thank you. The three representatives of entrepreneurs cover all the needs in the entire market, whether from the user side, enterprise side, or from the demand and budget side, we have basically thought of everything.
Next, let's welcome Mr. Zhu Xiaodong, the person in charge of Tiktok, to share your views.
Zhu Xiaodong: There are a lot of user needs. Tiktok has a president to broadcast live. When we enter the live broadcast room, we find that the user needs are diverse and the solutions that the enterprise can provide are very standardized. How can we solve these two contradictions? For example, as a user, not everyone will use Midea's products or Huadi's products. They will integrate different needs, such as choosing Midea for the water heater and other water purification products from other brands. At this point, the problem is left to the enterprise. The intermediate stage requires more excellent home decoration designers to solve this problem, and it is difficult to solve the personalized customization needs of users solely from the perspective of enterprises. We can try to convey our scene concept more to home decoration designers, who can help us act as a mediator between enterprises and users, resolving conflicts and contradictions in our design solutions. When each brand serves users, it only needs to do its own part to better serve them.
Host: Thank you, Mr. Zhu. Next, Mr. Yu Xiaoqi is requested to provide suggestions on the overall water use design scheme from a design professional perspective.
Yu Xiaoqi: Let's discuss the old house and the new house separately. Looking at an old house to see what it needs and what it can hold is more about solving the problem of "being able to hold". Therefore, when manufacturing products, enterprises need to consider the convenience of volume and maintenance and after-sales service.
For a new house, based on its budget, try to push all kinds of water purification equipment such as central water purification, soft water, and ultrafiltration, and tell them one by one about the quality of not installing and installing them.
In a pre installed house, based on its size, targeted recommendations can be made for products that can fit well.
For houses that have not been renovated or products that have been renovated, try to push the integration of our products to them as much as possible. At this point, firstly, the company needs to provide more detailed training for sales personnel, and secondly, for some products, especially for old or renovated houses, customized products should be made.
Host: Making special products for old houses is a question that every enterprise should consider, because we also involve pipeline aging. If pipeline aging wants to introduce water to the entire house, how to solve the problem of pipeline aging is also something that entrepreneurs can explore.
Question 3: From your own real-life perspective, please share what kind of water is commonly used in daily drinking, tea making, cooking, bathing, washing, etc., how you feel about it, as well as the source of water and the equipment or appliances used.
Li Hui: I like food. Our company makes lunch at noon and we have a water purifier, a pipeline machine, and an embedded water purifier. We hope to drink mineral purified water in our daily lives, which has a smoother and sweeter taste than traditional tap water. Traditional tap water tastes a bit more lively.
The second one is cooking. In the past, many people didn't care about the water used for cooking and used pure water and mineral water to make rice. The aroma and nutrition of rice are more comprehensive, and the taste is better.
It also depends on the water used for washing vegetables. If the water used for washing rice and vegetables is different, the taste will also be affected.
Host: Just now, Mr. Li mentioned that washing vegetables and rice has an impact on taste, taste, and nutrition. At this point, I need to ask Teacher Peng if the water used for brewing tea has any impact?
Teacher Peng: Just now, the experts mentioned that the whole house uses water for users, and brewing tea is for players who play with water. The demand is very small, and water is the mother of tea. Tea grows in the mountains, so it is very picky!
I have been working in the tea industry for almost 20 years, drinking water from all over the country. Every time I go to a place, I have to taste the local water. There are three indicators: the first is the mineralization degree, which I can basically drink, 0-50, 50-100, 100-150, 150-200. The second is the acidity and alkalinity, some of which are soft water and some are hard water. Water has a great impact on tea! The better the tea, the more picky it is.
I will talk about the results obtained through so many years of experience. Generally, the water used for brewing tea, as many of us understand it, has a weak acidity of about 6.5-6.8 and a mineralization degree of around 50, which is most suitable. The tea is very fresh and has a strong tension. Why? Because the tea soup is slightly acidic, it will react immediately when mixed with alkaline water, and the water will have a sudden sensation when tasted, not so fresh.
Which places have the best mineral water? One is volcanic rock metasilicate mineral water. The mineral water in Mount Wuyi, on the other side of Wuzhi Mountain, Hainan Island, is the best in China. There is also a water soaked from the 5800 altitude mountain in Yading, the city of Thief. It is like divine water, soft, slippery, and sweet. It may have been water that has been frozen and infiltrated for thousands of years, but when it comes down the mountain, it was consumed and not brought back to brew tea.
Our user base is small and cannot attract the attention of big brands, but it is a good adjustment for each of our lives.
Host: Thank you, teachers. Preserving trace elements in water is also a challenge that the water purification industry has been striving to overcome. At first, it was all filtered out, and then I was thinking about how to filter out harmful ones and leave behind beneficial ones.
Next, please ask Mr. Li from Midea to share how you usually feel about water use?
Li Jiahong: Just now, Teacher Peng mentioned drinking tea. In the past two years, Midea collaborated with the Chinese Tea Science Institute to observe the TDS values of different water qualities. Different water qualities were used for different types of tea, with different brewing times and temperatures. The resulting tea soup, color, and aroma were studied to some extent. At present, our products, including pipeline machines and embedded beverage purifiers, have definitions for different brewing temperatures. In addition, as mentioned earlier, our home mainly has two products: one is COLMO in the kitchen, and the other is a pipeline machine. The net heat system has four adjustable temperature levels, which can not only meet daily water needs but also quickly produce a large amount of hot water during cooking. This is because the process of cooking and pouring hot water is quite troublesome, and we have to wait for the water to boil. However, my home has a relatively large water output, which can meet the research of instantaneous water output.
