Hello, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for Viomi Technology Co., Ltd.'s earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and full year 2021. At this time all participants are in listen-only mode. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Ms. Cecilia Li, the IR Director of the company. Please go ahead, Cecilia.
Thank you, operator. Hello everyone and welcome to Viomi Technology Co., Ltd. earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and full year 2021. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. The company's financial and operating results were issued in press release earlier today and posted online. You can download the earnings press release and sign up for the company's email distribution list by visiting the IR section of the company's website at ir.viomi.com.
Participating in today's call are Mr. Xiaoping Chen, the Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Wickham Thai, Head of our Finance Department. The company's management will begin with prepared remarks and the call will conclude with a Q&A session. Before we continue, please note today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Full information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's annual report on Form 20-F and other filings filed with the U.S. SEC.
The company doesn't assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. Please also note Viomi's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Viomi's press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. I will now turn the call over to our Founder and CEO, Mr. Xiaoping Chen. Mr. Chen will deliver his remarks in Chinese, followed immediately by English translation. Mr. Chen, please go ahead.
大家好，欢迎来参加我们2021年第四季度和全年的业绩电话会。我们在第四季度实现了销售收入13.3亿人民币，超过我们此前的预期。那么在同比下滑的因素主要是跟上季度是一样的，主要原因于小米扫地机的业务在大幅度减少，同时我们在产品结构在持续地调整，我们的毛利率从2020年第四季度开始得到持续的同比提升，在2021年第四季度达到了25.6%的毛利率，证明了我们在产品力、品牌力以及经营质量的多重提升。此外，在第三季度，因为研发和营销费用的大幅度投入，出现了短暂的亏损。在我们实施了更严格的成本和费用控制之后，第四季度恢复了盈利。我们看到行业的整体转型以及IoT技术在日趋成熟，5G的普及和国家政策的支持，以及九零后作为消费的主力人群的生活方式的改变，都在加速智能家居行业的一个发展。那么中商产业研究院的数据显示，中国智能家居市场的规模在持续地扩大，2021年比2016年翻了两倍多，达到了5,800亿的行业规模，预计2022年年底将超过6,500亿的行业规模。在去年四月份，工信部等十六个部门联合印发了《关于加快发展数字家庭，提高居住品质的指导意见》中要求中国数字家庭相关的政策、制度和标准需要在2022年底达到基本健全，2025年前构建较为完备的数字家庭标准体系。那么全屋智能也在逐渐地从极客、小众人群向泛人群逐渐地扩展。
那么在过去的一年时间里面，家电、通讯和互联网多领域的企业都纷纷加入到IoT智能家居，各自在智能产品、IoT产品平台开发以及操作系统等细分赛道发展。作为最早全力发展IoT智能家居的企业，我们从2017年开始布局一站式的全屋智能解决方案，迅速地丰富全屋的产品线，目前已经进入到AI全屋智能体验的深度定制化的阶段。我们在这个月的战略新品发布会上发布了全新升级的一站式全屋智能解决方案，1=N+4这么一个架构。那么1是指IoT的家是一个整体的家，它包括三个部分组成。N代表全屋的智能家电和智能家居的全家桶的产品阵容。4代表全屋智能解决方案的HomeMap有四大功能，包括无感组网、主动智能、空间感知和自然交互。那么目前我们的带屏的产品已经实现一键全屋设备自动组网。我们正在自研的毫米波雷达模组Alpha X可以非接触式感知用户的运动轨迹和存在状态等等。而且相比于视觉传感器，更加能够保护用户的隐私。将来我们会应用在我们的更多的产品上面，来实现设备之间的自动控制、睡眠监测、安防监测等等，真正实现设备的主动智能。我们也在迭代产品的语音交互功能，使人和设备之间更加接近自然交互。另外的4代表我们为用户提供四种服务，包括全屋智能的方案设计、OTA升级、Plus会员体系以及增值业务。此外，我们针对不同家庭，不同的家庭，完善了套系化的解决方案，例如为百万以上的大型家庭用户提供了六到八万的Super套系的智能化方案。同时针对大平层，一千万以上的这种豪宅，提供了二十万的Space智能化的套系方案，以及为亿元级的别墅定制的三十万以上的这种Royal的智能化套件方案，旨在为中高端的用户打造深度定制化的AI智能体验。那么可以看到，不同于专注平台和操作系统的IoT智能家居企业，我们云米最大的特点是以产品为载体，通过软件和AI实现IoT家居新体验的产品功能提升。
