[Editor's note] This is the 5th issue of the 2021 "Tao Xing China" National Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Market Survey [Chengdu Station]: People's Views (Part 2). Due to time constraints and heavy tasks, we will leave some articles until after the investigation is completed. More information, more data, more characters, more opinions, more analysis... will be written and published in articles one by one in the future, so stay tuned!
Following the above "2021 "Tao Xing China" National Ceramic Ceramic Ceramics and Bathroom Market Survey [Chengdu Station] Issue 4: People's Views (Part 1)", the China Ceramics Network "Tao Xing China" survey team told the interviewees' Working experience or views on brands and markets will show you various ways to "live" ceramic tile brands in Chengdu.
01
Amap makes overall improvements based on real market conditions, and each time is a "qualitative" leap.
——Li Wenya, general manager of Chengdu Gaode Ceramics
Four years ago, after being introduced by a friend, Li Wenya became the agent of AutoNavi Ceramics in Chengdu and became AutoNavi’s general agent in Chengdu. Li Wenya is a successful representative of brand transformation from wholesale. During this process, Amap’s headquarters provided great support. Li Wenya introduced to the "Taoxing China" investigation team that after acting as an agent for AutoNavi, the headquarters conducted a series of trainings for her and her team online and offline, driving them to learn industry knowledge, product sales skills, etc., so that they can communicate with the market. , the industry continues to conform. After acting as an agent for AutoNavi, Li Wenya deeply felt the difference between AutoNavi and other ceramic tile brands. “AutoNavi has made overall improvements based on real market conditions, from the initial gold-plated bricks and No. 9 rough stones to the subsequent porcelain polishing. Bricks, glazed tiles, and later energy tiles, and now rock slabs, it can be said that Amap has made a 'qualitative' leap and improvement."
Speaking of the "ceramic tiles and slates" strategy launched by AutoNavi this year, Li Wenya expressed support and approval. The store has already put the first batch of slates, with specifications of 800×800×9mm. Compared with previous products, Li Wenya thinks that the new product's design and color are very good, and she can feel that the hardness, toughness and texture of the product have been greatly improved.
Picture: Li Wenya (1st from right) enthusiastically leads the "Taoxing China" investigation team to experience the new products of Gaode slate tiles
02
Only the stronger your team is and the more people help you sell things, the better you can do. It is definitely not possible to rely solely on individual strength.
——Chengdu Huida ceramic tile dealer Chen Junfeng
Huida Ceramics has successfully developed engineering channels and some distribution channels in the Chengdu ceramic tile market. Currently, Huida ranks among the top engineering tile brands in Chengdu and has more than 40 distributors throughout Sichuan Province.
Starting this year, Huida Ceramics plans to fully develop its distribution channels. It will build a 1,000-square-meter image exhibition hall in Chengdu and open a live broadcast room in the exhibition hall to use new media tools and methods to attract traffic to its distributors. Chengdu Huida Tile will create a new retail model that manages distribution channels. Traditional mom-and-pop stores do not have a team or channels to attract traffic to the brand. In this case, it is difficult for distributors to survive. Huida Ceramics can use Chengdu, Sichuan to provide distributors with live streaming, fast supply, image showroom display, etc. Distributors can make money by providing good consumer services. "Only the stronger your team is and the more people help you sell things, the better you can do it. It's definitely not possible to rely on individual strength alone."
Chengdu Huida ceramic tile dealer Chen Junfeng (2nd from right)
03
At an age when he was seeking greater career development, he chose Bighorn Deer tiles.
——Zhang Lun, General Manager of Dajiaolu Ceramics in Chengdu Tianfu New District
As a dealer born after 1985, Zhang Lun has been engaged in the ceramic industry for more than ten years. At the age of 30, Zhang Lun believes that he has reached the age where he needs to pursue greater career development, so he hopes to represent an outstanding Foshan brand that is on the rise.By chance, Zhang Lun learned about Bighorn Deer Tiles through the Douyin platform.
Learning in detail that Bighorn Deer has excellent super wear resistance and can solve the real pain points of many consumers. At the same time, the product quality and color are also very good. Zhang Lun became very interested in the brand. For this reason, he couldn't wait to fly to Foshan to inspect the Big Horn Deer headquarters. After personally witnessing the strength and charm of Big Horn Deer, he decided to join Big Horn Deer without hesitation the next day and immediately signed an agency contract with Big Horn Deer.
