Tmall Health Releases White Paper on Home Healthcare Device Trends: New Brands Surge 200%, Appliance Giants Enter the Market

On May 14, Tmall Health released the “White Paper on Trends in China’s Internet-Based Home Health Devices in 2021” (hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”) at the 84th China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF). The White Paper shows that health protection, traditional Chinese medicine healthcare, and therapeutic monitoring have become consumerMost ConcernedHealth Device Category, Under This Trend，not onlyTraditional Medical Device ManufacturersEnabledigital upgradeThe Path，New Brands and Home AppliancesGiantsThey have also begun to flock into new tracks.

“Technological advancements and evolving user demands have accelerated the marketization of the home health device industry. Medical needs are being integrated into daily life, with application scenarios expanding from hospitals to homes,” stated Shen Difan, Chief Operating Officer of AliHealth and Head of Tmall Medicine, at the event. He noted that digitalization, intelligence, and home use will become the three major trends in the medical device industry in the future.

The need for chronic disease monitoring and wellness care for the elderly at home, coupled with a growing awareness of preventive health and self-care among individuals, has made the “prime-of-life” post-90s generation the primary consumers of home health devices.

The white paper shows that the trend categories most concerned by domestic consumers are divided into three types: "light health" categories focusing on health protection concepts; "traditional Chinese medicine healthcare" categories empowered by smart technology; and "home treatment and testing" devices used for disease monitoring and prevention.

In the “Light Health” category, health products in therapeutic healthcare, medical aesthetics and skincare, and maternal and infant health rank as the top three on AliHealth’s Light Health platform. Notably, there is a clear trend toward younger consumers in therapeutic healthcare, with post-85s and post-90s accounting for over 40% of this segment and becoming the primary consumer base. Physical therapy massagers, medical-grade masks (wound dressings), and scar removal products are the most popular among young consumers.

Among traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) healthcare devices, consumers born in the 1990s now account for 30% of total spending. The market size for TCM healthcare consumption in fourth-tier cities and below is three times that of first-tier cities. Meanwhile, "home-use therapeutic and diagnostic" devices are increasingly aligning with the purchasing preferences of younger demographics, focusing on convenience, ease of use, intelligence, and painless operation. Rehabilitation care, home monitoring, and respiratory health products hold the largest shares of consumption and are becoming staple items in many households.

“Prior to 2019, home medical devices sold online were primarily ‘home-use derivatives’ of hospital-grade equipment. However, over the past year, driven by heightened health awareness among consumers and the expanding application scenarios of mobile internet technologies, the Tmall Health platform has seen an influx of unexpected new products in the home health device category,” said Chen Hao, General Manager of Tmall Health, at the event. He noted that, excluding pandemic-related items, the number of health protection products still nearly doubled year-on-year during this period.

Based on insights into consumer demand, Tmall identifies category opportunities and actively encourages merchants to research, develop, and iterate new products, thereby upgrading supply and opening up new market segments. The white paper shows that home-use medical devices enhanced by “cutting-edge technologies,” such as smart cupping devices, moxibustion patches, smart moxibustion instruments, and electric gua sha tools, have gained significant popularity among consumers on Tmall. Online users are increasingly willing to pay for hearing aids with superior sound quality, oxygen concentrators with lower noise levels, non-invasive blood glucose monitors, and even electric wheelchairs capable of climbing stairs.

Taking pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation devices as an example, this product category was a novelty in the home-use market just a few years ago. Although consumers had demand, it was difficult to find suitable home-use products on the market. Through research and forecasting of development trends in the pelvic floor rehabilitation market, Tmall Health has provided comprehensive support for this new product category across product R&D, store operations, brand marketing, and exposure. This initiative helps manufacturers of new product categories clarify their R&D directions, collaborates with industry brands on market education, and provides exhibition opportunities for category brands, thereby driving supply-side upgrades for emerging product categories.

The Dayue brand stood out as it entered the Tmall female pelvic floor rehabilitation sector in 2020, accelerating product iteration. Its range of compact and lightweight pelvic floor repair devices gained favor among female users. During the 2020 Double 11 shopping festival, Dayue Medical Devices already ranked first in sales within the maternal and postpartum rehabilitation device category.

Behind the new supply in the home medical device industry lies the pioneering and deep cultivation by established brands, alongside the accelerated entry of emerging players, fostering a healthy prosperity and diverse flourishing of the sector.

Yunbao, Dayue, Kangaroo Doctor, hipee, and Zuodian—emerging brands that have seized market trends to rise rapidly in recent years—have been joined by industry veterans such as Yuwell, Sinocare, and Omron, which are innovating their home-use product lines. Meanwhile, many home appliance giants have begun entering this sector, with Haier, Lenovo, Daikin, Meiling, and Panasonic successively establishing a presence in the medical device industry on Tmall.

Haier, a renowned home appliance giant, began to focus on home medical devices on Tmall in 2019, using health-oriented oxygen concentrators as a breakthrough product. Its sales exceeded RMB 100 million that same year. In 2020, it gradually launched medical-grade oxygen concentrators, blood pressure monitors, and nebulizers. Leveraging Haier Group’s advanced technologies, the company developed upgraded and iterated products such as silent nebulizers and oxygen concentrators, achieving a remarkable 150% growth rate in store sales.

In response, a representative from Haier’s medical e-commerce division stated: “Tmall Health has helped us develop a clearer user profile for Haier Medical, providing valuable insights for UI product definition and development. For instance, our quiet-operation oxygen concentrators designed for nighttime use, and voice-controlled oxygen concentrators developed based on IoT technology, have achieved differentiated breakthroughs in the industry. Sales figures demonstrate that these innovations have been well received by users. Furthermore, it has given us a deeper understanding of user scenarios, enabling us to shift from a category-centric to a scenario-centric approach. We have expanded from oxygen concentrators to build a comprehensive respiratory and oxygen therapy ecosystem, extending our product strategy to include nebulizers and pulse oximeters. As a result, all three product categories have ranked among the top in their respective markets.”

“Tmall Health has been advancing its ‘3 New, 2 Innovations, 1 Insight’ strategy for the medical device industry to facilitate the incubation of new categories and brands. Specifically, by leveraging comprehensive data insights across all channels, we identify new consumer scenarios, drive the upgrading of existing brands, and uncover new product categories in the supply market. Through creative marketing and innovative services on the Tmall platform, we achieve full coverage of the entire consumer journey and meet diverse consumption needs,” stated Chen Hao on-site. He noted that in fiscal year 2021, emerging brands in Tmall Health’s medical device sector saw a 200% year-on-year growth, positioning Tmall Health as an incubator for emerging home health device brands and a hub for new product launches.