在三月十七号的发布会上，我们发布了迄今为止AI化程度最高的一系列的高端产品，充分地彰显科技潮牌的品牌调性。这些新品包括通过活性锰除甲醛的全域新风的空调Space Pro；搭载3D体感AI传感器的这么一些高端的AI商用冰箱Boss；以及超微气泡水气溶胶的澎湃海量的2,000加仑净水机Super 2；以及一系列的智能家居产品，例如AI语音控制的面板空拍的Plus，还有3D人脸识别功能的可视智能门锁Cyber 2T等等。我们还发布了高端子品牌coKiing旗下的多款产品，包括定价五万元的Royal Pro AI双频冰箱，定价四万元的Royal系列AI激光互动屏，以及定价两万元的Royal Pro系列AI双筒洗衣机等等。第二点，我们想给大家分享的是我们的线下渠道发展。在过去的几个月时间里面，我们继续推行大商大店的渠道策略，两百平、三百平、四五百平的这种沉浸式的体验店，在逐渐在一新一线城市逐渐地扩张，承载科技潮牌的品牌定位，提供更完善的高端全屋智能新体验。第三，我们在继续完善新兴内容渠道的产品结构，并增强品牌营销。我们在上一个业绩电话会议中向大家分享了我们新渠道的发展。我们在去年组建了专门的团队，在拼多多、抖音等新渠道加大内容营销和销售。我们最近开始优化新渠道的销售品类，增加中高端高毛利的产品，并通过KOL直播和种草等内容，加大科技潮牌在新渠道的品牌触达。那今年我们会增加更多的营销和渠道投入，那么这个会作为我们接下来的重要的营销资源的推广。
那么在平台的推广，以及KOL和科技大咖的这些测评，到我们的电梯媒体的媒介广告，在全国上百个城市进行品牌的深度触达，多渠道全方位地将我们的产品、战略新品以及科技潮牌的品牌形象向我们的消费者进行推广。此外，我们在海外市场和渠道发展方面也取得一些新的进展。我们在第四季度拓展了新加坡、德国、意大利等国家的市场，我们也在拓展，转型也在顺利进行。从之前的小的经销商模式逐渐转向国际代理，我们与北欧、德国等地的大型代理商展开新的业务，我们的线上自营业务也快速的发展。除了之前的美国亚马逊自营店，我们的意大利的亚马逊自营店也今年三月份开始上线，将有更多的欧洲亚马逊自营店在上半年启动运营。虽然海外受到疫情及战争的影响，我们整体市场需求存在短期的波动，但我们的市场的布局进度仍在预期当中。从中长期来看，海外市场的拓展仍将是我们实现长期增长的重要一步。从过去的卖产品到卖解决方案，我们开创了智能家居行业的新模式，不断地完善丰富云米一站式全屋智能解决方案的产品能力和服务，提升科技潮牌的高端化的品牌定位，进入高端市场。我们将加大在AI软件、算法等研发的投入，继续优化我们的产品线，迭代SKU，实现长期健康的发展。
Thank you, Mr. Chen. I will quickly translate our founder's remarks before discussing our financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2021. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. Our fourth quarter net revenues reached approximately RMB 1.33 billion, beating our previous guidance. As we discussed earlier, the year-over-year decline was mainly due to the significant decrease in the sales of Xiaomi brand robot. Thanks to our ongoing product portfolio adjustments, we achieved a gross margin of 25.6% for the fourth quarter, maintaining consecutive year-over-year growth since the fourth quarter of 2020, and once again demonstrating the strength of our product lineup, growing brand recognition, as well as the improvement of our operating quality.
We incurred a loss in the third quarter of 2021 following substantial investments in R&D and marketing, but resumed profitability during the fourth quarter as a result of stringent cost control measure. The smart home industry is developing rapidly, accelerated by the industry's overall transformation, increasingly matured IoT technology, popularization of 5G, national policy support, as well as lifestyle changes of the post-90s generation, the main smart home consumer group.
According to statistics from ASKCI Consulting, China's smart home market has been continuously expanding, doubling in size between 2016 and 2021 to reach RMB 580 billion. It is expected to exceed RMB 650 billion by the end of 2022. Last April, 16 government agencies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued guiding opinions on accelerating the development of digital homes and improving living quality, which requires a fairly complete set of digital home related policies and standards to be established by the end of 2022, as well as a digital home standard system to be in place by the end of 2025.
