GfK Report | 2023 Washing Machine Market Summary&2024 Trend Outlook

In 2023, the development momentum of the Chinese washing machine market is good, and the scale is steadily increasing. It is expected to continue to improve in 2024, with drum washing, large capacity, and ultra-thin body becoming market hotspots.
GfK has launched the "2023 Washing Machine Market Summary&2024 Trend Outlook" report, focusing on the channel development changes and main driving category performance of the washing machine market, and making predictions for this year's market and product development trends, providing reference for enterprises to grasp market trends and plan layout reasonably.

Summary of the Washing Machine Market in 2023 and Trend Outlook for 2024
01
Industry Overview for 2023 and Forecast for 2024
In 2023, the main categories of white electricity in China's market performed steadily. According to the overall data of GfK Zhongyikang, the washing machine market in 2023 had an overall scale of about 41.63 million units and 83.2 billion yuan, with retail sales and sales achieving year-on-year growth of 3.7% and 6.1%, respectively; Both dual line markets have achieved both volume and volume growth, with the online market contributing 27.74 million units and 41.8 billion yuan in sales performance, outperforming the offline market; It is expected that in 2024, the washing machine market will maintain a slight increase in volume and scale, with an overall retail volume and sales volume of around 42.13 million units and 85.8 billion yuan, respectively, increasing by 1.2% and 3.2% year-on-year. Online performance will continue to be better than offline.
Looking at different channels, GfK's retail monitoring data shows that washing machines have grown the fastest in social e-commerce channels, with a year-on-year growth rate of 116% in retail sales; From a market perspective, the retail sales of washing machines in the T3 and T4 markets increased by 9.9% and 12.0% year-on-year, respectively, outperforming the T1 market (-8.1%) and T2 market (-0.1%).
Driven by the home economy, dryers experienced explosive growth in 2020 and 2021, with retail sales and sales exceeding 100% year-on-year. Although the growth rate slowed down, the year-on-year increase in sales remained around 30%. In 2023, the retail sales and sales reached 2.3 million units and 13 billion yuan respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 30.3% and 26.6%. It is expected that this trend will continue in 2024, with a slight increase in year-on-year growth rate.
02
Development trend of washing machine market
In terms of categories, in the washing machine market in 2023, drum washing alone performed exceptionally well, with retail sales in the dual line market increasing by more than 10% year-on-year, and retail sales accounting for over 40%, becoming the core growth engine of the washing machine market. The market size of washing and drying sets has also maintained a high growth trend, with retail sales and volume increasing by 31% and 35% year-on-year, respectively.
From a price perspective, the development of online markets in the price range of 5K and above has been hindered, while the proportion of retail sales has shrunk, the year-on-year decline has also reached double-digit numbers; The price range pattern in the offline market has remained stable, with only a slight decrease in retail sales in the price range below 2K. The proportion of other price ranges and their year-on-year changes compared to last year are not significant; The price range of 3-4 K (including 3K) in the online market and 2-4K (including 2K) in the offline market have the fastest year-on-year growth rate.
In terms of capacity, the overall trend of upgrading capacity in the dual line market remains unchanged. The sales proportion of 10-11KG (including 10KG) in the dual line market has remained stable at over 70% for two consecutive years (2022, 2023), and the proportion of each capacity segment above 10KG in the dual line market has shown a continuous expansion trend in 2023. In terms of year-on-year growth rate, sales in the capacity range of 11-12KG (including 11KG and 12KG) have the fastest growth in both dual line markets.
It is worth noting that in the 10KG market, ultra-thin products (body thickness ≤ 530mm) exert significant force. Taking the online market in 2023 as an example, the sales volume of 10KG ultra-thin products reached 4.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13%. The number of 10KG ultra-thin models on the market also increased from 219 in 2022 to 259 in 2023. From the distribution of price ranges, ultra-thin 10KG products account for more than 50% of the online total in various price ranges above 3K, showing significantly better performance than products in the same capacity range but with thicker body, indicating that ultra-thin products have stronger premium capabilities.
Similar to the trend of washing machines, the capacity of dryers is also accelerating its upward migration. In 2023, the combined proportion of products with capacities above 10KG (including 10KG) exceeded 80% in the dual line market.
In terms of product development trends, the current market hotspot is that the scale of the washing and drying integrated machine market will rapidly develop, and online market brands will become more diversified; Secondly, under the stimulation of constantly upgrading demand, mini washing machines are rolling towards professional cleaning and care; The third is the emergence of integrated products for washing machines and sweeping machines in the market, which precisely fits the consumption trend of young consumers who are more inclined towards integrated, integrated, and multifunctional products. This form of innovation is worthy of special attention from brand merchants.