[Editor's Note] This is the 2021 "Tao Xing China" National Tile and Bathroom Market Survey [Fuzhou Station] Issue 2: Character Views (Part 2). Due to the tight time and heavy tasks of this investigation, more information, more data, more characters, more opinions, more analysis... We will write and publish articles one by one in the future.
On September 9-10, China Ceramics Network's 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and sanitary ware market survey team (hereinafter referred to as the "Survey Team") visited a number of home building materials stores in Fuzhou and interviewed 9 ceramic tile A dealer, wrote and published the article ""Rent prices are rising, labor costs are rising, but product prices dare not rise!"... | Tao Xing China·Fuzhou Station·Personal Views (Part 1)".
From September 11th to 13th, the investigation team continued to interview ceramic tile dealers to understand their views on the Fuzhou ceramic tile market and their business experience.
01
"The industry has changed and the fittest survive."
——Yu Xiaoming, Fuzhou dealer of Huida Ceramics
Yu Xiaoming has been the agent of Huida Ceramics for more than 5 years. According to him, the main reason for choosing Huida in the first place was that he was impressed by Huida's product philosophy of "I would rather buy tens of millions of pieces than sell them once and leave them damaged". In addition, as a listed company, Huida's brand influence is very strong, which is very helpful for its own market development.
Yu Xiaoming started out as a plumber and had his own shop ten years ago. Therefore, the rising rent costs of shops in recent years have not affected him, and his business has become much easier as a result. He has been deeply involved in the Fuzhou market for more than ten years and has accumulated a large number of loyal customers. Therefore, compared with engineering and wholesale channels, retail channels account for the largest proportion. "Actually, it's not just me. The entire Fuzhou market is dominated by retail channels." He said, "The Fuzhou market is relatively small and has a large proportion of self-installed houses, so the proportion of retail channels is still relatively high."
Talking about the changes in the market in the past two years, such as the impact of fine decoration and decoration on ceramic tile dealers, Yu Xiaoming believes that the fittest will survive, and those who can survive are good dealers. His store covers an area of more than 800 square meters, integrating ceramic tiles, hardware, sanitary ware, pipes and other categories, and can provide one-stop sales and supporting services for consumers purchasing building materials.
In a sense, Yu Xiaoming is building his own "platform" for clothing.
02
"Walking on many legs, integrating resources and making money together."
——Zhang Haifeng, Fuzhou dealer of Samit Ceramics
Zhang Haifeng has been representing Samit for 20 years, and during these 20 years he has only represented Samit, one brand. In the past, he mainly operated in the Southern Building Materials City; later, when the Southern Building Materials City was demolished, he bought a 4-story building in the Southeast International Building Materials City for exclusive use as a store.
Next, Zhang Haifeng plans to introduce dealers in other home building materials categories and provide them with rent-free services to create his own "one-stop decoration" and improve his competitiveness. Regarding the impact of the demolition of Southern Building Materials City on him, he believes that the most important thing is the possibility of losing a group of old customers. "Because the current location of this store is a bit remote, some of our old customers may find it a bit far away. So in addition to this store, I also rented a store at Red Star Macalline." He believes that the current people in Southeast International Building Materials City Although the traffic is not much, new customers come every day. "I don't need to pay rent. The cost may be lower than before, so I'll keep it for now. The store and we have made a lot of moves recently. I believe the flow of people in this store will be better in the future."
03
"Slate is the direction, but the current industry is too chaotic."
——Chen Weijian, General Manager of Jingjing Home Furnishing Fuzhou
Based on the product positioning of Cinjing, Chen Weijian believes that Fuzhou Cinjing is both a home decoration and retail player.This channel still has a very competitive advantage in the market. In his view, whole-house customization will be the direction of the home decoration channel. On the one hand, this is the choice of a new generation of consumer groups; on the other hand, because the quality of the finely decorated houses in the Fuzhou market is so poor, most owners are forced to renovate.
As for the application of slate in whole-house customization, he believes that "there will still be a market in the future, but the current market is too chaotic. In addition to the product itself, the cost of all aspects is too high." While prices are falling, textures and colors must have their own characteristics. ”
04
"Start again and become bigger and stronger."
——Lin Shanqiang, Fuzhou dealer of gold medal Asian tiles
Lin Shanqiang did not do business in Fuzhou City in the past, but in Gaoshan Town, Fuqing. After coming to Fuzhou, he believed that in order for Gold Medal Asia to open up in the Fuzhou market, it needed to build its brand image systematically and serially.
In the past two years, Lin Shanqiang has been focusing on distribution channels, establishing a market foundation, building a personal image, and cultivating his own basic base through distribution channels. Now, as the performance of distribution channels in the Fuzhou market becomes increasingly unsatisfactory, the market foundation he established through distribution has been well rewarded: while distribution has declined, its retail business has grown.
“I have thought about switching to other industries before, such as catering. But thinking about the fact that I have been working in the industry for most of my life and that switching careers like this will leave me with regrets, I decided to continue doing this.”
05
"I will always walk hand in hand with Melco in the future!"
