Haier Europe has realized a study on the behaviour of European consumers in the use of home appliances during the Coronavirus emergency, and in particular before and after the lockdown. The study is based on the data collected and transmitted by connected home appliances, and in particular anonymized and aggregated statistics collected from a sample of over 70,000 European consumers owning Candy and Hoover branded washing machines and dishwashers. The subject and focus of the analysis was usage data from January 2020, in order to analyse consumer behaviour following the intensification of the Covid-19 emergency, and in particular from the beginning of the lockdown period (March 9th in Italy, March 17th in France and March 24th in the UK). The main trends recorded at European level are a significant increase in the use of dishwashers, with a 24% increase in the average frequency of washing cycles since the start of the lockdown, and a slight decrease in the use of washing machines, with an average 1% decrease since the start of the lockdown. The washer slowdown was more substantial in the UK (-6% since March 24th), where usage frequency tends to be higher than in other countries (8 to 9 loads per week versus 6 to 7 across Europe). Another interesting change is the increase in the percentage of programmes launched with a steam option (presumably in order to sanitize garments), which grew by 8% in the weeks of the lockdown, reaching over 3% of total programs share. The other main trend observed by the study is the change in time distribution: most consumers usually spread their laundry loads evenly across daytime hours, but since the start of lockdown a significant morning concentration of activities became apparent. Dishwasher users behaved differently: usage increased substantially during lockdown, due to more frequent lunches at home, as highlighted by more pronounced usage peaks in the early afternoon. “In this pandemic time, we are all experiencing sudden changes in our daily habits: it is essential to understand which behaviours are specific to this unusual period (e.g. more lunches at home), and which ones are more likely to persist over time (e.g. more frequent laundry and dish cycles in the mornings, but also more propensity to buy groceries online). Thanks to the aggregated data that we receive from our connected appliances, we are able to monitor changes in their usage patterns, in order to design products and functionalities closer to evolving consumer needs – said Andrea Contri, head of the IOT Ecosystem division of Haier Europe -. By examining and analysing this data, we can derive useful insights, for example imagining dishwashers equipped for more frequent use and detergent auto-reordering, or focusing on energy management optimisation to allow more frequent use during peak time slots”.