We also see that consumers who use the smart home products are transforming from small groups of people to the mass market. Over the past year, enterprises from various sectors such as home appliances, communication, and internet entered IoT smart home industry in quick succession, targeting industry segments such as hardware products, IoT development platforms, and operating systems. As one of the first enterprises to focus on IoT smart home area, we have been offering one-stop IoT home solutions since 2017.
We have rapidly enriched our one-stop IoT home product line, and are now developing a premium customized AI home experience to bring IoT smart home solutions to the next level. First, I'd like to discuss some of our latest product innovations as well as our upgraded one-stop IoT home solutions. 1=N44 , which we unveiled at our strategic new product launch event this month. 1=N44 leverages three components to synergistically provide users with a seamless customizable smart home experience.
The N in 1=N44 stands for our comprehensive product portfolio of smart home appliances and home devices across home scenarios. The first of four represents the four major smart home capabilities of a HomeMap, including automatic networking, active intelligence, spatial awareness, and natural interactions. We have already achieved the one-click whole home device networking with our smart home screen devices. To support HomeMap AI and spatial awareness capabilities, we are developing Alpha X, our self-developed millimeter-wave radar module. Alpha X can sense users' presence and movement trajectory without visual contact, providing better user privacy protection compared with the visual sensors.
Going forward, we will integrate Alpha X into our products, functions such as automatic device control, sleeping monitoring, and safety monitoring to truly achieve active device intelligence. We are also iterating our product's voice interaction function to enable natural interactions between users and devices. The second floor represents four additional services we offer to our users, including the smart home solution design, OTA upgrade, a membership system, and value-added services.
We have also enriched our bundled smart home solution offerings with packages designed for various types of households, including our RMB 60,000-RMB 80,000 super packages for large apartments worth over RMB 1 million. Our RMB 200,000 space packages for penthouses, and our RMB 300,000 Royal series for houses valued at over RMB 100 million, which delivers a premium customized AI experience for the high-end market. Unlike other smart IoT home companies, which specialize in platforms or operating systems, we use our smart home products as the carrier to bring our users an upgraded whole home IoT experience, as well as optimize the product functionalities through software and AI applications.
At the March event, we also introduced a series of high-end products with our currently most advanced AI technology, underscoring our trending technology branding positioning. This new product include our all-space AI air conditioner, Space Pro, which utilizes active magnets to help remove formaldehyde. Our AI business refrigerator equipped with 3D thermatosensory sensors, Super 2, our 2000 gal large flux water purifier, which uses ultra micro bubbles to remove the agricultural residue.
A new series of smart home devices such as HomePad Tab, our AI screen-based control interface and Cyber 2T, our smart lock with 3D facial recognition and video functions. We also launched several new products in our premium brand, coKiing, including the Royal Pro series of double-screen refrigerators priced at RMB 50,000. The Royal series of AI laser interactive smart screens priced at RMB 40,000. The Royal series of AI twin tube washing machines priced at RMB 20,000.
Second, I'd like to share with you our progress in developing our offline channels. Over the past few months, we have continued to execute our larger store, better merchant channel strategy. We are opening additional immersive offline stores encompassing over 200 sq m or 300 sq m in Tier 1, Tier 2, and new Tier 1 cities to enhance our trending technology branding positioning, as well as provide our customers with a more comprehensive and premium smart home experience. Third, we optimized our product portfolio on new content channels and continued to improve our brand marketing during the quarter.
As we disclosed in our third quarter earnings conference call, following the establishment of a dedicated content marketing and sales team for our new channels such as Pinduoduo and Douyin last year, we have continually refined our product categories on these channels by adding higher gross margin products with mid and high-end positioning products. We also continued to strengthen our trending technology brand awareness and increase our exposure on these new channels through KOL live streaming and recommendations as well as other marketing activities.
In 2022, we will increase additional investments on marketing and channels. We will broaden our omni-channel marketing and advertising activities, including online promotions such as in-platform KOL and tech guru recommendations and social media and offline promotions, such as the elevator advertising and print media. In addition, to enhance awareness and exposure of our brand in hundreds of cities, our marketing strategy will promote the brand message of changing technology to consumers through multiple marketing channels. Finally, we also made some progress on overseas market expansion. In the fourth quarter, we entered into markets in Singapore, Germany, Italy, and other countries.
