Chinese consumer brands are accelerating their expansion in Southeast Asia by acquiring rivals and leveraging online sales channels, pushing deeper into home appliance and cosmetics markets once dominated by Japanese, South Korean, and European companies.
Like their compatriots in the vehicle and smartphone sectors, brands such as Haier and lesser known brands have rapidly expanded in the region, partially driven by intensifying competition, production overcapacity in China, and the strength of e-commerce platforms.
China’s Southeast Asian market share in consumer appliances hit 8.6% in 2024, up from 3.6% in 2015, according to a recent report by data analytics firm Euromonitor International.
The rise of Chinese brands has been particularly strong in some product categories. Their share of the vacuum cleaner market surged from 1.3% in 2015 to 22.9% in 2024. For washing machines, it grew from 12.8% to 20.4%, while it jumped from 5.2% to 18.2% for microwave ovens.
“Innovation in China is very cutthroat,” said Tim Chuah, senior global insight manager at Euromonitor. “For the very strong players who have survived in China, once they get into Southeast Asia, it becomes much easier for them to increase their market share.”
Major Chinese appliance makers like Haier and Midea have expanded their global footprint in part through acquisitions and building local productions.
In Thailand where it is constructing an air conditioner manufacturing factory, Haier launched three new washing machine models earlier this month, including products equipped with artificial intelligence-powered laundry program recommendations and smartphone connectivity.
“You can see our growth speed is [faster than] other brands,” said Dong Jianping, head of Haier’s Thai operations, during a presentation at a shopping mall event in Bangkok. Haier ranked as the top Chinese home appliance brand by sales in Southeast Asia, according to Euromonitor.
Dong said the company expects its Thai sales to reach THB 14 billion (USD 432.6 million) in 2025, up 28% from the previous year, with similar growth predicted for the years ahead.
Citing acquisitions of international home appliance brands such as GE Appliances and Japan’s Aqua (formerly part of Sanyo Electric), Dong said Haier has become a leading global brand.
Lesser known brands are also increasing their market share after accumulating manufacturing expertise in China, backed by the country’s efficient, low-cost logistics and robust online sales channels.
Guangdong Deerma Technology, a market leader of vacuum cleaners in Southeast Asia, began as a contract manufacturer for electronic companies like Xiaomi. In 2018, it acquired Philips’ water purification business in the Greater China region. Deerma went public in 2023 and has since expanded its own brand overseas.
In Indonesia, its most popular vacuum cleaners are sold for around IDR 250,000 (USD 15.3) on e-commerce platforms, less than half the price of comparable products offered by Sharp.
“Although the international landscape remains highly uncertain, overseas sales are expected to grow rapidly due to China’s supply chain advantages, continued global expansion, and localized operations of brands, as well as sustained benefits from cross-border e-commerce,” the company said in its annual report in April.
The growth of Chinese companies in the appliance market has come at the expense of the Japanese and South Korean manufacturers that once dominated the sector, such as Panasonic and LG Electronics. In the air conditioning category, Japanese firms lost seven percentage points of market share between 2015–2024, while Chinese brands increased their share from 9% to 25%, according to Euromonitor.
Fueling the rise of Chinese brands in Southeast Asia is a growing ecosystem of online shopping sites, logistics providers, and marketing companies.
At a recent cross-border e-commerce exhibition in China’s Hangzhou, TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the popular short video app, opened a booth specifically for merchants targeting Southeast Asia. It offered perks such as waiving merchant fees for up to 120 days, eliminating withdrawal fees, and setting deposit requirements as low as USD 90.
“Prices of products may not match those in the US and Europe, but merchants can make up for it by selling in large quantities,” a TikTok Shop representative said. “Plus, [while] you will compete with [existing sellers on] Amazon, Shein, and Temu in Western markets, Southeast Asia remains far less saturated.”
Shopee, the Tencent-backed e-commerce app operated by Singapore-based Sea, offers to manage Chinese merchant’s online stores on their behalf, handling customer inquiries and shipping logistics. It does not charge a fee for the service. Instead, it purchases products from sellers at a discount, effectively acting as a wholesale buyer.
Smaller companies at the exhibition showcased ancillary products and services such as devices installed via virtual private network (VPN) to enable Chinese sellers to access blocked apps like TikTok. Talent agencies also pair merchants with local influencers, while tech companies provide AI-powered software for creating short videos.
Savvy marketing skills have also helped Chinese companies gain ground in Southeast Asia’s cosmetics market. While L’Oreal and Unilever continue to lead, Chinese companies in the mass skin care category have posted an average annual growth rate of 115% between 2019–2024, according to Euromonitor. In Indonesia, seven Chinese color cosmetics brands, including Skintific, Focallure and YOU, have increased their market share from 2% in 2019 to 15% in 2024.
Guangzhou-based Focallure operates two to three dedicated TikTok accounts per brand in each country where it operates, according to Euromonitor. That allows the company to curate content for different consumer preferences and to hedge against the risk of account bans.
“Because they are from China, they naturally understand how the algorithm on TikTok works,” said Yang Hu, an Asia Pacific insight manager at Euromonitor, referring to the widespread penetration of Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Even so, Chinese brands still lag behind in categories such as pet food and packaged food. Euromonitor’s Chuah said food safety scandals in the past continue to pose a barrier for some consumers, although their perceptions are gradually improving. Unlike electronics, he noted, food products require a deeper level of localization in terms of tastes and branding.
Nevertheless, the influx of Chinese consumer products into Southeast Asia, a trend that analysts say is likely to speed up amid rising US tariffs, poses a growing challenge for Southeast Asian countries seeking to develop their own manufacturing industries.
For the first six months of this year, China shipped USD 322.5 billion worth of goods to ASEAN, surpassing its exports to both the European Union and the US, and marking a 13% year-on-year increase, according to customs data. Imports from the region grew just 1% to USD 188.4 billion.
“Most of the time, the products [from China] are more competitive than those produced by local companies,” said Chuah. “And obviously that’s where a lot of the industrialization risk is coming in.”
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.