Behind The Hot Sale Of Ultraviolet Lamps: The Consumption Strategy Of The Epidemic

"After more than a month, I finally got it!" In the past month, the first thing that Ms. Hu gets up every day is to refresh her shopping cart, hoping that the goods will be available. What she wants to buy is a 60 watt household UV disinfection lamp.

In February 5th, the national health and Health Committee issued the "new coronavirus infection pneumonia diagnosis and treatment plan (trial version fifth)", which mentioned that coronavirus is sensitive to ultraviolet and heat, so that many years of market performance has been indifferent to UV sterilization lamps to usher in a new outlet.

In Jingdong, Tmall, Taobao, suning.com, Gome and many other electronic business platforms, "one lamp is hard to find" has become a common phenomenon, and the price of products has risen. At present, the price of UV disinfection lamp with 38 watts without ozone has risen to 199 yuan, and some foreign brands even reach the price of 499 or 599 yuan.

Nevertheless, the market is still in short supply. The demand for instant explosion not only leads to the enthusiasm for production of ultraviolet lamp producers and lighting enterprises, but also the enterprises with industrial extension.

"The market of ultraviolet disinfection lamps is a special product of the epidemic period. At present, the epidemic control continues to improve and is expected to end before April. I believe that the market of ultraviolet disinfection lamps will soon return to normal. If we fail to expand our capacity rationally, we will eventually encounter the embarrassment of oversupply. " In the face of the current industry expansion caused by the epidemic, a senior person in the lighting industry expressed no concern.

Hot selling of epidemic diseases

"When the new crown virus is sensitive to ultraviolet rays on TV, I immediately went to Jingdong to search for UV disinfection lamps, but all showed no products. Taobao and Tmall were all alike." Ms. Hu admitted that the first reason she wanted to start was the epidemic.

However, you can buy it immediately if you want to buy it. Since the beginning of February, Ms. Hu has asked more than 10 brands of UV lamp brands that appear to be more reliable on the Jingdong and Taobao. The reply is basically the same, no goods, the new year's stop production, the first shopping cart, the quick delivery of goods, and no knowing when to resume work. To sum up, it is impossible to buy spot.

Jingdong told our reporter that during the epidemic period, household ultraviolet germicidal lamps were popular. Relevant data show that from last December to now, the number of bactericidal light products on the Jingdong platform was 6 times that of the same period last year, and the consumers who bought the products were mainly young people in the first and second tier cities.

Gome related people said that although UV disinfection lamps did not enter the physical stores, but the demand is very strong. "In the past, we did not talk about this commodity, but we started to do business in March this year, and sold nearly 100 units from March 1st to now (March 11th)."

A large number of purchase demand prompted many lighting manufacturers to switch to R & D and production of ultraviolet germicidal lamps, and snow Wright, NVC and three dragon Aurora manufacturers have "fully powered" production.

According to snowet March 11th, the sales revenue of ultraviolet disinfection lamps (environmental purification Series) last year was about 56 million 210 thousand yuan, accounting for 16% of the company's total revenue in 2019. Since January 1st this year, the sales revenue of ultraviolet germicidal lamp has increased by about 15 million yuan, a year-on-year increase.

Reporters at the Tmall flagship store of the company saw that during the epidemic period, consumers in other areas only received an average of 20 days to receive the goods except the customers in the Wuhan area due to special circumstances. The situation of shortage and late arrival continued until March 10th.

Regarding the issue of the transfer of ultraviolet disinfection lamps, BOE told reporters that the relevant business departments have maintained close communication with merchants, and they have been resuming their work and production capacity every day to ensure the proportion of the offline products entering the Jingdong platform. "Up to now, the initial shortage of goods has been shipped in batches. It is expected that all the goods will be issued at the end of March, and will be returned to normal stock sale in April."

Xu Jin, general manager of NVC retail division, told our reporter that before the outbreak of the outbreak, NVC had been making ultraviolet disinfection products. The research and development of related products began in 2018 and laid out production lines, such as clothes drying machines with ultraviolet disinfection and bathing bullets. "At present, our capacity can fully meet the current market demand."

According to him, the company's sales in the disinfection lamp market are divided into two stages, which are in the middle of March.

"As the enterprises in the country resume their work in succession, schools are preparing for the related re study. No matter whether the enterprises return to work or the school is resumed, the urgent task is to do a good job in all aspects of epidemic prevention work. The market of ultraviolet disinfection lamps will also usher in the second stage of small peaks. Demand is still rising in the short term, and, of course, as in the mask market, there will be quite a lot of students in the near future. Manufacturers have joined in succession. Xu Jin said.

Where to go after the feast?

In March 13th, the reporter searched for the "household ultraviolet disinfection lamp" on the electronic business platform. There were tens of thousands of results, involving more than 400 brands, including PHILPS, Panasonic, OSRAM and other foreign capital, such as snow lett, Yi Chen, Lei Shi, three dragon Aurora, OPPLE lighting and other domestic lighting enterprises, and also saw millet and other cross-border figures.