Further, our sales channel transformation is progressing smoothly, shifting partly from small distributors to international agents, leading to new partnerships with large-scale agents in Northern Europe and Germany, among others. We also expanded our self-operated model to new overseas markets. Along with the U.S. Amazon store we launched last August, we opened a self-operated Amazon store in Italy in March this year, with additional self-operated European Amazon stores to come into service in the coming months.
By strategically shifting from selling products to selling solutions, we have pioneered a new business model in the smart home industry, while also improving our smart products, IoT capabilities and services for our one-stop IoT home solutions. We have also strengthened our trending technology branding as we enter the high-end market. Going forward, we will continue to increase our investment in R&D, particularly in AI software and algorithm, while optimizing the product lines and upgrading SKUs to deliver healthy and long-term growth. That concludes our founder's remarks. Let's now turn to our detailed fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial reviews as well as the first quarter 2022 outlook.
Net revenues were RMB 1.33 billion compared to RMB 1.89 billion for the fourth quarter of 2020. Net revenues exceeded the company's previous guidance, and the year-over-year decrease was mainly due to the continued significant decrease in sales of Xiaomi brand sweeper robots together with product portfolio adjustments for margin expansion in other categories and the overall weaker consumer demands in certain categories.
Revenues from IoT home portfolio decreased by 37.9% to RMB 692 million from RNB 1.11 billion for the fourth quarter of 2020. The decline was primarily due to the decrease in sales of Xiaomi brand sweeper robots and the continued product portfolio adjustments for margin expansion in some categories, both of which contributed to the overall growth margin improvement for IoT home portfolio. Revenues from our home water solutions decreased by 27.5% to RMB 263.3 million from RMB 363 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The decline was primarily due to the weaker consumer demand for the industry overall during the quarter, as well as the product portfolio adjustments we made by decreasing the proportion of small capacity water purifiers in our product mix.
As a result of product portfolio adjustments, the company once again achieved a year-over-year growth margin recovery for this category. Revenues from consumables decreased by 24.8% to RMB 120.4 million from RMB 160.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily due to decreased demand for purifier filter products. Revenues from smart sensors and others increased by 2.3% to RMB 257.1 million from RMB 251.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross profit was RMB 341.5 million compared to RMB 443.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross margin increased to 25.6% from 23.5% for the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily driven by the company's continued efforts to shift their business and product mix towards higher gross margin products.
Total operating expenses increased by 2.7% to RMB 340.7 million year-over-year, primarily due to the increase in R&D expenses and the G&A expenses. In more details, R&D expenses increased by 5.1% to RMB 97.8 million from RMB 93.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, mainly due to the increase in R&D experts and the related salaries and expenses. Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 1.2% to RMB 214.8 million from RMB 217.4 million a year ago. G&A expenses increased by 31.4% to RMB 20 million compared to RMB 15.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily due to the increase in related personnel salaries and expenses.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the company was RMB 22.7 million , and non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the company was RMB 33.5 million Additionally, our balance sheet remained healthy. As of December 31st, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of RMB 587 million , restricted cash of RMB 35.8 million , and short-term investments of RMB 828.9 million . Next let's briefly discuss more key financial results for the full year 2021. Net revenues for full year 2021 were RMB 5.3 billion compared to RMB 5.83 billion for 2020. Revenues from IoT @ Home portfolio decreased by 7.4% to RMB 3.4 billion from RMB 3.67 billion for 2020.
Revenues from our home water solutions decreased by 15.9% to RMB 742.9 million from RMB 883.3 million for 2020. Revenues from consumables decreased by 4.1% to RMB 767 million from RMB 382.9 for 2020. Revenues from small appliances and others decreased by 10.7% to RMB 792.9 million from RMB 887.7 million for 2020. Gross profit was RMB 1.2 billion, compared to RMB 1.08 billion for 2020. Gross margin improved to 22.6% from 18.6% a year ago.
Total operating expenses increased by 24.6% to RMB 1.16 billion from RMB 931.8 million for 2020. In more detail, R&D expenses increased by 17.4% to RMB 311 million from RMB 265.7 million for 2020. Selling and marketing expenses increased by 25.8% to RMB 751 million from RMB 597.2 million a year ago. G&A expenses increased by 41.8% to RMB 97.7 million compared to RMB 68.9 million for 2020. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the company was RMB 88.6 million, and non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the company was RMB 136 million. Now let's turn to our outlook.
