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Qingdao, this name means nothing to you ? At first glance less famous than its neighbor Shanghai, the coastal city of Qingdao is nevertheless known worldwide. Indeed, it is here that the German colonial empire founded a trading post at the beginning of the last century. Although this passage was brief, from 1897 to 1924, they had the brilliant idea of building a gigantic beer factory there. Still nothing ?
This beverage gradually arrived in our countries with a romanized spelling according to the codes of the time under the name of Tsingtao. The famous beer. Here for the moment culture.
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However, if Qingdao has experienced exponential growth for nearly 30 years, it is not simply thanks to hops. Or to its gigantic container port due to its strategic position on the edge of the Yellow Sea. No, the city has seen the emergence of two other stars: Hisense and Haier. Two current global giants in tech and household appliances.
A leader for 18 years (!) in the television market in China, Hisense has long been a prophet in its own country. For a decade, the firm has also been trying to become one in others, such as France.
Hisense, conquering the TV market in France
Founded in 1969, the Hisense group only opened up to the world in the early 2000s. First regionally, in Southeast Asia, then on the North American continent. It was in 2014 that the brand set up shop in Europe, particularly in France. Although present in 130 countries, the Chinese firm has also made our Old Continent one of its future markets along with the United States. As proof of this appetite, Hisense's objective is to cross the 5 billion euro turnover mark next year in Europe, while it stands at 3.8 billion this year.
Before getting into the heart of our analysis, here are some figures. Even if, as in football, statistics do not always mean everything, they become useful when put into perspective.
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Over the period 2023-2024, the Hisense group is the 2nd largest seller of televisions with 26 million units shipped worldwide. Just ahead is the unshakeable Samsung with a total of 36.3 million televisions sold. Yes, but! Over the year 2023, the South Korean is down 9.8% in volume, while Hisense records an increase of 12.4%.
In Europe, the brand is 3rd, behind LG and Samsung. In France, Hisense is at the foot of the podium and closely follows LG, while TCL and Samsung complete it. For a brand that arrived in France in 2014, this is a great feat that we will try to decipher in three demonstrations.
The first is rather simple to understand. The Hisense group is growing in a more than gloomy sector.Except in 2020 during the lockdown, sales volumes have been falling for over 10 years. In 2023, 3.6 million televisions were sold in France, compared to 9 million in 2019.
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The second is slightly more sophisticated. Hisense has managed to conquer around 10% of the market share since its arrival in France, where Samsung has been at a ceiling since this period around 30% according to our research. The dynamic is therefore not the same, and above all the progression of the Chinese giant is more impressive than we think.
Indeed, the TV universe in France has a particularity. To use marketing jargon, it is currently an hourglass sector. In other words, at the heart of this market, sales are gradually crumbling. All this, for the benefit of products with either the most aggressive or the most premium prices.
Said like this, another piece of information, relatively unknown, becomes essential. In France, sales made by distributor brands (Essentiel B, Proline, etc.) account for around 20% of the market share. A figure that has been stable for several years. Contrary to popular belief, it is therefore not only by slashing prices on the entry-level range that the Qingdao firm has managed to make a place for itself in the sun.
For Hisense, the future of TV will not be without Laser TV. These are short-throw laser video projectors that broadcast content on an ALR (Ambient Light-Rejecting) screen. ). @Presse-citron
Based on this observation, our last demonstration is mechanical. The brand has managed to grab market share from all its direct Japanese and South Korean competitors, particularly on the most premium products. As proof, the bigger the televisions at Hisense, the more the manufacturer sells. For example, the firm is number 1 in the world for 100-inch products.
Hisense, a clever strategy of local establishments
If currently more than a third of the global turnover (26.1 billion euros) is generated outside China, it is not only thanks to television exports. A giant in household appliances, the brand is also the 2nd largest seller of refrigerators in the world.
To break through so quickly internationally, the group relied on a well-established strategy. To better control its production costs, the firm has gradually woven its web around the world. Nearly 33 complexes (factories and R&D centers) are installed in its most promising markets.
© Hisense
For example, in 2018, the firm bought Gorenje, a Slovenian group specializing in household appliances that was struggling. Unknown in France, but Extremely well established in Eastern Europe, Russia and Germany, Gorenje had the particularity of owning a portfolio of eight companies. For example, Asko, present in Scandinavia, or Atag, well known in the Netherlands and Belgium. .
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Above all, the Slovenian group was a choice catch to consolidate Hisense's European ambitions.With this acquisition, the Chinese firm also acquired 3 production sites located in Slovenia, Serbia and the Czech Republic, as well as 10,000 employees. On site, nearly 4 million televisions per year are produced, in addition to household appliances. Damien Neymarc, Marketing Director at Hisense France, explains:
In another part of the complex, engineers have created an automated test protocol to evaluate the panels. Peak brightness, colorimetry, contrast ratio, HDR signals… For two hours, each television tested faces a test pattern generator that sends it a host of signals. In all, a good hundred products, still under development, pass this test of fire.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000To end this tour of the owner, Sonny Ming, general manager of Hisense International for Laser TV and audio, proudly invites us to another showroom. On site, all the brand's new products in terms of Laser TV and video projectors. Two verticals on which Hisense has great ambitions. All smiles, the man shows us on a table the evolution of the projection components of Laser TVs.
