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In the first half of 2024, Russians bought 2.1 million microwaves for 17.4 billion rubles. This is 8% more in units and 24% more in monetary terms than in the first half of 2023. This is evidenced by statistics from M.video-Eldorado, provided to Vedomosti. Increased interest in microwaves and multicookers is confirmed by MegaMarket, Wildberries, Avito and Yandex Market.

Most often, consumers choose microwave ovens from the brands Gorenje (Slovenia), Haier (China), Samsung and LG (South Korea), as well as Midea (China) and Toshiba (Japan), says a representative of M.Video-Eldorado.

In addition, according to him, interest in multicookers has also grown: in January-June 2024, Russians bought 600,000 of these devices for 3.3 billion rubles. This is 20% more in units and 21% more in monetary terms compared to the same period last year. The most popular brands among buyers are Russian Redmond and Polaris and French Tefal and Moulinex.

According to Citylink, in the first half of 2024, microwave sales in the chain grew year-on-year in monetary terms by 13%. In the multicooker category, sales in monetary terms for the same period grew by 5%, and in unit terms by 6%, Alexey Poletayev, head of the small household appliances purchasing group at Citylink, told Vedomosti (he did not provide absolute figures).

The leaders among brands in Citylink are different: as in the previous year, the microwaves most often sold in the company are South Korean brands Hyundai and Samsung, Russian Starwind and Sunwind and Italian Candy, says Poletaev. Among multicookers, there are changes in the top three year on year - the Russian Polaris remains the leader for the second year in a row, and the Hyundai brand was in second place in the first half of 2024, previously it occupied the third line. The Russian brand Red Solution was in third place in terms of the number of purchases in the first half of the year.

According to consumer electronics manufacturer Fplus, 2.1 million microwaves worth 17.4 billion rubles were sold in Russia in the first half of 2024, while 1.9 million units worth 14 billion rubles were sold in the same period last year. Over the year, the growth was 7.1% in unit terms and 23.7% in monetary terms. At the same time, the average price also increased: from 7,300 to 8,450 rubles. In unit sales, Russian STMs (retailers' private labels) are in the lead by a wide margin with a share of 31.7%, followed by Gorenje (8.7%), Hyundai (5.4%), Samsung (5.3%), Chinese BBK (4.9%) and Haier (4.5%).

SALES OF HOUSEHOLD  EQUIPMENT  IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2024 COMPARED WITH 1 HALF OF 2024

Products	1st Half of 2023		1st Half of 2024
Microwave Ovens	in million units	in billion rubles	in million units	In billion rubles
	1,9	14	2,1	17,4
Multicookers	in thousand units	In billion rubles	in thousand units	in billion rubles
	500	2,7	600	3,3

Source: MVideo – Eldorado statistics 

In the multicooker segment, the annual growth was more noticeable, calculated Fplus: 480,900 units for RUB 2.7 billion in the first half of 2023 versus 576,500 units for RUB 3.3 billion in 2024. The growth in physical terms was 19.9%, and in monetary terms - 20.8%. The average price remained almost unchanged: RUB 5,670 in 2023 and RUB 5,710 in 2024. In unit sales, the leaders are Redmond (22.8%), Polaris (14.3%), the Russian brand Red (7.1%), Midea (6.1%), Moulinex and Tefal (5% each). Sales of private label brands Tuvio (Yandex), Razz (Wildberries) and DEXP (DNS) grew by more than 100% over the year and took up 9.1% of the market in units.

According to OFD Platform, the country's largest fiscal data operator, against the backdrop of a general 6% year-on-year decline in the volume of purchases of electronics and household appliances in the first seven months of 2024, there is a shift in sales to the online channel, where an 18% year-on-year increase in the number of purchases is recorded. The number of online purchases of multicookers in January-July 2024 increased by 17% year-on-year, and the average bill by 14% to RUB 8,197. Online sales of microwaves increased by 22%, and the average price by 11% to RUB 7,941. At the same time, online sales of microwaves, multicookers and other small household appliances are growing above average in the electronics and household appliances category - they are easier to receive at order pick-up points, explains a representative of the OFD Platform.

The increased interest of Russians in small household appliances (SHE) is explained by the fact that the market is still stabilizing after the slump in 2022, adds the Fplus representative. In particular, a “quite noticeable” increase in microwave sales occurred last year - after 3.7 million units purchased in 2022, 4.3 million microwave ovens were purchased in 2023. Fplus predicts that the microwave segment will reach its peak in 2024 and subsequently stabilize. The growth in multicooker sales is also associated with deferred demand, but the market is already beginning to “become saturated with other brands”, primarily Russian ones, the company added.

M.video-Eldorado experts explain the increased interest in microwaves by the desire of Russians to optimize their everyday life and personal time in favor of simple and quick cooking. In addition, consumers are upgrading their outdated models to new devices, adds the retailer's representative.

Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics, attributes the growth in demand for microwaves to the growing popularity of ready-made food. Consumers often reheat rather than cook, the analyst notes. Another reason is the growth in the number of single-person households (according to the 2021 census, there were 27.6 million such households in the country, which is 41.8% of the total. - Vedomosti). Also, according to Burmistrov, 2023 was a record year in terms of housing rental (according to Rosstat, 110.44 million square meters) and the growth in demand for microwaves is the result of the arrangement of such houses. Burmistrov also attributes the growth in sales of multicookers to the trend towards healthy eating: multicookers allow you to cook in “more gentle” modes and preserve the vitamins and beneficial properties of food.

At the end of August, Vedomosti reported that online sales of MBT, which also includes microwaves and multicookers, had grown by 28%. The higher level of MBT sales compared to large household appliances (LHA) is due to the growth of the population's well-being, a change in consumer behavior towards increased demand for non-essential goods, an increase in the number of offers and new manufacturers on the market, explained Olga Polonovskaya, head of the Accessories department at the distributor diHouse. In addition, the growth in MBT sales was facilitated by the boom in the mortgage lending market, since the growth in apartment sales pulled the home appliance market along with it, she says. With the end of the boom, demand for LHA slowed down a little, unlike MBT, Polonovskaya summarized.

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2024/09/06/1060411-v-rossii-nachali-zamenyat-starie-svch-pechi-na-novie?utm_campaign=newspaper_6_9_2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti