At the beginning of 2020, Philips hearing aids announced their launch in China in Beijing. Philips, which has withdrawn from the hearing aid industry for many years, returned this time and adopted the method of trademark authorization (OEM production): applying the technology of Danish Oticon Company (DEMANT Hearing Group), Oticon (Shanghai) Hearing Technology Co., Ltd. is fully responsible for production and sales. and after-sales service.

Philips is a well-known diversified brand that has been active in the medical field for many years. It once had its own hearing aid department in the last century.

In 1999, after Philips' hearing aid business was acquired by Beltone of the United States for 150 million euros, Philips completely withdrew from the global hearing aid market.

On December 31, 2017, fitting shops that were operating Siemens hearing aids ushered in a "dark moment". They received a product delisting notice, which meant that the Siemens brand "withdrew from the hearing aid group chat." Siemens The group parted ways with the hearing aid industry.

In 2018, Philips announced the establishment of an authorized partnership with the Danish Demant Hearing Group. The Danish Demant Group is the parent company of industry brands such as Oticon and Bernafon.

In April 2019, the Hearlink hearing aid, a cooperative product between Philips and Demant Group, was officially launched.

In early 2020, when Siemens brand hearing aids were completely withdrawing from the market, Philips hearing aids appropriately announced their launch in China, and its market trend is particularly interesting.

As the parent company of brands such as Oticon and Bernafon, the Danish Demant Group is one of the hearing groups with rapid sales growth in recent years. Its current global market share is about 20%, making it the top 3 global hearing aid industry. (The other two are Swiss Sonova and WSA Group).

Since Demant Group is so powerful, why does it still need to cooperate with Philips?

Although Philips’ brand awareness is not generated by hearing aids, for ordinary Chinese consumers who have almost no awareness of the hearing industry, “Philips” and “Siemens” are the most familiar. One of the brands. Obviously, Demant Group is interested in Philips' brand influence and sales channels.

Demant Group is the ODM (original designer) of Hearlink hearing aids. Hearlink hearing aids are completely produced and sold by Demant Group. They use the hardware and software platforms used by Demant Group, but are branded as Philips. , this is the main reason why Philips hearing aids and Oticon hearing aid products are "similar".

Although it is an "authorized OEM", Philips still puts a lot of thought into its marketing. Philips' new products re-entering the hearing aid market use two key technology names - SoundMap and SoundTie.

SoundMap technology consists of 3 sound processing technologies: noise control, amplification and feedback elimination. Philips claims that these three core technologies are first-class innovations.

Hearing aids are connected to the outside world through SoundTie. For example, it can be directly connected to Apple system devices (such as iPhone/iPad). For Android phones, it needs to be transferred through an AudioClip attachment.

Judging from the published public information, the appearance and software technology of Philips' new hearing aid product HearLink series are relatively close to those of its brother Bernafon brand.

The Hearlink series includes behind-the-ear hearing aids, customized hearing aids, and external receiver hearing aids. It provides 5 technical levels, namely: Hearlink 9010 (top), Hearlink 7010 (high-end), Hearlink 5010 (mid-to-high-end), Hearlink 3000 (mid-range) and Hearlink 2000 (base).

Layers watch the fun, while insiders watch the door. From a professional perspective, performance such as noise control, amplification, feedback elimination, and direct connection to Apple system devices are already the basic standard features of current international brand hearing aids. They are not special features and can only be said to be quite satisfactory.

For consumers, if they have the same price and the same configuration, it is natural to choose the well-known Philips.

However, after analysis, the price-performance ratio of Philips hearing aids in mainland China is obviously not as good as the genuine "son" Oticon hearing aids of the Danish Demant Group. Publicly released information shows that for hearing aids of the same level, the retail price of Philips hearing aids in mainland China is much higher than Oticon hearing aids, and also much higher than foreign products of the same model. The comparison results are staggering (see the picture below).

Among them, the price gap between mid- to high-end models is the most astonishing. Taking mid-to-high-end RIC hearing aids as an example, Oticon hearing aids are priced at 9,880 yuan, and Philips HearLink hearing aids are priced at 15,980-17,980 yuan. The price is 62%-82% higher than Oticon hearing aids! Based on the discounts that brand hearing aids generally enjoy in the Chinese market (you can check it out on Tmall), based on this calculation, the retail price of Philips brand products will be at least twice as high as similar products!

For almost identical products, with Philips’ brand blessing, are Chinese consumers willing to pay the brand premium?

Research shows that 95% of patients with hearing impairment can improve their hearing conditions by using hearing aids. The popularity of hearing aids in Western developed countries has reached 35% to 40%. About 150 million people in China suffer from hearing loss, but the penetration rate of hearing aids in China is less than 5%. This has a lot to do with the lack of publicity in the hearing aid industry. The public does not have a correct understanding of the benefits and technology of hearing aids, and it is easy for them to fall into misunderstandings and even fall into consumption traps. Therefore, when consumers choose hearing aids, they must compare carefully and make rational choices.