“We never thought we'd comment on such positive results for our sector in such a dramatic emergency – he began Manuela Soffientini, president of APPLIA Italia, the Confindustria association that brings together household appliances and professional equipment companies – in the past year”.
The president of Applia succinctly commented on a year that should be defined as "hysterical" due to the trend followed by undulatory and trembling earthquakes never seen before. There growth of almost 50 percent of freezers in just one month it caused the tsunami of all the other household appliances which then in the second half canceled the collapse of the first two months of the year with double-digit increases when the sudden arrival of the lock down had closed us in the house.
Overall, consumer technology has seen an increase in value of 5,5 percent for a total of 15,5 billion euros (24 percent online, growing exponentially). Sales of IT/Office grew by 32,5%, followed by small household appliances by 15,5%, large household appliances by 3,4%, while telephony purchases fell (-5,2%). of air conditioning (-16,2) and photography (-36,9). Within each category there are very different trends because for example the non-arrival of the displays ei crazy increases imposed by the Chinese on sea freight they blocked the arrivals of many TV containers from Asia both in the USA and in Europe. And if it is true that 90 percent of small appliances come from Asian factories, it is also true that – as Manuela Soffientini wittily but also diplomatically commented – there has been extensive use of air transport for these less bulky appliances.
Yes, because, periodically locked up at home, we've all practiced making bread, pasta, soufflés, french fries, and cholesterol-breaking milkshakes, not without having renewed the entire range of food processors and of cooking appliances with a shopping campaign that rewarded powerful kneading robots, super-automatic coffee makers, bread makers, expensive chef's steam ovens, mega fridges and induction hobs with built-in extractor hoods.
The only devices with a negative sign: hoods because built-in appliances that are sold together with furniture were penalized and furniture stores remained closed for a long time. The other strongly penalized behavior was that of professional kitchens, a pride of Made in Italy, closely linked to the disastrous lockdown of restaurants and bars.
La cleaning it was the other category that saw big leaps forward with +40 percent for steam washers, +29 percent for super-efficient A+++ dishwashers. And about it the new European energy labels arrive from 1 March that by removing all the +++, the percentages, the -30 or -40, which were creating great difficulties for the final consumer, will be very simple because it goes back to the old label house of 20 years ago: from A to G, without any addition where A is the maximum efficiency and quality and G the lowest level.
Fairs are another very hot topic: Applia will not participate in the next one Salone del Mobile in Milan of September which, among other things, takes place in the same month in which it takes place as the IFA, the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin which brings together the entire domestic technology sector. “Companies can participate individually if they want – commented Manuela Soffientini – but we have invited the organizers of the Salone del Mobile to reconsider the dates. In fact, there is great uncertainty about how the pandemic will evolve, about transport difficulties and the presence of foreign customers".
Household appliance manufacturers, on the other hand, believe that it will be possible to participate in the edition of Eurocucina 2022, which should take place in April. But for now the subject-fairs is very very uncertain. Equally uncertain is another hi-tech event of extraordinary importance: it arrives in September the new TV standard is DVBT2 which makes devices built before 2017 incompatible with the reception of TV signals. And which, either are replaced by new ones or implemented by a decoder, all operations supported by the bonuses made available by the government but which are already insufficient. “In fact, we expect – Davide Rossi answered one of our questions – director general of Aires, which brings together chains and distribution groups – that in Italy there are about 25 million TVs to be replaced”. A gigantic business that the uncertainty on transport, on lockdowns, on the availability of displays and components, risks blocking.
As we had already anticipated on Firstonline in recent months, the cursed virus has done the market and the household appliance industry good , large and small, with an increase - according to GFK data - of 19 percent for small appliances in the kitchen, cleaning and air treatment, and also for large appliances, with a +1 percent.