Since officially joining Dajiaolu at the end of last year, Zhang Lun has been working non-stop to prepare for the construction of a new store. The new store is located in Phase 2 of Taipingyuan International Home Furnishing Expo City in Tianfu New District. It is understood that the market will be officially opened in June this year, and Big Horn Deer in Chengdu Tianfu New District will also hold an opening event at that time. Currently, its team is working hard to attract customers, and it is bound to make Big Horn Deer a hit in Chengdu on the opening day. Zhang Lun revealed that after establishing a foothold in this market, he will continue to lead Chengdu Dajiaolu to expand and open stores in stores such as Fussenmei.
Zhang Lun (1st from left), general manager of Dajiaolu Ceramics in Chengdu Tianfu New District
04
Only when the factory's products are strong can our "weapons" to win the market will be powerful.
——Wang Jian, Executive General Manager of China Resources Building Materials
In June 2020, under the influence of the domestic COVID-19 epidemic, the market situation in the ceramic industry became increasingly severe. However, China Resources Building Materials resolutely signed a contract with Nobel Ceramics at this time. Wang Jian said that the biggest reason for this is trust in the power of the Nobel brand and recognition of Nobel's corporate management. He believes that as the leading high-end ceramic tile brand in China, Nobel itself has its own traffic. Coupled with China Resources Building Materials' more than 20 years of operation foundation and well-known services in Sichuan, the two parties will join forces and the market prospects are unlimited.
After representing Nobel, Wang Jian felt that the difference between Nobel and other ceramic tile brands is customer loyalty and trust. "Nobel's customers trust the quality of its products very much, and they are all repeat customers. They will reserve Nobel's products in advance, but they never rush the processing time. They believe that slow work will produce fine work. I think this is the difference between Nobel and other companies. The biggest difference between brands.”
Picture: Wang Jian leads the "Tao Xing China" research team to experience Nobel Store No. 1
Wang Jian is quite confident about achieving future operational goals. But as an operator, the headquarters support he most desires is product strength. He believes that factories should return to product R&D and innovation, agents should return to operations, and dealers and stores should return to services and perform their respective duties. This division of labor is reasonable and long-term. "Only when the factory's products are strong will our 'weapons' to fight the market be powerful."
Wang Jian, executive general manager of China Resources Building Materials (2nd from right)
05
Strengthen both engineering and distribution channels, and don’t lose any of them!
——Lu Zimin, General Manager of European and American Ceramics Chengdu Operation Center
Lu Zimin has 17 years of experience in the ceramic industry and has taken over the Chengdu Branch of European and American Ceramics for 5 years. According to his introduction, European and American Ceramics currently has a single-building exhibition hall of nearly 900 square meters in Chengdu North Fusenmei, with a central warehouse of 4,800 square meters. The sales channels are mainly engineering and distribution channels. Lu Zimin analyzed, “Sichuan is an area that all ceramic brand manufacturers attach great importance to, and the European and American Ceramics headquarters is no exception. Chengdu European and American Ceramics has always focused on independently developed strategic projects and cooperated with many well-known local real estate companies. In terms of project channels, It is said that European and American ceramics can even rank among the top five ceramic tile brands in Chengdu.”
It is reported that Chengdu European and American Ceramics Branch has 48 dealers. In order to help dealers improve their retail channels, Lu Zimin chose to cooperate with Douyin and Toutiao, a well-known media company in Chengdu, for brand promotion from 2017 to 2018. This year, Lu Zimin continues to cooperate with platforms such as Qijia.com to attract traffic to dealers during landing activities.
Lu Zimin (2nd from left), General Manager of European and American Ceramics Chengdu Operation Center
06
Compared with similar ceramic tile brands and even imported brands, Elizabeth's price/performance ratio is higher.
——Huang Guosheng, General Manager of Chengdu Elizabeth Ceramics
Huang Guosheng has been engaged in the ceramic industry for more than ten years. Because he once represented imported ceramic tile brands, he has a special liking for modern and simple style ceramic tile brands. While other people's stores were still in European style with Roman columns as the main features, his brand store was already in a minimalist style. In 2017, Huang Guosheng contacted and represented Elizabeth Tile. At that time, the domestic ceramic tile fashion trend had gradually turned to modern simplicity. Huang Guosheng believed that Elizabeth was one of the few domestic ceramic tile brands that could keep up with the trend of fashion trends in a timely manner. The products could also be synchronized with imported ceramic tile brands. Compared with similar ceramic tile brands and even imported brands Better value for money.
