“Hisense, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic devices from China, has significantly strengthened its position in the market in recent years. The company attracts buyers thanks to the combination of good quality and moderate prices. History of the Hisense brand Hisense’s rise to popularity lasted more than half a century. The history of Hisense began in September 1969 in the Chinese city of Qingdao, when after the end of the Cultural Revolution, the authorities […]”, — write: businessua.com.ua
Hisense, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic devices from China, has significantly strengthened its position in the market in recent years. The company attracts buyers thanks to the combination of good quality and moderate prices.
History of the Hisense brand
Hisense’s rise to popularity lasted more than half a century. The history of Hisense began in September 1969 in the Chinese city of Qingdao, when after the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese authorities chose a course for the development of the electronic industry. Initially, the company was called Red Lantern and specialized in the manufacture of radio receivers.
In 1971, by order of the National Defense Department of Shandong Province, the company started producing televisions. Three workers were trained at a local factory, after which the first batch of 82 black-and-white televisions was produced.
By 1975, the production of transistor TVs was established, and in 1978, the first serial model CGD-18 appeared.
In 1979, according to the decision of the Ministry of Electronics, Red Lantern merged with other manufacturers into the Qingdao General Television Factory. However, the progress of color television has been slow, which has caused concern among the Chinese government. Therefore, the company made a strategic decision to purchase technologies from leading manufacturers — Panasonic, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, and others — instead of copying their products. This became an incentive for the production of modern televisions.
By the 1990s, the company had become one of the fastest-growing TV manufacturers in China. An important moment was the appointment in 1992 of thirty-year-old Zhou Houjin as the company’s president. It changed its name to Hisense in 1994 and implemented three key strategic initiatives: expanding from regional to nationwide, focusing on high-tech products, and diversifying production.
Unlike other Asian brands that started with a variety of products, Hisense initially focused on televisions.
The first really significant step of the company took place in 2005 – the company created the first Chinese industrial chip for video processing, and in 2007 launched the production of LCD panels for color TVs.
In 2010, at the CES exhibition, the head of Hisense presented an ambitious plan to change the perception of Chinese electronics in the world. He stated that Hisense will change the attitude towards “Made in China” products, and consumers will be proud of Chinese-made technology.
However, the company still had a long way to go before becoming a real leader. Despite internal progress, Hisense lagged far behind market leaders Samsung and LG, which were already producing high-quality LCD TVs and switching to OLED technology.
Instead of acquiring OLED or LED production lines from leading brands, as was done before, Hisense decided to follow its own development path. In 2014, the company introduced its own ULED technology — an alternative to OLED. Although Hisense positioned ULED as better than OLED, it was actually an improved version of LED matrices, providing decent quality at a more affordable price.
The next breakthrough step was the development of Laser TV. While competitors were investing heavily in OLED, Hisense saw the promise in ultra-short focus laser projection systems. Already in 2015, the company began to actively advertise laser TVs, which are capable of creating images with large diagonals (100 inches and more) with reduced strain on the viewer’s eyes. This gave the brand an opportunity to occupy a special niche in the segment of home theaters.
In order to establish success in the international arena and finally get rid of the image of “cheap Chinese brand”, Hisense chose the strategy of active sports marketing. The company became the first Chinese sponsor of the European Football Championship (UEFA Euro 2016), and later supported the 2018 World Cup, Euro 2020, World Cup 2022 in Qatar and Euro 2024. The constant presence of the logo in the world’s largest stadiums has significantly increased brand recognition in Europe and the United States.
Technological progress did not stand still either. In recent years, Hisense has focused on Mini-LED technology in its flagship models. Combining it with its own artificial intelligence-based Hi-View Engine image processing processors, the firm has achieved impressive brightness and contrast scores, challenging the top models from Samsung and Sony, while maintaining a more moderate price tag.
This multi-year strategy has brought results. According to the analytical agency Omdia, at the end of 2022 and 2023, Hisense took second place in the world in terms of the volume of TVs supplied, second only to Samsung and displacing other technological giants.
Today, Hisense is no longer just a “budget alternative”, but a full-fledged technological leader that sets trends in the industry.
What brands does Hisense own?
International expansion of Hisense began in 2001 with the opening of branches in the USA and Italy. In the US, the company initially worked through Best Buy and other large chains, offering OEM production under their brands, later adding products under its own brand.
In Europe, the company faced difficulties because the brand was already registered by Bosch Siemens. The situation was changed by a partnership with the French chain Carrefour in 2005, after which in 2006 Hisense became the leader in the sale of flat TVs in France.