UV disinfection lamps were initially classified into two categories of medical devices, and later reduced to a class of medical devices. In the newly revised catalogue of medical devices in 2017, the ultraviolet disinfection lamp is no longer a medical device product. It belongs to the ordinary electric light source product.

However, according to the relevant regulations, all units and individuals engaged in the production and packing of disinfection products in China must apply for the hygiene license of disinfection product manufacturer, which is issued by the provincial health and Health Committee.

The reporter learned from the official website of Guangdong health and Health Committee that since February 1st, a total of 12 enterprises have applied for hygienic licensing of disinfection products manufacturing enterprises with "disinfection apparatus", which are mainly distributed in lighting industries such as Foshan and Zhongshan, and a few enterprises are located in Zhuhai and Dongguan. In February 19th alone, 4 main businesses, including lighting and electrical appliances, applied for new certificates.

A senior lighting industry told reporters that from a structural point of view, ultraviolet disinfection lamps can be divided into four parts: the lamp body, the drive, the lamp tube and the intelligent control. Although the structure is relatively simple, but not a low technology, low standard category, the selection of the core components of the whole lamp, including the manufacturing process, the lamp and the choice of lamp beads, determines whether an ultraviolet germicidal lamp is qualified and safe.

The core components are lamp, drive and controller. The performance and life of the ultraviolet lamp are determined by the lamp and the drive. Intelligent control ensures its safety, including delayed startup and detection of the wrong person. The above personages told reporters that there are many speculators in the industry recently. They simply assemble the parts by purchasing parts, and quickly bring the ultraviolet lamp into the market, which brings great security worries. Some even start the production and sale even if the hygiene license of disinfection products manufacturer fails to apply.

A salesperson from Luo, Beijing, told reporters that since the outbreak of the outbreak, the number of people who came to consult has increased by two times. Indeed, many of them want to buy ultraviolet tubes and go back to their own assembly. "The 30 watt lamp is 40 yuan, 40 watts 50 yuan. If you change hands, you can sell two hundred or three hundred yuan, and we are still rushing to get it. Who will not do it?"

The high price has become a major problem in the market of ultraviolet lamps. Some foreign brands are under the banner of the original imported lamp, and the price is raised to more than four hundred or five hundred yuan at a draught. Zhang Shanduan, deputy director of the electric light source Research Institute of Fudan University, thinks that unless it is part of the high ozone product, it can be said that the domestic and foreign countries can go hand in hand in the manufacture of the lamp. According to the national standard, the average life of the ultraviolet tube is 8000 hours. At present, some excellent products in China can reach 13000 hours.

Xu Jin pointed out that at present, there are two main aspects of restricting the supply of ultraviolet lamp products: first, the matching materials and processing plants have not yet resumed work, resulting in slower overall production and insufficient market supply; secondly, the main key components are the tight procurement of materials for UV lamps, and the low capacity of finished lamp tubes, resulting in insufficient capacity. "However, with the related supporting factories being started one after another, the production capacity of the major brands will be stable in late March."

According to snow lett, the company has annual production capacity of 10 million units per unit of ultraviolet germicidal lamp. It is expected that the supply chain will be more secure and the output will be greatly improved after the upstream suppliers are gradually resumed. If the minimum price is 1.8 yuan after the Spring Festival, as of March 12th, the company's share price of 350 million overdue debt has risen 94%.

Who will be the ultimate buyer after the ultraviolet lamp feast? Where does the surplus capacity go from?

In Xu Jin's view, market demand for ultraviolet disinfection lamps will continue. "Although the epidemic has been constantly suppressed, but there is no effective treatment plan for the virus, the next key is to do a good job of protection, whether enterprises or families will cooperate to do a good job of protective measures."

In addition, people will pay more attention to health after the outbreak. He judged that the following manufacturers will continue to upgrade and extend their products to the ultraviolet germicidal lamp products. The future product design and application will be more close to life, and the applicability will continue, and then evolve into a regular health product and bring sustained demand.

Three male Aurora related officials believe that the ultraviolet disinfection lamp due to its disinfection and sterilization effect in the new crown pneumonia epidemic situation, the market demand can erupt in an instant, and the demand exceeds supply, resulting in high prices. "But with the resumption of production of lighting enterprises, the price of UV disinfection lamps has begun to drop gradually."

In the evening of March 12th, Ms. Hu, who had been waiting for more than a month, finally got his wish, and bought a 60 watt brand ultraviolet disinfection lamp at a price of 339 yuan. But in her view, it is still a seller's market, "before this price can buy intelligent controller, now the same price is reduced, equivalent to a disguised price increase." As of press release, Ms Wu's order logistics status is still waiting for vendors to handle.

(reporter Yang Qingqing contributed to this article).

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