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Chinese people used to cook by pot on the gas or fire, however, when it comes to the middle of 1990s, microwave oven came to thousands of Chinese families because of its convenience and efficiency. And then in 2000, the volume of production reached 13.6 million, the domestic sales volume 6 million and exported volume 8.37 million. National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) carried out a survey in 2008 which showed that in first-tier cities, Beijing (北京), Shanghai (上海), Guangzhou (广州) out of 100 families, 80 of them owned microwave ovens at home. On the contrary, by a report of Suning (苏宁), one of the biggest household appliances retailers in China released in 2009, the result was only 10.9 in the rural places in China.

Volume of production in 2011 in China
In the year 2011, 66,919,974 microwave ovens were produced and presented 1.56% growth compared with the one last year. Tianjin (天津), Shanghai (上海), Anhui (安徽) province, Guangdong (广东) province, Shandong (山东) province and Fujian (福建) province are the main producing areas of microwave oven. Guangdong (广东) province is the largest producing area, for around 80% of the production was generated there.

The largest microwave oven producer： Galanz (格兰仕)
Galanz positions itself as a global company. Founded in Guangdong (广东) province, Galanz have leading technique in Shunde (顺德) and Zhongshan (中山) in terms of producing microwave oven, air conditioner and other household appliances. There are 13 branches all over the country and more than 60 distributions and sales centers. In the development path of Galanz, the main theme is “price war” which turns into their strategy. It created a unique way of marketing by educating the market, initiate the market and occupy the market.

Leading companies in microwave oven market：LG, Midea (美的) and Panasonics
LG, Midea and Panasonics are some other leading companies in microwave oven industry. LG is a Korean company, Midea is a Chinese leading enterprise in major appliances and Panasonics is a Japanese company. Though they are very competitive, Galanz takes absolute advantage in the market, both in China and overseas. These companies tend to implement multifunctional strategy; however, most Chinese customers merely use basic functions.

Written for Daxue China Consulting  and Mystery Shoppers China