After taking advantage of the health crisis, the household appliance market is slowing down

If there is one sector that has not suffered from the health crisis, it is that of household appliances. On the contrary, confined three times to their homes, the French have sought as much to equip themselves to be more comfortable there than to occupy their time. Some have taken up the kitchen, for example, when they have not decided to move to gain space or a living environment, again with a lot of equipment to buy. The market had thus recorded record performances in 2020 and 2021. We could therefore expect sales to decline in 2022 and return to normal.

The figures collected by Gfk on behalf of Gifam (interprofessional group of manufacturers of household appliances) however say the opposite. Sales of household appliances generated 9.7 billion euros last year with a total of 67.5 million devices sold, barely less than in 2021 and still much more than in 2019. But if the market has been almost stable from one year to the next, the trends have changed a lot.

Fewer GEMs sold, but average price up

With 6.05 billion in revenue, large household appliances (GEM) generated almost as much in 2022 as in 2021, despite declining volume. It sold 1 million fewer major pieces of equipment, or 15.6 million. The average purchase basket of the GEM has therefore increased, going from 362 to 387 €. But if the French showed themselves ready to invest more to equip themselves, it was not really by choice: the increase in this average price would be largely due to inflation, even if innovation constituted a another important factor.

Of the three categories of GEM, cold is the only one to have progressed over a year. The segment recorded a 2.6% increase in sales, driven by sales of refrigerators, in particular combined and multi-door. Freezers continue to decline and are joined by wine cellars, which had nevertheless benefited from a great enthusiasm in 2021. Cooking and washing both appear anemic, since they lost 1.4 and 1.7% of their values ​​respectively. However, they remain above the cold in value and can still count on a few strong categories, in addition to a persistent interest in built-in (+1.9%). Hobs with an integrated hood are also perfectly in line with this trend, increasing by 60%.

On the washing side, there is an increase in dishwashers, but also in large capacity washing machines (10 kg and more). Wash more to wash less often, the French seem to want to spend less time on household chores. And if a mobile app can also make it easier to use these devices, they are willing to pay 40% more on average — the smart wash represents 20 to 30% of the segment’s turnover.

The PEM saved by the disenchantment with household chores and the heat wave

To free up more time and enjoy the outdoors that they missed so much during confinement, the French did not hesitate to invest in small household appliances (PEM). If sales fell from 57.3 million in 2021 to 51.9 million for an overall turnover of 3.7 billion euros (-4.8%), robot vacuum cleaners are still on the rise. (+8.4% in turnover). Stick vacuum cleaners (-11.4%) are in competition with 2-in-1 brooms for water and dust (+2.5%), again promising time savings on a daily basis .

This is probably also what explains the growing interest in clothes steamers (+4.6% in turnover). Less practical and quick to use, irons like steam generators are increasingly shunned and lose 3.3 and 6.9 points respectively. But if they wanted to spend less time maintaining the floors and the laundry, the French still like to take care of themselves and have not hesitated to invest in hair dryers and styling appliances. They also paid attention to their line, without spending time in the kitchen. Pastry robots, multifunction cookers and even multicookers were popular during the lockdowns, but only oil-free fryers managed to hold their own in 2022.

Of all the PEM categories, we have yet to name the one that has progressed the most: ventilators. They obviously took advantage of the heat wave and saw their turnover increase by 82.1%, an increase of 51 million euros. Mobile heaters and air purifiers were also more popular than in 2021, with +24.7% and +9.5% respectively.

Still no significant drop expected in 2023

Finally, the household appliance market was able to count on new growth drivers to offset the end of the health crisis. Gifam is rather optimistic for 2023 and does not foresee a big loss of speed, even a small increase of 1% for large household appliances thanks to cold and washing. The year could be a little more complicated for small household appliances. Even with hot weather, it may be difficult to match the sales of fans that carried the segment in 2022, when a good part of homes are now equipped. That said, house maintenance would limit the decline to -2%.