For the first quarter of 2020, we currently expect that the net revenues to be between RMB 680 million and RMB 730 million. We estimate that the year-over-year change in the first quarter revenue will be mainly due to the high base effect of Xiaomi brand Super Robot business for the first quarter of 2021, which the company has been subsequently scaled back that business, as well as the overseas market impact in the first quarter of 2022. The above outlook is based on current market conditions and reflects company current and preliminary estimates of market and operating conditions and customer demands, which are all subject to change. This concludes our prepared remarks, and we will now open the call for the Q&A session. The Head of our Finance Department, Mr. Wei-Qiang Cai will join the session- and- answer the questions. Operator, please go ahead.
We will now begin the question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, if you wish to ask your question to the company's management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Hildy Ling with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Thank you.
[Foreign language].
Let me repeat all these in English first. Congratulate company on a very decent fourth quarter results and a very visible gross margin expansion there. Couple of questions. The first one is, what about—can we have some color on the sales trends year to date, in particular the sweeper robots in the domestic and overseas market? The second question is about, also about the revenue outlook, but that's all for the full year 2022. How should we think about it for the overseas business and also the domestic business? Also, can we have a little bit of color, you know, on each product category segments as well?
The final question is about the margin, of the gross margin and also the operating margin for the first quarter of 2022 and also for the full year 2022. How should we think about the rising commodity prices for material costs and also the oil prices? How would that affect our margin outlook? When will we see a more visible trend of an inflection point? That's all for my question.
[Foreign language]
Okay, thanks, Hildy, for these questions. For the sales trend up to date, we saw the overall consumer demand is relatively weak compared to the same period of 2021, while we saw our product and channel portfolio is trending more diversified and healthier. Firstly, we saw the sales contribution of high-end products is increasing due to our introductions of a series of premium products and our efforts for the product portfolio adjustments. Secondly, we saw the sales on our new channels such as Pinduoduo and Douyin increasing very fast, and we are increasing additional mid-to-high-end products and products with higher margins on these channels. We expect the sales on these new channels to increase further as well and help us to enhance our brand awareness.
For the sweeper robot, for both domestic and overseas markets, we saw weaker consumer demands for the whole industry compared to the first quarter of 2021, when we achieved a very robust growth in sweeper robots. Particularly for the overseas market, due to the international war and COVID-19, the market demands for smart and premium cleaning products are impacted. Despite the overall macro environment, our introduction of new SKUs, product line optimization and overseas channel expansion are in line with our expectations. First, in terms of product SKU, we recently introduced our new self-cleaning sweeper robot, Alpha 3, in January, and we see a fast growing in sales and receive good feedbacks from the markets.
At the recent new product launch event, we also introduced our new wet and dry vacuum cleaners, Cyber Pro and Cyber 2, which is equipped with double brushes, photoelectric sensor, and OTA upgrade functions. Second, the sales contribution of high-end SKUs are increasing. As we drive the product line towards premium, the sales contribution of our high-end products such as Alpha 2 Pro and Alpha 2 Plus and Alpha 3 increased. Third, as just discussed, for overseas market, we successfully stepped into new markets in Singapore, Germany, Italy and other countries. Further, our new cooperation with larger scale international agents are smooth and we expanded our self-operated model. Along with the U.S. Amazon store we launched last August, we opened Amazon store in Italy, and we will open more self-operated Amazon stores in Europe in the coming months.
Overall, though we experience temporary market fluctuations, we still expect our cleaning business in 2022 to achieve growth and the product lines to turn more diversified. Yeah, for the second question about the sales outlook of 2022. Generally for the sales structure, we could refer to the structure of Q4 2021, like, IoT @ Home portfolio may account for half of the total portfolio and home water solutions accounted for around 20% and small appliances and others accounted for around 20% and consumables accounted for around 10%. For the overseas business, we expect around high single-digit of the total revenue. But it's subject to the market changes and the company's adjustment later.
For the third question about the margin and price, we saw the price of raw materials were relatively stable when entering into the fourth quarter of last year. While due to the war and a series of economic repercussions, the price went up in the first quarter. The increased price has been partially reflected in our ASPs, so it is partially offset by the increased ASPs. In addition, we have done some price lock agreements with suppliers in advance. Overall, we don't expect the current price of raw materials to cause material impacts on our gross margin or net profit margin side. Our bottom line is more influenced by the extent of our investment in our R&D and marketing expenses.
