Panasonic’s Chinese market is exposed to crisis

Following the closure of the Shandong TV factory due to operational issues, Panasonic washing machines and air purifiers were exposed. In the eyes of industry experts, with the continuous rise of domestic brands, Panasonic's survival environment in the Chinese market is becoming increasingly difficult. However, problems with multi-category products have exposed Panasonic's loopholes in brand and quality management, which may further affect Matsushita’s home appliance business. Domestic development.

Panasonic products

Crisis

A few days ago, CCTV exposed the phenomenon of air purifiers on the market and the formaldehyde removal rate. The removal rate of F-VXG70C formaldehyde in the next air purifier was nominally 99%, and only 56% was actually measured. Among air purifier products, only Panasonic did not mark the applicable area.

Not long ago, the China Consumers Association conducted a comparative test on some branded pulsator and drum type washing machines sold in the market from September 2014 to February 2015 by the Consumers Association of Shandong Province and the Consumers Association of Jinan City, China Consumer Association. This time with ★ how much to express the effect of washing, 4 ★ ★ above have a good cleaning effect. Of the 4 products that Panasonic was spotted, 3 products were rated as 3 tablets in the cleaning effect item, which did not achieve a good cleaning effect. The specific products include fully automatic washing machines XQB75-Q760U, XQB75-H771U and Fully automatic drum washing machine XQG60-M6021. According to the relevant person in charge of the Consumers Association, the washing machine consumes electricity and uses water in a manner that is consistent with the express value of its energy efficiency label. However, in terms of washing, there are problems with washing machine samples. The rinsing rate is the ability of the washing machine to remove the detergent in the washing liquid, which determines the residual degree of the detergent on the laundry, and is an important item of the performance of the washing machine. Consumers Association said that washing machine washing ability is the most easily overlooked place for consumers, rinse effect and detergent dosage, rinse times, rinse water volume and dehydration speed and many other factors.

washing machine

Exposure is not an example

As for the problem of unclean washing machines, the Panasonic China Public Relations Department recently responded that Panasonic washing machines were strictly produced in accordance with national standards. All products conformed to the national standard and were qualified and up-to-standard products. The comparative experiments were based on single samples and were based on qualified products. The fluctuation of individual test indicators within the qualified range is normal. At the same time, it should be noted that because factors affecting the cleansing rate include ambient temperature, pollution cloth, and water temperature, it is more complicated.

According to a survey conducted by the Beijing Commercial Daily reporter, in recent years, due to product quality problems, Panasonic washing machines have not been exposed by related departments. For example, at the beginning of 2013, the Shanghai Quality Supervision Department released test results showing that the Panasonic brand XQB65-H671U fully automatic washing machine of Hangzhou Panasonic Home Appliances Co., Ltd. was unqualified in terms of its cleaning performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency rating. It was a serious quality issue and was Retest still failed.

In addition, there are also some other washing machine brand managers said that in October last year, the country formulated a new washing machine national energy efficiency standards, which greatly increased the energy-saving product requirements, "in order to achieve the national level 1,2 energy efficiency standards, companies in the product Water saving and energy saving are often the best, but saving too much water and electricity can lead to insufficient washing and rinsing of clothes, which affects the effectiveness of washing.”

Liang Zhenpeng, an appliance analyst, said that checking the product's cleaning effect is not good. All of them are based on certain criteria. Enterprises should strictly abide by the national standards, and must not be left to the end.

Appliance business

Fear of being gradually stripped

At present, Panasonic is undergoing a transformation, from the face of individual consumers to customers in the commercial sector, and the home appliance business as a personal electronic consumer is being diluted. Earlier, Japan’s Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd.’s president, Tsuga Ichida, publicly stated that Panasonic has changed the image of former pure electronics manufacturing companies and formed five business areas: home appliances, housing, automobiles, B2B solutions, and components. One of its five pillar industries.

Not long ago, Panasonic shut down its TV plant in Shandong. The reason is that Panasonic’s color TV business has been losing money this year. As of fiscal year 2013, in fiscal year 2013, Panasonic’s television business has suffered losses for six consecutive years. In addition to the closure of the Chinese TV production plant, it is also reported that Panasonic is still planning to sell the Mexican production plant.

Liang Zhenpeng pointed out that many of Matsushita’s home appliance industries are weakening or divesting and quitting, which has led Panasonic’s R&D investment in the home appliance industry to be very limited. In this case, Panasonic has insufficient investment in quality management, sales channels, and after-sales services, and its overall competitiveness is becoming increasingly low.

Hong Shibin, executive chairman of the China Home Appliances Commercial Association Marketing Committee, also believes that Panasonic’s next focus will be on automotive batteries, automotive entertainment systems, and automotive safety equipment. The appliance business will not be the focus of its future development.