China Home Appliance Market Hits CN¥ 766B in 2025
By Jotham Lim
6 min read
Executive Summary#
China's online home appliance market reached CN¥ 766.35 billion in 2025, growing +18.1% YoY while volume surged +46.8% to 1.71 billion units — propelled by the national trade-in subsidy program but revealing sharp divergence across categories. Large home appliances commanded 60% market share at CN¥ 459.4 billion, yet kitchen and living segments both outpaced the market at +10.4% growth each. This analysis examines how subsidy policy, segment dynamics, and consumer lifestyle shifts are reshaping the competitive landscape across China's four major appliance segments.
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Subsidy-Driven Growth Faces Structural Divergence#
China's national home appliance trade-in subsidy, launched in August 2024 by the State Council, has been the defining force in the appliance market[1]. The program successfully boosted consumption across most categories, but its stimulative effect weakened in late 2025 as pent-up demand was absorbed. The renewed policy announced in December 2025 covers fewer categories and offers reduced incentives, raising questions about the market's ability to sustain growth without continued government support.
The divergence between categories reveals structural shifts beyond subsidy effects. Cleaning appliances maintained strong growth as lifestyle-driven purchases, while traditional kitchen infrastructure products faced contraction driven by completed replacement cycles and shifting cooking habits. Robot vacuums (+27.0%) and floor washers (+16.2%) continued to expand, while gas stoves fell to -38.1% and disinfection cabinets collapsed to -47.0%.
Key dynamics emerging from the subsidy period:
- Cleaning appliances thrived — robot vacuums and floor washers sustained double-digit growth as lifestyle adoption deepened
- Electric ovens reversed their 2024 decline, swinging from -12.8% to +24.6% as subsidy activated latent demand
- Refrigerators swung negative — from +18.6% growth to -3.6% decline, confirming subsidy-accelerated replacement cycles pulled forward demand
- Gas stoves and disinfection cabinets faced structural headwinds from urbanization and changing cooking habits
Trade-in subsidy effect diverges sharply across appliance categories in 2025
Market Size: CN¥ 766.35 Billion Across Four Segments#
China's online home appliance market achieved both volume and price growth in 2025, reaching CN¥ 766.35 billion in total sales value and 1.71 billion units sold[3]. The +18.1% revenue growth alongside +46.8% volume growth reflects market expansion and ongoing premiumization across categories.
The four major segments display a clear hierarchy. Large home appliances — air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions — commanded a dominant 59.9% market share at CN¥ 459.4 billion. However, the segment's +7.0% growth trailed the market average, indicating maturity. Kitchen and living appliances both outpaced the market at +10.4% each, driven by innovation-rich sub-categories. Personal care appliances, while the smallest segment at CN¥ 64.7 billion, maintained positive growth at +4.6%.
Large home appliances dominate at 60% share while kitchen and living segments grow faster
Major Appliance Performance: Air Conditioners Lead, Refrigerators Reverse#
Air conditioners dominated the major appliance landscape at CN¥ 124.4 billion, growing +13.0% as rising summer temperatures and improved energy efficiency standards drove replacement demand. Central air conditioners posted the segment's highest growth at +52.1% YoY, reflecting a shift toward whole-home climate solutions in premium renovations.
Refrigerators experienced a notable reversal, declining -3.6% after strong +18.6% growth in 2024 — confirming that subsidy-driven demand was largely pulled forward. Washing machines maintained steadier growth at +8.5%, suggesting ongoing demand for smart-connected and larger-capacity models. The decline in home appliance parts (-21.0%) and wash-dry combos (-20.8%) points to improved product durability and shifting consumer preference toward standalone machines[2].
Central AC surges +52.1% while appliance parts and wash-dry combos decline
Living Appliance Performance: Robot Vacuums and Floor Washers Reshape Cleaning#
Robot vacuums and floor washers together accounted for CN¥ 42.7 billion — 40.2% of the living appliance segment — growing at +27.0% and +16.2% respectively. These two categories have fundamentally reshaped the cleaning appliance landscape, displacing traditional vacuum cleaners (-2.2%) through product innovation including self-emptying stations, mopping integration, and AI-powered obstacle avoidance.
