In brief:  

  • Haier, the Chinese domestic appliances powerhouse, is growing at double-digit in Europe after acquiring the Candy Hoover group in 2019. 
  • “What’s unusual about that 20% growth in Europe is the backdrop of much higher costs and falling consumer demand,” says David Meyerowitz, Haier UK's CEO.   
  • Questions linger over whether its smart home appliances will be subject to the same level of scrutiny of other Chinese technologies. 
  • Unfazed, the company is looking at energy efficiency solutions to reduce the energy bills of European customers. 

As households were confined to their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic, sales of domestic appliances shot up. But while lockdowns have since eased and consumers have tightened their belts, the need for white goods companies to stay relevant has not receded.

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Ranked the top global household appliances brand by retail sales, according to market research company Euromonitor International, Chinese home appliances giant Haier has a firm grip on the global market. It currently has its sights set on Europe, where it recorded 20% year-on-year sales growth in 2022, with revenues of Rmb23bn ($3.2bn) — a company record and much higher than what it achieved elsewhere in the world. In its home market, China, sales revenue from its smart home business were only up 4.6% year-on-year from 2021, due to a real estate downturn and weak consumer sentiment, according to its latest annual report.

Europe growth 

“What’s unusual about that 20% growth in Europe is the backdrop of much higher costs and falling consumer demand,” CEO of Haier Europe’s UK division David Meyerowitz tells fDi. “Now consumers are less concerned with beautifying their homes and more concerned about energy bills or the essentials. As the market changes shape and consumers uptrade or downtrade, we have a product for where they need to be.”

The company, which is headquartered in the Chinese port city of Qingdao, acquired the Candy Hoover Group in 2019 for €475m to expand into the European market. It now offers products under the three brands of Haier, Hoover and Candy in Europe. 

More insights from global multinationals:   

Direction of smart homes

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Haier has big ambitions for connectivity and the Internet of Things. At the Appliance and Electronics World Expo this year, the company unveiled a fridge that can read the consumer’s blood sugar levels, give dietary recommendations and signal when a product is about to expire. “This is the direction of smart homes,” Mr Meyerowitz says. 

But in a world of rising concerns over the role played by Chinese companies in critical infrastructure and consumer electronics, should Haier be worried about its future access to markets where Chinese companies are subject to growing levels of scrutiny?  

Dexter Thillien, lead analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in technology and telecoms, says that while technology is becoming a clear battleground for geopolitics, “the smart home market is probably seen as less sensitive than either telecoms infrastructure, or an app popular with hundreds of millions of users”. 

“The tensions would need to increase dramatically for Chinese smart home appliances to be caught in the crosshairs,” he says.

A more immediate problem is the spending habits of consumers in Europe as rising cost of living pressures eat away at monthly budgets.

“Energy efficiency has been a key concern for customers. We’re looking at ways where we can control our products through connectivity, for example, where we can switch the fridge off for an hour without affecting food preservation,” Mr Meyerowitz says.  

Ultimately, through whatever uncertainty the next few years bring, the world’s biggest household appliances company wants to be among the biggest in Europe. According to its own estimates, Haier is currently ranked fourth in Europe by market share.

“We want to be able to double our market share in Europe to 16% over the next five years, which will put us on the podium, in the top three,” says Mr Meyerowitz.