Air Fryers Evoke a Cooking Wave Among Chinese Consumers
Air fryers have become a household home appliance in China. Statistics show that the demanded quantity of air fryers in 2016 was 743k, and the number grew dramatically to 16.3 million in 2020. Air fryers also show up frequently on Chinese social media, and KOLs educate users on how to use them and showcase dishes that they make.
Check out why it is a big hit among Chinese consumers. You may draw some inspiration on communicating with the group, especially on how to leverage Chinese social media to create buzz.
How Popular Is Air Fryer?
The popularity of air fryers not only exists in China, but it is also a global phenomenon. Based on Euromonitor’s data, the market scale of air fryers reached $2.3 billion in 2021. It is expected to be $3.6 billion by 2026.
In terms of the China market, JD sold over 1.2 million air fryers in January 2022. It was a 360% YOY growth with sales revenue over 460 million RMB. It turned out to be the peak of JD air fryers in the last two years.
Chinese young people show great interest in home appliances. GKURC finds that in China, dish-washing machines (37.41%) and air fryers (25.11%) are the two home appliances that most Gen Z desire to buy. They may not be good at cooking but are looking for homemade food, and air fryers satisfy their needs perfectly.
Why Have Air Fryers Become a Trendy Item for Chinese Consumers to Have?
Air fryers were created in the 1990s in America. It was not until 2015 that the home appliance was introduced to the China market by some of the leading companies in the industry, such as Joyoung (九阳) and the Midea Group (美的).
The first couple of years after it was brought to China, most people didn’t hear of air fryers. The turning point came to 2020 when it started to be massively mentioned on Chinese social media. Why?
The Outbreak of Covid-19
Covid-19 resulted in the lockdown of many places back in 2020. While staying at home, people started to pay attention to health, and homemade food became popular. The demand for small home appliances increased significantly during this period, with a sales volume rising by 11% globally.
China recovered from Covid earlier than most countries did, and thus, international production orders were handed over to Chinese manufacturers. This boosted the development of many OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) home appliances factories in China.
Social Media Spread
Social media has become an effective way to educate people on a new product. When platforms such as Little Red Book, Douyin, and Weibo are talking about air fryers and seeing how easy it is for freshers to start with, people are flipped.
While browsing related content online, people tend to think that they can make such a dish by themselves. Social media content delivers the message to people that air fryers are easy to control and everyone can be a chef by using them. After successfully making a dish with air fryers, people are often cheered up and tend to “brag about” their experiments on social media. So air fryers-related UGC (User-generated Content) keeps coming up on social media to increase its exposure.
Besides traditional formats, air fryers are also presentable on livestream. It is easy for brands to showcase the steps to operate an air fryer and to present their “magic power.” On one of Austin Li’s livestreams, air fryers were sold out in one second after the sales began.
The Booming of Single Economy
The number of people who live alone in China has increased rapidly. About 92 million Chinese people live by themselves, which equals the population in Germany. Based on a Cyanhill Capital (青山资本) report, it only took 20 years for the percentage of solitude to grow from 6% to 25%.
To please themselves, they are seeking choices more than having instant noodles or ordering takeaway foods. People want to cook something at home that is healthy, delicious, and doesn’t take too many steps. Air fryers seem to be a perfect choice.
Other Reasons
Air fryers are healthier than the traditional ways of frying foods. Philips claimed that the fat from the French fries that its air fryers made is 80% less than the fryers.
Compared with ovens, air fryers take less space. It also frees users’ hands, who can continue their work, read books, and play games while the air fryer is cooking.
Concerns Chinese Consumers Have for Air Fryers
Due to the rising demand and imitability of air fryers, many factories joined the industry. But some of them pursue quantity over quality, which results in their air fryers’ poor performance. Since their production processes are simplified, they sell air fryers at way lower prices, which disrupts the industry with a price war.
Accompanied with air fryers’ prevalence in China, voices are questioning the health issue of the home appliance. In 2021, the Hong Kong Consumer Council pointed out that foods cooked by air fryers can lead to cancer. Though many KOLs stand out to clarify that it is not necessarily true, it still concerns many Chinese consumers.
