Intelligent tech leads the development of China’s bathroom marketJune 2022

BSRIA Worldwide Market Intelligence has been tracking the development of the China’s bathroom market for more than 10 years. In 2021, China's economy recovered from the pandemic and grew by 8.1% from the previous year. The added value of industries increased by 9.6% over the previous year, of which the manufacturing sector grew by 9.8%.

With the implementation of a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption, the consumer market has steadily recovered, and the bathroom industry has also recovered. In 2021, the sales value of China's bathroom market reached 130 billion yuan (incl.tap & mixers, sanitary wares, shower enclosure, bathtub, and bathroom cabinet), with a year-on-year growth of more than 5%. However, it should be noted that market growth was largely driven by the rise in product prices. Therefore, from the perspective of sales volume, the bathroom market has not achieved rapid growth, and the situation is still severe.  

From the point of view of product type, ceramic sanitary ware accounts for a relatively high proportion and it is still rising as user consumption increases. Tap & mixers, bathroom cabinets and shower enclosure’s market sizes are relatively close and maintain stable development. Bathtubs have the smallest market share and are gradually being replaced by shower enclosures.  

Among all subdivided product categories, the fastest developing category is the intelligent WC (under the category of sanitary wares). Intelligent WC originated in Japan and has the functions of electronic heating, cleaning, and disinfection. After entering the Chinese market, they quickly gained the recognition of high-end users in first-tier cities. At present, China's intelligent WC market is still in the early stage of development. With the development of the national economy and the improvement of people’s living standards, the intelligent WC market is expected to keep growing rapidly in the next few years.  

From the brand point of view, although international brands still firmly occupy the high-end market, with the continuous improvement of product quality and the rapid growth of national cultural confidence, more and more young people are beginning to choose domestic brands.  In addition, the real estate industry started to face the problem of a shortage of funds from 2021, and developers are more inclined to choose domestic brands with lower prices for projects, thus domestic brands basically have a broader space for development.  

In general, intelligent WC is the most attractive product category for manufacturers and users in the future. On one hand, the rapid development of intelligent WC brings more market opportunities to enterprises. On the other hand, the development of intelligent bathrooms is also in line with people's pursuit of higher life quality.  

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