Domestic home appliance market from January to June down –4.6% year-on-year
Online market maintains its size, driven by social commerce channels
According to global market information company GfK, the home appliance market growth rate for the first half of 2022 was analyzed at -4.6% (compared to the first half of 2021), indicating a decline in sales volume. This figure is based on the sales value of 33 representative domestic home appliance products and includes major offline and online channels.
The slowdown in the home appliance market growth rate that began in the fourth quarter of 2021 continued, and the first half of 2022 turned to negative growth. This is interpreted as the result of a base effect stemming from 2021, when home appliance sales were high, combined with rising interest rates and rising consumer prices that gained momentum in 2022. As consumer sentiment contracted, consumers began cutting back on spending on non-essential products first.
The decline in home appliance market sales appeared mostly in offline channels. Among offline channels, only department stores, which focused on premiumization, maintained their sales volume with a growth rate of 1.2% (based on value in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021), while hypermarkets and specialty home appliance stores posted growth rates of -8.6% and -11.7% respectively, leading the overall decline in the home appliance market.
The online channel, which had shown double-digit growth until early 2022, was also found to have seen its growth rate decline significantly. The growth rate of the online channel in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021 was 1.5%. Social commerce, which has shown steady growth, also posted a somewhat slower growth rate of 7.7% compared to the past, while open markets and TV home shopping recorded negative growth.
Even amid the overall market decline, the online channel maintained its sales volume, and its sales share, which was 45.1% in the first half of 2021, was confirmed to have increased by 2.9 percentage points to 47.9% in the first half of 2022.
By product category, all categories except Imaging/Cameras and IT appliances posted negative growth. Large home appliances declined relatively sharply at -8.7% and household appliances at -7.2%, while kitchen appliances and audio appliances posted growth rates of -3.6% and -2.7% respectively.
Imaging/Cameras and IT appliances, which still maintain positive growth, were analyzed to be supported mainly by increased sales of high-priced products. This was driven by the market's premiumization trend amid overall weakened demand and inflation, as well as rising consumer demand for high-specification products.
The second half of 2022 includes positive events for the market such as the World Cup, but the overall outlook for the home appliance market is not very positive. In particular, with inflation driven by rising energy and grain prices, as well as an expected continuation of high interest rate policy, the decline in spending on non-essential products is expected to gain further momentum. In addition, as the situation shifts to endemic, household spending structures may move toward other activities such as travel, so spending on home appliances is expected to decline further. As a result, more home appliances are expected to post negative growth compared to 2021, when the market size enjoyed a major boom.
▲ Growth rate by channel in the domestic home appliance market in the first half of 2022
