Who Is The Mainstream Of Future Family Life: Dryers Vs. Washing And Drying All-in-one Machines

Under the trend of consumer upgrading, the domestic home appliance market is moving towards high-end development, with post-90s and Generation Z becoming the main consumers. Home appliances that can improve the quality of life are being chosen by more and more consumers. From the perspective of consumer demand, consumers have higher requirements for clothing washing and care, and are more willing to pay for comfort and health. Traditional clothing drying has many limitations such as weather and space, and dryers can effectively solve these pain points.
According to the "Household Comfort Survey" initiated by China Home Appliance Network, clothes dryers have become the top 5 household appliance products in people's minds that greatly improve household comfort. During this year's 618 shopping festival, data from Aowei Cloud Network showed that the sales and revenue of dryers in the offline market increased by 8.84% and 16.43% respectively year-on-year, making it one of the must-have three piece sets for young people to improve their quality of life.
As the saying goes, "there is a specialization in the craft industry.". Against the backdrop of the overall decline in washing machines, dryers have become the hope of the entire village. In 2022, the online retail sales reached 2.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.52%, while the offline retail sales reached 2.277 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.07%; The online retail sales of washing and drying sets reached 447700 units, a year-on-year increase of 14.61%. Due to its superior drying performance compared to washing and drying machines, and its intelligent control, healthy cleaning, and classified drying functions that can better care for clothes, independent clothes dryers are more popular and favored by the market when consumer budgets and home space are met.
Some brands have gained precise insights into consumer needs and launched dryers equipped with functions such as healthy sterilization and caring for high-end clothing fabrics. For example, Siemens Home Appliances has launched a cloud sensing heat pump dryer that uses German AirCare air care technology, starting from three aspects: space, temperature, and flowing air, to ensure that clothes are heated in all directions and dried evenly.
In addition, young consumers have become the mainstream, with over 83% of consumers believing that balconies can improve the utilization of living space and increase the diversity of living functions. From the initial "washing" to "washing and drying", and upgrading to the current "washing, drying and protection", the demand for dry clothes by Chinese consumers has broken through the traditional habit of "drying clothes on the balcony" in the past. Purchasing a dryer can free up more balcony space and bring more possibilities to the balcony scene.
Although dryers have a fast growth rate, their popularity is still very low due to space and cost constraints. So, a relatively compromise product emerged, which is the washing and drying integrated machine. In theory, the integrated washing and drying machine supports both washing and drying clothes. One machine can do what two machines do, solving the pain points of users with an integrated approach.
However, even with such a product that can kill two birds with one stone, its sales in recent years have not been satisfactory. According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, the proportion of online retail sales in 2022 decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, while the proportion of sales increased by 0.6% year-on-year; The proportion of offline retail sales decreased by 3% year-on-year, while the proportion of retail sales decreased by 1.4% year-on-year. Most washing and drying machines on the market are difficult to satisfy people for the following reasons: small drying capacity makes it difficult to meet the drying needs of a family; The drying efficiency is low, and most integrated drying machines use condensing drying technology without an independent exhaust system; The drying effect is poor, and the clothes dried often have wrinkles.
At present, the integrated washing and drying machine still has its own development space, combining washing and drying functions, which can effectively solve the contradiction between limited family space and upgraded washing and care needs in China. It will still become the preferred product category for many consumers to upgrade their washing machines. The industry is also striving to achieve a similar user experience to independent clothes dryers through technological upgrades. In response to the drawbacks of condensation technology, some companies in the industry have launched heat pump integrated washing and drying machines, such as Gree, Haier, etc; Stone Technology has taken a different approach by abandoning the two drying technology routes of condensation and heat pump, and has launched a washing and drying integrated machine equipped with the "third drying technology" - molecular sieve low-temperature drying technology, bringing users a new washing and drying experience with low-temperature intelligent drying.
In short, after laundry, dry clothes have become a new demand in the context of many households upgrading their consumption. In the future, experiencing better independent dryers is expected to become the mainstream of consumption. Although the washing and drying integrated machine has its shortcomings, it is still a choice for families with limited budgets and space.