Host: Thank you. Next, let's welcome Mr. Zhu, the person in charge of Tiktok Jiedian.
Zhu Xiaodong: I always order mineral water at home, but today I listened and found that I use tap water for washing vegetables, rice, and dishes. In theory, I don't drink tap water, but in reality, I have been in contact with tap water, so I do need a water purification device.
Host: Thank you, Mr. Zhu. Next, please share with Mr. Xu of Huadi.
Xu Lili: I'm similar to everyone else. The water I drink is purified water, but after listening to what Mr. Zhao said, it will be better for the water used for making rice to become purified water in the future.
I have summarized that the degree of contact between water and the human body is positively correlated with the degree of purification required. Next, through the efforts of enterprises, the degree of contact between water and users will be improved, so that more people will buy our products in this area.
Host: Ms. Xu just mentioned during the sharing process that the feeling and experience of using shower water for users are very real, and most of them have used it well.
Next, let's invite Mr. Yu Xiaoqi to share your thoughts.
Yu Xiaoqi: Let me tell you a real-life case. The showerhead I used at home had a period of time when I stared at the needle and saw what was on the nozzle. It was already white and had grown salt. Later, I turned on my soft water and after a while, the salt was washed away. So in reality, our soft water, purified water, or various things must learn to identify these pain points and provide consumers with a certain level of popularization and timing, reflected in evaluation data.
Because the shutdown temperature rise of the water heater can be reflected in extreme situations, but it is difficult to perceive it from the naked eye or body feeling. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly expand it through various means. The water purification industry is very broad.
Host: At this point, the host wants to share with everyone a real example of what happened. One day, while taking a shower, I suddenly felt that the water temperature couldn't rise and it was getting colder and colder. I asked my mother why it was getting cold, and she said to open the shower and clean it, maybe it was blocked. I saw that it was not blocked, so I need to soak it in vinegar before rinsing. Is the scale so strong? Will it affect the water temperature? My mother has some life tricks for technology and lifestyle products. Although scale cannot be seen with the naked eye, it can really affect her daily life.
Question 4: Please use 3-5 keywords to predict the future trend of household water use.
Li Jiahong: "Health" should be an eternal theme, and the trend of health should always be a trend. From the beginning of pure water to now, RO has always emphasized health. As user demand awareness increases, we need to cover their needs with different comprehensive solutions.
In addition, there is another aspect of whole house water supply, which is "customized equipment". Currently, the home environment in China is very complex, especially in the renovation of old houses or small units, where the space is very small. How to put so many devices, as mentioned earlier, it is not possible to put all the water equipment in, so how to provide integrated solutions and different unit types of solutions is the trend of customization.
The third one should be "intelligence", where multiple products appear simultaneously in the same home. How to manage and link these products requires a powerful intelligent platform, so this is a necessary factor.
Host: Health, Customization, Customization.
Next, let's invite Mr. Kaidu Li to share.
Li Hui: I use four words.
The first one is also related to intelligence, but the interpretation is a bit different. It is interactive intelligence, which is controlled through intelligent operations such as voice and gesture control. The second is the customization of data related to data, AI, and personal needs.
The second is "integrated system management", which has three small points: first, water purification, second, hot water, and third, drainage. After using water, it needs to be discharged. The water purifier also has wastewater, which needs to be managed by an integrated system to be more convenient, comfortable, and have a lower failure rate.
The third is to consider "low-carbon environmental protection and energy conservation". We need more low-carbon environmental protection and energy conservation technologies and materials in order to have social welfare effects on the environment and energy consumption.
The fourth is "personalized customization", where everyone has different preferences and tastes. Tea is made with slightly acidic water, and the water used for infants, young children, and the elderly is also different. Previously, I listened to a report from Peking University and found that each country has different standards for mineral elements. This is also what I am exploring from the perspective of users and lifestyle professionals. We provide more solutions to what kind of products they truly need.
Host: Thank you, Mr. Li, for sharing. Next, let's invite Mr. Xu from Huadi to share.
Xu Lili: Just now, both of you have already covered what I said, which is about health, intelligence, and home integration, that is, customization.
Another point to add is safety, which is the most fundamental, but it must be a constant bottom level thing, because the safety of the water you drink at the entrance is the first factor that everyone considers. Even for bathing water, because it involves water, fire, gas, and electricity, safety is also the bottom level thing that cannot be lacking in the future.
Host: Thank you. Next, let's invite Mr. Zhu to share.
Zhu Xiaodong: The keywords are similar to what was mentioned earlier, providing users with more space in terms of "cost" and giving them more choices. If the cost continues to be high, the coverage of the user base will still be a small part of the sharp end, and it would be better to cover more intermediate groups.
Host: Mr. Zhu, in terms of cost, hopes to provide users and consumers with more choices.
Next, please ask Mr. Yu Xiaoqi to share.
Yu Xiaoqi: If there is anything else to say, the water purification industry needs everyone to work together and make efforts to identify more pain points in order to unleash their power. Because many of us hardly know what clean water is, it is a trend in the industry to distinguish its advantages and disadvantages.
Host: The host also agrees with this very much. For example, I only bought an Angel water purifier at home. After listening to today's forum, I realized that there is a water device that can be customized for washing vegetables, washing rice, and drinking tea. There is also a water device that can produce ice water immediately or maintain the temperature, keeping the water temperature between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius. This is very friendly to women, and there is a saying that "drinking more hot water is beneficial to the body.".
The round table forum has come to an end.