According to research from Growth from Knowledge (GfK), an online consulting platform focused on the consumer goods industry, during the pandemic the global small household appliances market (excluding North America and South Africa) grew in value by 8.6%. In comparison, the value of the large household appliances segment grew by a similar percentage.

These results are associated with lifestyle changes during the coronacrisis, with many people working remotely and having greater demand – and more time to use – small domestic appliances like blenders, kettles, toasters, and kitchen robots. Large domestic appliances include air conditioners, freezers, washing machines, and microwave ovens.

Due to supply chain disruptions and breakdowns during the early stage of the pandemic, a significant portion of the world’s population began to stockpile food, especially non-perishable and frozen items. This, in turn, led to an increase in freezer sales.

After commercial food production slowed down as a result of lockdowns, sales of domestic food preparation equipment increased. Preferences for cooking and eating at home were maintained even after restrictions were relaxed. The value of the food preparation equipment market increased by 24.8%. In June 2020, global sales of both small and large household appliances recorded double-digit growth with a corresponding increase in the number of deliveries.

Marzena Siudak, a specialist from AsstrA HiTech Logistics Department, noticed increased demand for the transport of household appliances from AsstrA customers in the second half of last year compared to its first half.

Marzena Siudak

“For one of our largest customers in the high-tech industry, we provided rail transport of household goods between China and Hungary for the first time in October. These new transport opportunities were possible thanks to our Budapest office, which opened in March 2020. Our experts in Hungary monitored the technical aspects of the transport while I focused on organizing the necessary documentation and negotiating rates,” says Marzena Siudak.

On October 26, over 1,000 microwave ovens departed Beijiao in China for Hungary in a 40’ HC shipping container. Customs clearance of the equipment took place in Dunajska Streda, Slovakia, and after 3 weeks the goods reached the final recipient after covering a total of 9,000 km.

Vladislav Martin

“To ensure safety in line with regulations, it is not possible to ship devices with batteries or accumulators via Chinese railways stations. This delivery for a large Chinese client was successfully carried out according schedule thanks the excellent organization of AsstrA experts, ” adds Vladislav Martin, Head of AsstrA’s EU-China Rail Division.