The heater category experienced the sharpest decline at -28.1%, likely reflecting a mild winter season and shifting preference toward central heating and air conditioning systems. In contrast, air purifiers maintained growth at +8.6%, suggesting consumer health consciousness sustains demand independent of seasonal factors. The data confirms a structural transition within living appliances from passive comfort products toward active, technology-driven solutions.
Robot vacuums and floor washers drive cleaning appliance growth above +16%
Key Takeaways#
- China's online home appliance market reached CN¥ 766.35 billion in 2025, growing +18.1% YoY with volume surging +46.8% to 1.71 billion units
- The national trade-in subsidy drove initial growth but its effect diverged sharply: cleaning appliances thrived while gas stoves (-38.1%) and disinfection cabinets (-47.0%) declined
- Large home appliances held 60% market share but grew slowest at +7.0%; kitchen and living segments both outpaced at +10.4%
- Central air conditioners posted the highest major appliance growth at +52.1%, while robot vacuums led living appliances at +27.0%
- The market is structurally shifting from subsidy-stimulated volume toward innovation-driven value creation in lifestyle-enhancing categories
About the Data#
This analysis draws on Moojing Market Intelligence data covering January-December 2025[3]. Moojing tracks 400,000+ brands across 30+ e-commerce platforms, representing 58-65% of China's online retail Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). For full methodology, brand-level competitive analysis, and additional category insights, see the complete Home Appliances 2025 whitepaper.
[1] China's State Council. "Notice on Extending and Optimizing the Home Appliance Trade-in Program." December 2025.
[2] China Household Electrical Appliances Association. "2025 China Home Appliance Industry Annual Report."
[3] Moojing Market Intelligence. Proprietary e-commerce transaction data covering 30+ platforms, 400,000+ brands.
This content adheres to Moojing's editorial standards .
Frequently Asked Questions
It reached CN¥ 766.35 billion in 2025, growing +18.1% year on year, with volume up +46.8% to 1.71 billion units. Volume growing far faster than value is the detail worth noticing: it means average selling prices moved down over the period even as the market expanded, which is what a subsidy-driven market looks like. Large home appliances — air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and televisions — account for 59.9% of the total at CN¥ 459.4 billion, though that segment grew more slowly than the market at +7.0%.
It lifted consumption broadly and then began to fade as pent-up demand was absorbed. The programme launched in August 2024 and was the defining force in the category, but its stimulative effect diminished through late 2025, and the renewed policy announced in December 2025 covers fewer categories with reduced incentives. The clearest evidence that it moved demand in time rather than only creating it is refrigerators: +18.6% growth in 2024 reversed to -3.6%, which is the signature of replacement purchases pulled forward into the subsidy window rather than added to the market.
The split follows lifestyle adoption rather than the subsidy. Cleaning appliances grew on their own momentum — robot vacuums +27.0% and floor washers +16.2% — because they are lifestyle purchases rather than replacements. Electric ovens swung from -12.8% to +24.6% as the subsidy activated latent demand. Central air conditioners posted the strongest movement in major appliances at +52.1%, reflecting whole-home climate systems in premium renovations. Moving the other way, gas stoves reached -38.1% and disinfection cabinets -47.0%, both facing structural pressure from urbanisation and changing cooking habits rather than any cyclical effect.
That subsidy performance and underlying demand are different things, and the categories separate cleanly on which one they were riding. Products that grew because a subsidy made a replacement cheaper — refrigerators being the clearest case — face a correction once the incentive tapers. Products that grew because a household behaviour changed, such as robot vacuums and floor washers, do not. With the renewed policy covering fewer categories at reduced incentives, the planning question for 2026 is which of those two descriptions fits each of your own lines, because they require opposite responses.