2017, 2021, 2022, then 2023… the miniaturization is simply impressive in this time frame. It must be said that the group does not hesitate to invest in R&D. In 2023 alone, the company devoted 5% of its global turnover, or 1.3 billion euros, to it.
Sports marketing and reliability, the secret to better notoriety
“We have been bad at marketing for a long time.” During an interview session with the press, Jerry Liu, vice president of Hisense International, does not beat around the bush. The man knows that to consolidate a brand image, it requires patience. And for that, we must not spread ourselves too thin.
When we suggest the return of the brand to the world of smartphones, our interlocutor is realistic. “The market is far too complex with already far too many brands, some of which are well established.” Before continuing:
We want to be part of the future and become the most reliable brand in the world. To do this, we take into account the needs and specialties of each market. In China, nearly 80% of televisions are purchased directly online, compared to 20% in your country. In addition, Europeans are very attached to design and especially to image. In Europe, people buy a brand first, so you have to be visible.
Jerry Liu, Vice President of Hisense International © Hisense
Based on this observation, the company has initiated a sports marketing strategy around football.Euro 2016, 2020 and 2024, but also partnerships with clubs such as Real Madrid, PSG and Leeds United. According to Hisense, football is also ” the only sport truly capable of generating additional sales”.
For the Chinese group, they were around 8 to 10% during each sponsored competition. However, Hisense is still considering extending this strategy to other disciplines. For example, tennis or golf, but this time, the goal is different. Aiming for a more premium aura on certain verticals of its products.
© Hisense
While sports marketing is nothing new in itself, it doesn't necessarily work every time.Indeed, before becoming known to the general public, it is necessary to be visible in stores, as Damien Neymarc, marketing director at Hisense France, points out:
Unlike other Asian brands, we didn't want to rush things. During our first years in France, we hardly invested in communication. We wanted to focus on retail first. Our first successes were with our refrigerators. Thanks to our concern for quality, as you could see in our factories, we didn't have any after-sales service returns. Very quickly, resellers became curious and came to get information. So much so that we were able to gradually increase the number of references in store. For televisions, it's in the same vein. In addition to being reliable, our products are less expensive than most competitors, with equal technology. And there's a simple explanation for this. Thanks to its leading position in China, Hisense has equipped itself with such an efficient industrial tool that our production costs are optimized.
Becoming a must-have for the general public, to better sell to businesses ?
When one of our colleagues questions Jerry Liu at the end of the interview on the current global economic recession, the vice-president of Hisense International once again demonstrates a certain pragmatism. “Nowadays, all industries are slowing down, for example the household appliances market has shrunk in size in recent years. Young people are spending less on certain products. They are also looking for the best value for money, but above all, not everyone needs a new television, refrigerator or washing machine every year.”
Far from being an admission of pessimism, this response is ultimately only a mirror of the dynamics affecting the majority of large tech groups. Selling to the general public is the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, according to Damien Neymarc, “in the television sector, margins are very low, a little lower in household appliances, and even then”.
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With shrinking margins and slowing consumption, the growth equation for B2C is complex.A breath of fresh air may possibly come from the most expensive products. This is why Hisense firmly believes in Laser TVs. This is also why it will market in Europe in early 2025 the Canvas, its famous premium television with the appearance of paintings (competitors of Samsung's The Frame models). `
To compete with TCL (THENEXTFRAME) and Samsung (The Frame), Hisense will launch in Europe in 2025 its model “Canvas” – @Lemon squeezer
This will not be entirely sufficient, however. At least not in the very long term in which Hisense wishes to be involved. Hisense has therefore introduced us to another lucrative branch of its activity. We head to a vast showroom presenting all of the brand's B2B activities. Intelligent management of urban traffic, semiconductors for the automotive industry, connected cars, but also industrial molds and cutting-edge medical equipment…
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Like Samsung, which announced in 2022 that it wanted to increase the share of B2B in its activities in Europe to 60%, Hisense is not putting all its eggs in the general public basket. This is what Damien Neymarc half-confesses to us, during this last visit:
Having a reliable and quality image with the general public also helps the development of B2B business. In Europe, the market to be addressed in terms of smart cities or transport is very promising.
The Qingdao seafront at night © Presse-citron
From there to seeing intelligent traffic lights in our cities in a few years made in Qingdao ? We are still a long way from that. And if it does happen, you might be able to place this city on a map of the world.
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