Competition in the color TV industry is fierce; Internet TV leads to "price war" again

Recently, Xiaomi TV's spring series of new products have been pre-ordered and put on sale. With the continuation of the high cost-effective "playing style", its mural TV, full-screen TV and other new products have more price advantages than similar products on the market. In fact, the industry still believes that the color TV market in 2019 is not optimistic. From Letv's "tentative" return at a low price to the substantial price reduction of PPTV's full line of smart TV products, the Internet TV camp is triggering a new round of industry "price war".

Image provided by CNSPHOTO

　　Since April, the Internet TV camp has been making frequent moves, and the "transformation" return of LeTV TV has become a major focus. At the beginning of the month, the renamed LeTV launched its latest products through JD.com's self-operated flagship store platform. Among them, the 32-inch Letv Super TV Y32 is as low as 799 yuan, and the 55-inch 4K Letv Super TV Y55C is priced at 2,199 yuan. In the industry's view, LeTV is taking the "test" of the low-price segment as the first step to its comeback.

　　Liu Shuqing, Chairman and CEO of LeTV, said that after its return, Letv will successively release multiple series of products, including not only an extremely cost-effective series priced less than RMB 1,000, but also a top luxury series priced at tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.

　　Before LeTV made any further progress, PPTV Smart TV immediately launched a price cut campaign for its entire product line. On April 11, PPTV Smart TV released a price cut announcement for its entire product line on its official Weibo account. The price cut involved 5 smart TVs, including 12 products.

　　Specifically, the price adjustment of PPTV smart TVs is unprecedented. The original price of PPTV Laser Cinema MAX2 100-inch package was 36,998 yuan, but the price was reduced by 6,999 yuan to 29,999 yuan. The original price of PPTV Smart TV 5 series 32-inch product was 1,099 yuan, but the price was reduced to only 666 yuan. The price reductions of other products ranged from several hundred to several thousand yuan.

　　Chang Jiang, vice president of PPTV Smart TV, said that the price cuts for two products have already hit the bottom price of the same-size TV industry, and there is basically no room for further price cuts. With such measures, PPTV Smart TV sales have indeed rebounded. According to its official statistics, as of April 16, the number of pre-orders for 32-inch smart TVs has exceeded 100,000 units, 40-inch smart TVs have exceeded 15,000 units, and 50-inch smart TVs have exceeded 30,000 units. The cumulative number of pre-orders for other models is 200,000 units.

　　At the end of the month, Xiaomi TV also brought new spring products. Among them, the high-end product Xiaomi 65-inch mural TV adopts an innovative form with flat front and back, and is equipped with far-field voice technology for the first time. The price is only 6999 yuan, which is much lower than the price of similar products on the market. In addition, its full-screen TV covers four size segments of 32-65 inches, and the price starts at 1099 yuan. Interestingly, the pricing of Xiaomi 43-inch full-screen TV is basically the same as that of PPTV smart TV, both priced at 1999 yuan.

　　In fact, the decline in TV prices is closely related to the fierce market competition. According to AVC data, the retail volume of China's color TV market in 2018 was 47.74 million units, a slight increase of 0.5% year-on-year; the retail sales volume was 149 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6%; the average retail price was 3,121 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9%. By 2019, it is predicted that although the industry may usher in a recovery growth, it will still face the dilemma of sluggish market demand.

　　It can be seen that the Internet TV camp continues to regard price as a focus. A relevant practitioner told reporters that the current price of LCD panels is low, which provides a favorable factor for pricing for various manufacturers. In addition, Internet TV brands rely more on content for profit, and lower hardware prices help to obtain traffic.

　　According to industry analysis, as the overall market size of color TVs continues to decline, price cuts are an effective means for companies to seize market share. Internet TV camps are constantly competing on price, especially with PPTV smart TVs offering large-scale promotions, which may trigger a new round of "price wars" in the industry.

　　However, price advantage can indeed bring a wider market, but the long-term low-price strategy will bring greater operational pressure to the company. At present, while competing for the market with low prices, a number of TV manufacturers are also transforming to high-end. AI, 4K, 8K, and large-screen intelligence have become the main demands. Compared with the price offensive, the new premium space is considered to be the direction that TV manufacturers need to explore more.