——Luo Ting, Fuzhou dealer of Melco marble tiles
As one of the few female dealers in the Fuzhou market, Luo Ting’s experience is also legendary. She entered the industry in 2014 as a clerk in a marble tile brand store, and soon became a dealer of a certain brand. Until the beginning of this year, she had been working on the brand for 6 years without any advance notice.She declared bankruptcy, causing her capital chain to be on the verge of breaking. Later, Melco Marble Tile helped her and gave her some policy support, which allowed her to tide over the difficulties and open a Melco store in Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store.
"When I was in the most difficult time, Melco helped me. People must know how to be grateful. I will always walk hand in hand with Melco in the future!" Luo Ting told the investigation team. She is also very confident about the future. "The flow of people in the store this year has increased significantly compared with last year. In addition, the rent of this store is not high and the operating costs are not large. I am still very confident about the future.
06
"Be careful when choosing a store."
——KMY international light luxury tile Fuzhou dealer Chen Long
Chen Long has been an agent for KMY International Light Luxury Bricks since 2008. The reason why he chose KMY back then was because KMY has a full range of products that can meet diverse needs, with excellent quality, high cost performance, strong comprehensive strength, and potential for sustainable development.
In the past, Southern Building Materials City was Chen Long's "commercial center". After the demolition of the Southern Building Materials City, he moved the store to the Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store where the rent is cheaper and the transportation is more convenient. "You have to be careful when choosing a store. If you don't choose well, you may lose yourself." As for why he chose Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store, he said, "We have always chosen Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store before. Those who had stores later did better in the south and withdrew. We had dealt with each other before, and both parties knew about it." Later, a series of policies and assistance were provided to Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store. Fully recognized by settled brands including KMY.
The store set up a stage, the brand performed, Xiyingmen Sanhuan Haisheng store and the settled brands including KMY worked together to penetrate into the community and quickly achieved results and gained a reputation. During the interview by the investigation team, the KMY store had a steady flow of customers, and Chen Long was busy for a while.
07
"Created productBrand influence should be people-oriented. ”
——Xue Libin, Fuzhou dealer of Jianyi Ceramics
Xue Libin started acting as an agent for Jianyi marble tiles in 2008. The reasons why he chose Jianyi at that time were very simple. First, he valued the distinctive products, such as antique bricks, sheepskin bricks, etc.; second, he valued Jianyi's innovation ability. Today, Xue Libin has two stores in Fuzhou, and designer channels account for 80% of sales. This is inseparable from the fact that he has been deeply involved in the designer channel since the beginning of representing Jane.
In his view, brands can play a role in publicity, but in order to create brand influence, they must also rely on people and be people-oriented. People-oriented, from the perspective of consumers, means "customer thinking", and from the perspective of the team, it means relying on people to do things. Take the finished product delivery service implemented by Fuzhou Jianyi last year as an example. Based on the complete process and detailed service standards provided by the headquarters, Fuzhou Jianyi established its own construction team and has certain knowledge about the construction team that needs long-term cooperation. The standard requires more than 10 years of experience. Precisely because of the emphasis on people, the delivery of finished products has greatly promoted Fuzhou Jianyi's operations and won the trust of many customers. At the same time, he expressed his approval of Jianyi’s move to unify pricing across the country, “One price across the country, it’s clear, so customers trust us more.”
08
"Composite light-grained bricks are very effective in building brand image."
——Chen Min, manager of Wrigley Composite Light Grain Brick Fuzhou Xiyingmen Headquarters Store
Dongjian Group started operating Wrigley in Fuzhou in 2009.
For Wrigley's recently launched composite light-grained tiles, Chen Min believes that the market response has been very good. In her opinion, compared with common products on the market, light-grained tiles take into account two different aesthetic needs of solid color and texture. This differentiated product has a great effect on promoting sales. Of course, due to brand positioning and price reasons, composite light-grained bricks play a more obvious role in building brand image.
As for the view on after-sales service, Chen Min was surprised by saying, "Do ceramic tiles still need after-sales service?"The investigation team was called in. After learning more about it, I found out that it followed the procedures and standards set by Wrigley, and there were basically no after-sales complaints. "The quality of Wrigley's products is very stable, and we also have our own construction team that we work closely with, so there are basically no problems caused by paving. Most of the after-sales service requirements we encounter are for deep processing of ceramic tiles." For manufacturers She thinks she has done a good job in providing assistance, but the training can be more intensive.
……
Due to changes in the industry environment and the demolition of the Southern Building Materials City, the current Fuzhou ceramic tile market presents a situation where home building materials stores are generally dispersed and regionally concentrated. The future competition among dealers will be between stores + dealers + manufacturers. All-round competition. At the same time, the investigation team found that those who can persist in the Fuzhou ceramic tile market and survive better and better are old ceramic people who focus on a certain brand and have great ideas and actions.
On September 13, the 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and bathroom market survey [Fuzhou Station] came to an end. More articles about the ceramic tile market in Fuzhou will be written and published by China Ceramics Network in the coming time, so stay tuned!
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