According to Huang Guosheng, Elizabeth in Chengdu mainly serves mid-to-high-end customers, and the best-selling product specifications are mainly rectangular, such as 750×1500mm or 900×1800mm. Huang Guosheng is very optimistic about the development of rock slabs: the craftsmanship of rock slabs is close to that of stone, and the product specifications are large enough to meet market demand; the most important thing is that rock slabs can be used across borders and have a wide range of applications. "Elizabeth's slate sales are pretty good. The main application is wall cladding, and slate countertops are rarely made. We have a cooperative processing factory that specializes in slate wall processing for customers."
Huang Guosheng, general manager of Chengdu Elizabeth Ceramics (1st from right)
07
There is an industry trend in the Chengdu ceramic tile market and even the national ceramic tile market: brand polarization.
——Lu Jianyu, General Manager of Chengdu Special Negative Ion Ceramics
Lu Jianyu is a senior ceramics person who has been engaged in the ceramic tile industry for more than 30 years. Although he has only been an agent for Chengdu Te Te·anion tiles for one year, Te Te has entered the Chengdu market for more than ten years. He believes that compared with other ceramic tile brands, it is easier to leave a deep impression on Chengdu consumers who do not know much about ceramic tiles. On the one hand, TeDe's products have fashionable and novel designs, especially the joint series with design master Meng Ye; on the other hand, TeDe's products all have the ability to release negative ions.The function of a child is a very attractive product advantage for modern people who pay more attention to health in the post-epidemic period. This is also one of the important reasons why Lu Jianyu chose to cooperate with Dedi.
“There is an industry trend in the Chengdu ceramic tile market and even the national ceramic tile market: brand polarization. First of all, the market share of the leading brands continues to rise; secondly, the production volume of ceramic tiles in the production areas is large, and wholesale customers who are in need are also steadily increasing; and finally, there are also There is a brand with personalized characteristics, such as the functional ceramic tile brand TeTe. What I like is TeTe’s strong R&D and production capabilities, as well as the healthy trend of negative ion functional ceramic tiles.”
Lu Jianyu (2nd from left), general manager of Chengdu Special Negative Ion Ceramics
08
Market reshuffle is inevitable. In response to this situation, we can only work hard to follow up on existing channels.
——Huang Chao, General Manager of Chengdu Ouwenlai Plain Ceramic Tile Division
In 2015, Huang Chao was pleasantly surprised to discover that the products of Overlay plain ceramic tiles were very distinctive at the Bologna Ceramics Exhibition in Italy, and he has developed a deep relationship with this brand ever since. Up to now, Huang Chao has been in charge of Chengdu Overlay for nearly six years. He made it very clear that he is the agent of Overlay solely because of its highly differentiated and personalized products. This year, Ou Wenlai launched matte surface and composite surface slate that are different from the mass products on the market. He is very supportive of this. "In Chengdu, slate will become a powerful weapon for various brands to compete for high-end customers in the next two years. Former dealers Selling bricks means simply selling bricks. Now there is no way to sell bricks without slate.”
Chengdu Ouwenlai mainly focuses on home decoration channels, and is also one of the earliest brands in Chengdu to provide designer channels. Huang Chao revealed that the ceramic tile market has not been good in recent years, and terminal dealers are also facing a "shuffle". When a brand dealer changes hands and a new dealer enters the market, the first thing they will do is to vigorously expand channels and invest more manpower, material and financial resources to make other brand dealers in the same channel feel overwhelmed, especially the home improvement channel. Huang Chao said with some helplessness: "Market reshuffle is inevitable. In response to this situation, we can only work hard to follow up on existing channels."
Huang Chao (3rd from right), General Manager of Chengdu Ouwenlai Plain Tile Division
The 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and bathroom market survey [Chengdu Station] ended on May 25. However, for the Chengdu ceramic tile market, the "Taoxing China" research team will continue to pay attention and write articles, so stay tuned!