To deliver mid to long-term growth as well as to strengthen our branding of one-stop home solutions, we will consider to increase additional investments in marketing and channels. As we already saw benefits of our marketing activities like we did on the third quarter of last year, we are confident these investments will help promote our new strategic products and enhance our brand image. Yeah, thank you.
The next question comes from Rudi Wei with CICC. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you very much for the management presentation. I have two questions here. The first is about our promotion and brand building strategy. We noticed that a company has launched many new products just two weeks ago, and most of the products are targeted at high-end customers. How do you plan to improve the brand image and make the customers willing to pay for those new products? Also, we knew our spokesperson, Deng Lun, has some problems recently. How serious is the influence to us?
[Foreign langauge].
[Foreign language].
I will quickly translate our founder's feedback. The branding, establish for your question. First, we are staying on trend. The point for the consumer groups who buy their whole-home smart home products, and we see the market has been transformed from small group people to investing people, and this is very important for our industry. Second, we are doing a lot and we will consider to do more and additional marketing advertising, especially in some cities where like young people are concentrating, like the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.
For your question about the Deng Lun issue, as we responded very quickly and very efficiently, so this issue didn't cause any material impacts on our brand image. As we respond very quickly, which give us a very additional and more exposure on the market, as you can see from Weibo. We are third and fourthly turning our brand positioning to more premium. We introduced at our recent product launching event introducing more premium bundle purchase solutions offerings to our high-end market, including the RMB 300,000 solutions, the RMB 200,000 Space packages, for our premium consumers. We see the users of such groups are increasing among our users. That's the answer from our CEO.
好的，谢谢您。然后我的第二个问题是关于，因为之前也想问一下2022年的展望，不过刚才已经问过了，那就问一下我们对于2022年的这个竞争格局会怎么看？那是否会觉得2022年的这个竞争会变得更加激烈？因为考虑到我们有很多的竞争对手在做这个类似的事情，比如说像小米，其实也都在做。 Also, I will repeat the question in English. So what's your outlook for the competition in 2022? How do you evaluate the market competition situation? Will it become more fierce? Thank you.
从这个销售的市场情况来看，我就两个方面看。第一个方面的话就是全球化的话，我觉得可能在接下来还是面临着一些不确定性吧，因为东西方的这种不确定性还是在的，所以但是就短线之内，那个中国的供应链应该还是摆脱不了的，对吧，因为中国的完整的这种产业的布局、供应链的能力，这个还是离不开中国市场的，这是一个主要的方面。第二个方面就是在需求方，需求这个方面。需求方面从Q4开始，其实需求就开始有点，国内市场就开始有点疲软，那么消费力的话，消费的这些因素应该是有些偏紧的，也是偏紧的，因为现在各大企业都在裁员嘛，都在裁员的时候，其实消费者还是有些压力来的，这是第二个。第三个就是这个竞争方面。竞争方面，当需求不景气的时候，这个竞争端可能会就更，比如中国的话叫卷吧，对吧？卷得更厉害点，所以大家会做更多的一些促销，更多的一些渠道的分散化这种动作。但是总体来看，我觉得，从更长远点来看的话，其实我们在走品牌的高端化，以及毛利的改善，以及我们的内部的一些经营的改善的话，其实还是非常有必要的，我觉得这个是能够让我们可以穿越这么一个经济的调整过程。当然总体来看，我觉得方向是OK的，那么这个过程当中怎么样发动这么一个经济调整过程当中快速地去做品牌单位和做一些新产品的研发，做这些基本功的话，我觉得还是非常有价值的。
I will quickly translate. For your question we can elaborate from two sides, the first is from a supply chain side, as we see that there are many uncertainties worldwide, but supply chain capability is still very needed and mainly concentrates in China. We are not very concerned about this point. From the other side, about consumer demands, we see that from the fourth quarter of last year, the consumer demands became relatively weak in domestic. As you see that, there are a lot of layoffs in some big giant companies. But overall, during the period that consumer demands increase, it usually cause more competitive situations among the players. The companies may do a lot of additional stock and stocking and the promotional activities.
For us, as we like shift our products and business towards premium and we are maintaining the level of our gross margin and increase in R&D and do a lot of branding activities, we are confident to go through these challenges and deliver long-term growth. Thank you.
Thank you very much. That's all from my side.
As there are no further questions now, I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.
Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please contact us through the contact information on our website or the Piacente Group, our investor relations consultant. Thank you all. Have a good night.
Thank you.