People's Daily Online, Beijing, October 15th - Recently, the Smart Sanitary Appliance Professional Committee of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association released the "2017 China Smart Toilet Consumer Survey Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") at a press conference themed "New Bathroom Concepts, New Healthy Trends". It is reported that this is the first survey report on smart toilets in China.
In the past two years, the domestic smart toilet market has seen significant growth. According to the Report, in 2016, the domestic smart toilet market reached a scale of 3.1 million units, a year-on-year increase of 59%. Despite the substantial growth in sales, the market penetration rate remains very low. Jiang Feng, Chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, pointed out that the current domestic smart toilet market penetration rate is still very low, and there is still a considerable gap from the level of ownership required for products to grow spontaneously through word-of-mouth.
The Report shows that the domestic smart toilet market ownership is approximately 5-6 million units, with a market penetration rate of about 1%. Even in large and medium-sized cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, the highest penetration rate is only around 10%.
Currently, there are "three major obstacles" hindering the further popularization of smart toilets: low consumer awareness of smart toilets, misconceptions about the product, and difficulty in changing traditional toilet usage habits.
Firstly, low awareness is an important reason hindering the industry's development. Judging from the current market penetration rate, only a minority of households use smart toilets, and the proportion of users who have used the product is also very low. The Report shows that 50.8% of respondents had never heard of smart toilets before, 74.1% of respondents said they did not understand the benefits of smart toilets, and 83.7% of respondents had never used a smart toilet.
Misconceptions about the product are also an unavoidable "stumbling block" for the smart toilet industry. The Report points out that many consumers have misunderstandings about smart toilets, mainly including: concerns about safety issues due to the involvement of water and electricity; worries about hygiene of washing, fearing that nozzles may breed bacteria; concerns about water quality affecting health; and the belief that the price is relatively high.
However, in stark contrast to low awareness and misconceptions, users who have used the product rate it highly and show strong approval, reflecting the result that "those who have used it all say it's good". The survey of existing smart toilet users in the Report found that 93.4% of respondents said that the smart toilet they purchased met their expected effects, and nearly 30% of respondents believed that the smart toilet's performance exceeded their expectations.
The Report points out that the smart toilet industry is still in its early stages of development, and both consumer concepts and market patterns are not yet mature. It requires joint efforts from enterprises to rapidly promote the industry's development.
