Respond to a new round of price cuts in color TV companies

“Every holiday in the country, the sales of domestic color TV manufacturers are less than foreign manufacturers.” Market researchers say. In August of this year, the price war of LCD panels launched by Samsung and LG has made China's color TV makers passive. In this context, domestic manufacturers were forced to join the first round of price wars before the National Day Golden Week. The reporter found that in this price war, there are more and more noticeable signs of domestic companies playing the main function card, and this is the best weight to compete with foreign manufacturers.

The price war is about to start

It is a Korean company. When a large number of domestic manufacturers were preparing goods for the National Day Golden Week, South Korean companies used the advantage of the upper reaches to launch a price war. In August, the price of LCD panels has become the focus of attention.
According to DisplaySearch's investigation report, the price of LCD panels was still declining in August when inventory pressure persisted. From 17-inch LCD panels to 21.5-inch LCD panels, the overall price is declining. Among them, the price of 21.5-inch products is the largest downward adjustment, as much as 7 US dollars, other specifications of products down from 3 US dollars to 5 US dollars. Xie Qinyi, president of DisplaySearch Greater China, told the “China Electronics News” reporter that the decline in panel prices was to stimulate shipments. Some panel makers and original equipment makers even proposed a strategy of “price brand promotion”.
The reporter learned from a number of color TV manufacturers that the price war will be played during the National Day this year. Especially in the process of transition from traditional CCFL LCD TVs to LED LCD TVs, the start of a price war will be inevitable. Judging from the feedback from Gome and Suning channel stores, the price war in the domestic color TV market has already begun in advance, involving not only traditional CCFL LCD TVs but also LED TVs and 3D TVs.
In addition to inventory pressure, Xie Qinyi said that the current consumer demand is tilting to LED LCD TVs, CCFL LCD panel sales decline rapidly, which is one of the reasons for the decline in panel prices.
Peng Yi, director of research and development of China Yikang, said that the sales volume of CCFL LCD TVs has reached a record high this year, after which LED backlight TVs will gradually replace CCFL backlight TVs. Color TV companies want to make the last money in the industry upgrade, but the increase in inventory caused by the expected high allows companies to take a corner in the upgrade process.

Unpredictable market outlook

The reporter learned from the research company that since the era of flat-panel TVs, during the Golden Week, foreign manufacturers have basically started a price war from the upstream.
This is related to the entire industry chain competition landscape. On the one hand, because domestic color TV companies do not possess panel resources, they will inevitably increase their purchasing scale when the prices of LCD panels are relatively stable, and under the influence of high expectations of some research companies. On the other hand, domestic color TV manufacturers have previously The procurement of enterprises gave the panel business confidence, and with the reduction of the purchase volume of the whole machine, the panel companies also had the pressure of inventory, and when they reduced inventory pressure through price cuts, they also exerted pressure on the entire enterprise.
According to the statistics of the research data of each research company from January to August this year, the reporter found that the research company misled the judgment of domestic color TV companies to a certain extent. Take DisplaySearch's statistics as an example. In May this year, it stressed that the shortage of LCD panels will continue into the fourth quarter of this year. However, the actual situation is that in the third quarter of this year, with the overall upgrade of the color TV industry, traditional CCFL LCD panels have been deployed. In an oversupply situation.
In addition, domestic research companies have great errors in monitoring the entire machine market. Taking Internet TV as an example, Ovid Consulting once predicted that Internet TV will become the mainstream of the market. However, the reporter recently interviewed companies such as TCL and Konka to discover that pure Internet TV is gradually disappearing from the market. In the context of triple play, they are seeking to create a "smart TV" concept.
Huang Xinzhong, general manager of marketing department of Konka Group’s multimedia marketing division, said in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that foreign brands are mainly committed to popularizing hardware-oriented TVs such as LED and 3D, and are more concerned with software-oriented smart TVs. Laggards, and domestic companies represented by Konka, invariably use the software platform as the main promotion point.
"In the future, the competition between color TV sets, IT and other products will focus on the contest of content and the competition of the platform. The creativity of the consumers will be brought into play, real interaction will be realized, and their experience will even be created. This is more in line with China's triple play. The trend of development has broader development prospects. We believe that this is also an opportunity for Chinese companies, said Huang Xinzhong.

Seeking functional application innovation

Although the LCD panel resources, the passive situation of the domestic color TV makers is difficult to reverse, but the reporter learned that at present, they have begun to exert their power in terms of functionality.
The most direct manifestation of triple play is the "three-screen integration" of mobile phones, televisions and computer screens. For the end consumer, this means that the required digital information can be obtained anytime, anywhere, or on any screen, and the content of the acquired information will be more and more abundant.
“Three-network convergence is very significant for the television industry. The triple-play will increase the ability of TV to serve the masses of users. Before the user turned on the TV, it was a passive look. Now people can interact with each other through IPTV. Radio and television network, to achieve on-demand, playback and playback of paid television programs, etc.. In the TV terminal, people see is no longer a simple radio and television channels, but provides a rich and colorful content platform.” Vice President of the Multimedia Industry Division of Tongfang Manager Wang Xiangdong told the "China Electronics News" reporter.
In the absence of upstream resources, the search for functional innovation has become the consensus of domestic companies. The triple play will stimulate the smart TV and its related industrial chain to release greater market potential. “Internet TV officially entered the era of intelligence in 2010.” Chen Yuehua, president of Konka Group, said, “With the acceleration of triple play, the market’s feedback on Internet-enabled smart TVs is quite positive, and competition in the TV market will also become fiercer. In addition, Li Wei, executive deputy general manager of TCL Multimedia China Business Center, also expressed his opinion on the smart TV market.
"Aiming at the blank spots of foreign manufacturers and focusing on functional innovation is a wise move for domestic manufacturers," said Hao Yabin, deputy secretary-general of China Electronics Industry Association.