Marriage for dummies – Newspaper Kommersant No. 42 (7487) of 03/14/2023

A number of manufacturers and sellers of household appliances say that over the past year in the Russian Federation the number of applications for warranty of equipment has increased. According to market participants, this is due to the departure of high-quality foreign brands and the growth in sales of domestic and Chinese products. Experts believe that the Russians “will have to get used to the worse quality” and over time the amount of equipment handed over will return to normal. In some large retail chains, however, they assure that they do not see the imbalance anyway.

During the time that has passed since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the number of applications under the guarantee of buyers of domestic household appliances has increased by 20%, an interlocutor in one of the manufacturers told Kommersant. “Russian manufacturers are trying to reduce the cost and increase production to increase their presence in the market,” adds a source among electronics suppliers. He notes that the quality of low-cost small household appliances has generally deteriorated, naming Scarlett, Kitfort, Redmond and others among the brands. This information was confirmed by Kommersant’s interlocutors in a number of large companies.

Since last spring, many foreign manufacturers of household appliances, especially well-known international brands, have decided to limit the supply of their products to the Russian Federation, including Panasonic, Dyson, Tefal and others. As a result, the Russian home appliance market began to shift towards Chinese and Russian products (see Kommersant dated November 18, 2022).

According to Holodilnik.ru, in 2022, 50.8 million devices were sold in the segment of small household appliances (kettles, irons, hair dryers, etc.), which is 1.4% more than in 2021. In money terms, this figure increased by 1.7% to 223.5 billion rubles.

“Because of the departure of a number of foreign manufacturers, consumers are forced to switch to the equipment of domestic and Chinese companies such as Scarlett, Polaris and Kitfort,” said Alexey Pogudalov, commercial director of Holodilnik.ru. Dmitry Shashkin, CEO of household appliances manufacturer Kuppersberg, told Kommersant, in particular, that the company hopes to increase sales this year by 30% compared to the results of 2022: “For this, production in China is also increasing.”

According to Mr. Pogudalov, the number of breakdowns and defects in domestic and Chinese brands is “slightly higher than in premium European and American equipment,” so the number of warranty cases could really increase: “Buyers are used to better quality. However, over time, you will have to get used to the current reality, so the number of warranty cases will decrease.”

Alexander Fedorov, General Director of the Network of Computer Clinics, says that it is difficult to calculate specific figures for the increase in the number of “warranty cases at the moment, since with the departure of centralized services of foreign brands, warranty obligations fell on the shoulders of sellers.” However, the top manager admits that, given the growth in the share of Chinese electronics, the number of defective small household appliances in Russia has increased. In addition, Mr. Fedorov clarifies, “the level of service provided by Chinese companies is lower than that of eminent premium and middle-class brands that have left the Russian market.”

Most often, buyers return for warranty service popular products that are actively used in everyday life, clarified Kommersant in the press service of Citylink: these are, for example, multicookers, meat grinders, vacuum cleaners and steam generators. At the same time, according to the representative of the retailer, the share of applications for the delivery of equipment for warranty repairs in 2022 “was stable and in line with the previous period.”

M.Video-Eldorado also claims that the ratio of applications related to marriage and the total number of equipment remained at the level of 2019-2021. “According to our data, the majority of federal retail chains do not see an increase in such requests for household appliances,” added a representative of RATEK (the association includes M.Video-Eldorado, DNS, Citylink and others).

Timofey Kornev