In 2015, Hisense obtained a five-year license to use the Sharp brand in America by purchasing the Sharp plant in Mexico. The move has sparked controversy, with Sharp and its new owner Foxconn filing a lawsuit in 2017 accusing Hisense of damaging the brand through poor product quality and breach of safety standards. Hisense, of course, denied everything, but the scandal was serious at the time. The case ended with a pre-trial settlement in 2018.
Hisense has been actively expanding its presence in the global market by acquiring well-known brands. In 2017, the company acquired a 95% stake in the television division of Toshiba Visual Solutions, gaining access to the Japanese company’s technology, manufacturing capacity and research and development for 40 years ahead.
Hisense has aggressively entered the US market under its own brand, although it initially faced problems with product quality and a high rate of returns. However, the firm has gradually improved quality control and affordable prices have helped capture a significant market share.
In 2019, Hisense acquired the Slovenian company Gorenje, expanding its presence in Europe. The company is also developing other areas: it manufactures air conditioners under the Hisense-Hitachi brand, premium household appliances under the Hisense Kelon brand, mid-range appliances under the Ronshen brand, and small household appliances under the Enjoy brand.
The next significant step in the diversification strategy was expansion into the automotive industry. In 2021, Hisense completed a deal to acquire Japanese corporation Sanden Holdings for 21.4 billion yen (about 205 million millions of dollars). Sanden is one of the world leaders in the production of automotive compressors and air conditioning systems. This purchase allowed Hisense to enter the market of electric vehicles and “smart” transport systems, integrating its climate control technologies into the automotive industry.
It is also worth highlighting the Swedish ASKO brand, which came under the control of the Chinese giant along with the purchase of Gorenje. Today, ASKO is positioned as the most prestigious brand in the Hisense portfolio, offering high-end, premium-class home appliances that enable the company to compete with giants such as Miele.
In the TV and multimedia segment, the company is developing its own youth sub-brand Vidda (formerly known as Vidaa). It targets the buzzer generation, offering music TVs and affordable projectors with a focus on streaming and gaming.
As for the Toshiba division, Hisense finally consolidated this asset in 2021, renaming the subsidiary to TVS REGZA Corporation. This made it possible to more effectively use Japanese developments not only for the Japanese market, but also to introduce Regza Engine image processing technologies into global Hisense TV models.
Thus, as of 2024, the Hisense empire operates a wide list of brands that are clearly divided into segments:
- Televisions and multimedia: Hisense, Toshiba, Vidda.
- Household appliances (mass market and middle segment): Hisense, Gorenje, Ronshen, Kelon.
- Premium household appliances: ASKO.
- Automotive components: Sanden.
This multi-brand strategy allows the company to cover all categories of consumers — from the budget segment to luxury, and to be present in almost every corner of a modern home and even in a car.
After analyzing the company’s more than 50-year history, its strategy of acquiring technology giants (Toshiba, Gorenje) and its own innovations, one can give a reasonable answer: yes, Hisense’s technology is certainly worthy of attention, but with certain caveats.
Here are the main arguments for: 1. Technologies of the level of A-brands for less money. Hisense is no longer catching up, it is setting trends. Thanks to ULED and Mini-LED technologies, as well as Toshiba’s work, TVs of this brand offer image quality that is often not inferior to, and sometimes even better than, similar models from Samsung or Sony, but at the same time they cost 20-30% less. You are not overpaying for a “label”, you are paying for real performance.
2. Access to advanced engineering solutions. The purchase of such giants as Gorenje (household appliances), Sanden (climate systems) and Toshiba (video) enabled Hisense to integrate advanced Japanese and European experience into its products. When you buy a Hisense refrigerator or air conditioner today, you actually get decades-proven technologies in a new form.
3. Unique offers. If you are looking for a home theater with a huge diagonal, Hisense Laser TVs are among the best on the market, providing a unique experience that is difficult to find from the competition.
4. A large selection. Thanks to a well-thought-out multi-brand strategy, the concern meets the needs of any budget: from budget solutions under its own brand to premium ASKO equipment.
Who is Hisense equipment suitable for? This is an ideal choice for a rational consumer (pragmatist). If it’s important to you to get the most technology (artificial intelligence, 120+ Hz, high-quality upscaling, reliable assembly), but you don’t see the point of overpaying exclusively for the marketing history of brands that dominated the 2000s, Hisense will be the “golden mean”.
Today, Hisense is no longer a compromise between price and quality, but a full-fledged technological player that has proven its reliability by becoming the second largest TV manufacturer in the world.
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Source: ukr.media
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