Global electric water heater market was valued approximately USD 15.08 billion in 2016 and is anticipated to grow with 5.9% compound annual growth rate over the forecast period. Electric water heaters are largely installed for household applications such as cooking, washing, bathing, laundry and washing purposes. All the residential applications accounted more than 85% of the total market share in 2016. In a broader scenario, residential sector has been matured in terms of demand & installations, however, commercial places such as hospitals, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and public places are likely to spur huge demand over the coming years. This increase in demand from commercial sector is attributed to the factors such as real estate development, development of tankless water heaters, increasing disposable income, and change in preference towards the superior quality of life.

Furthermore, recent technological developments such as hybrid water heaters and air to heat technology are also likely to fuel the demand over the coming eight years. The market has been broadly segmented into storage type, end use and regions. Each of the segment has been further divided as follows:

Storage Type:
> Tank
> Tankless / Instantaneous

End-Use
> Commercial
> Residential

Regions:
> North America
o U.S.
o Canada
> Europe
o UK
o Germany
o France
> Asia Pacific
o China
o India
o Japan
> Latin America
o Brazil
o Mexico
> Rest of the World

Storage type electric water heaters accounted for more than 89% of the total market share in 2016. The advent of automation using IoT and other techniques have provided lucrative growth over the last decade. However, with the development of tankless heating technology, this trend has been swapped. Tankless heaters provide hot water when required, this has omitted the standby energy loss with the tank type heaters. Tankless heaters are highly efficient and are available in various shapes & sizes, which makes them suitable for various point of use applications & places. Owing to such factors tankless water heaters are estimated to grow with the highest CAGR over the forecast period.

Some of the key players involved in the market are; A.O. Smith Corporation, Rheem Manufacturing Company, and Bradford White Corporation. These key players have a strong foothold in the industry due to their wide product offerings and geographical presence. The above-mentioned companies accounted more than 50% of the total market share in 2016. The industry is also experiencing new entrants such as Kenmore and Eemax which are exclusively designing smart tankless water heaters. Further, merger and acquisition is the key strategy adopted by key players, this has enabled them to gain competitive advantages and their hands on recent technological developments. Furthermore, it also helps to increase the sales presence in different regions and countries. For instance, A.O. Smith Corporation has acquired Ohio-based William R. Hague, Inc. this acquisition has helped A.O. Smith to get their access to water softening technology.