Korean media: "Hitachi's final gamble ultimately failed," Japan's home appliance industry faces massive collapse!
On September 14, South Korean media outlet *JoongAng Economic* published an article stating that with Hitachi's decision to abandon its long-standing home appliance business, analysts have pointed out that Japan's home appliance sector has entered a phase of large-scale restructuring.
*Nikkei News* commented: "The home appliance industry, once the pillar of Japan’s exports, has now lost much of its international competitiveness. Surviving Japanese manufacturers must now re-prove their very reason for existence."
Many Japanese companies that once dominated the global home appliance market have already liquidated their white goods operations or transferred them to overseas firms. Sharp was acquired by Foxconn, Toshiba by Midea, and Sanyo Electric by Panasonic. With Hitachi selling its white goods business to domestic distributor Noshima in April this year, Japan’s already fragile home appliance industry now faces the risk of losing its foundational roots.
Although Hitachi classified low-profit white goods as non-core businesses, it delayed divesting them until the very end. According to *Nikkei News*, this was because the value of white goods cannot be measured solely by profitability.
The Hitachi Global Life Solutions Company, responsible for the home appliance business, employs around 7,000 people and operates a factory in Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture—the company’s birthplace. Moreover, white goods were Hitachi’s last consumer-facing business segment.
Reports suggest that due to deep emotional attachments among many executives toward the appliance division, there was considerable internal hesitation regarding the sale.
Hitachi even resorted to one final measure to save the business. A typical example was the fixed-price system introduced in 2023. Under this scheme, manufacturers set fixed prices for refrigerators and washing machines and restricted retailers’ discounting; in return, manufacturers accepted returns of unsold products.
Hitachi’s logic was simple: ending price wars would improve profitability, allowing savings to be reinvested into R&D for innovative products. The strategy aimed to break the vicious cycle where new product prices plummeted within a year and regain technological competitiveness. However, consumer response was lukewarm.
Hitachi’s flagship drum washing machine exceeded 300,000 yen (approximately 13,000 RMB). Consumers flocked to competitors offering discounts—even though Hitachi regained control over pricing, sales did not recover. *Nikkei News* assessed: "Price control alone cannot win consumers."
The acquisition of Hitachi’s white goods business by retail giant Noshima Group may mark a turning point in Japan’s home appliance industry. Noshima plans to establish an integrated production and distribution system covering everything from internal product planning to sales.
*Nikkei News* commented: "Hitachi’s final gamble ultimately failed," adding: "Japan’s home appliance industry has now entered a new stage of structural adjustment—remaining companies must once again prove their justification for existence."
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1876269228874759/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.