In my exchanges with some colleagues these days, I often mention that what can motivate a person to persist in doing something well for a long time must be his inner love and persistence.
On the fifth day of arriving in Xiamen, the research team interviewed a total of 24 ceramic tile distributors (including ceramic tile dealers, home decoration design companies, and building materials stores), allowing the author to feel the most What is profound is that Fujian people have a spirit of "you will win if you love to work hard". Every boss is very dedicated and does everything by himself. It is rare for him to still be interviewed by the research team despite his busy schedule. Similarly, China Ceramics Network also has persistent determination to get close to the terminal to understand the market and empower manufacturers to transform, and is moving forward step by step.
On September 20, we went to Longyan, a prefecture-level city in western Fujian, and will go to Jinjiang next... The author has been working with many people these days After communicating with a ceramic tile channel dealer, I feel that the situation here can be described in one sentence - the market is not sluggish and the prospects are bright, as shown in the following six points.
01. There are not many large-scale stores, but they all have business to do< /p>
Xiamen has an administrative area of 1,700 square kilometers, making it the fourth smallest city in China, even less than Pinghe County in Zhangzhou City next door. As an expensive "small place", the local building materials business district is greatly affected by high housing prices. In addition, the geographical area and radiation range are small, which makes dealers develop secondary agent channels in Xiamen.It's not easy to walk.
Another point is that Xiamen is not far from anywhere in the city. Coupled with the convenient transportation, almost everyone who needs to buy ceramic tiles will go to several mainstream building materials markets, so even if this place It cannot accommodate too many building materials markets, but old local stores like Jijia Jiashi have a good flow of people. When the research team was surprised by the store's footfall for the first time, a merchant told us: "In Xiamen, whether they are inside or outside the island, as long as their homes are being renovated, they will come to Jijia."
▲Huang Jiacheng, deputy general manager of Xiamen Jijiajia World Building Materials and Home Plaza< /span>
Compared with Jijia·Jia World, Xiamen Red Star Macalline Wuyuanwan store has a relatively quiet traffic situation, but it has great advantages in geographical location. Red Star Macalline (Wuyuanwan Store) is located in the area where home decoration companies and designer studios are most concentrated in Xiamen. Therefore, most of Red Star’s merchants are engaged in high-end home decoration and design channels. Here, only Lamborghini and Versace are There are more than a dozen imported ceramic tile brands such as , Ruisi and so on.
02. The secondary renovation market may usher in a golden period
With Xiamen’s hardcover coverage close to 100%, the secondary renovation marketIt has become a battleground for local material dealers. Almost every ceramic tile dealer told the author that the renovation of old houses and the renovation of second-hand houses are their main sources of customers. Among them, dealers who mainly use retail and home decoration designer channels told the author , its store’s secondary renovation orders accounted for almost 80% of all sales.
▲Vice President of Xiamen Building Decoration Association and Chairman of Zongquan Decoration Huang Jinfa
Most people believe that the renovation cycle of a house is 10 years. In fact, it should be 20 years more accurately, because this time span happens to be the replacement of a generation. Huang Jinfa, vice president of the Xiamen Building Decoration Association and chairman of Zongquan Decoration, told the author: "The year 2000 was an explosive period for the development of housing construction in Xiamen, so now is the golden period for the building materials category in the field of old house renovation." Zongquan Decoration Decoration is a 24-year-old decoration company in Xiamen. It is understood that Zongquan Decoration Company's performance rankings among all districts in Xiamen are the best on the island. Huang Jinfa believes that although most all-inclusive companies use low prices to seize market share, such enterprises are destined not to last long, and we can guide customers in the direction of high quality.
03. Yahealth Decoration Company was reshuffled, and the decoration industry gradually entered a mature period
We also mentioned earlier the problem of all-inclusive companies seizing the market by relying on low prices. This type of decoration company makes ceramic tile dealers love and hate it, because the whole decoration model is a major trend in the future. Having to intervene in this channel has low profits and high risks. The most incredible thing is that some all-inclusive companies have launched the so-called "688 package" (all the main materials are included for 688 yuan/square meter).square meters), based on the prices of our normal main decoration materials, we think this is completely impossible, but it does exist.
▲Wu Songfeng, Xiamen dealer of Eagle Brand Ceramics
When mentioning this topic, Wu Songfeng, a dealer of Eagle Ceramics in Xiamen, said: "As the saying goes, there is no service without profit, and low price means low quality, so this The maintenance costs faced by decoration companies in the later stage are very high. "Some all-inclusive companies rely on the upstream to collect the owner's deposit, and the downstream to collect the entrance fee and warranty deposit from the material supplier. In the middle, they are in arrears with the construction fee and the material supplier's payment. When business does not grow, there will be big problems in the capital chain.
It is understood that in recent years, there have been many external all-inclusive companies in Xiamen. After being active in Xiamen for a period of time, some went bankrupt and some ran away. Although it is said that all-inclusive companies that expand rapidly and fail to run due to poor management are common across the country, the market in Xiamen seems to have a general catalytic reaction. After the sub-healthy business model of the whole assembly company came to Xiamen, it took less than a year or two. The disadvantages are obvious and they are quickly eliminated by the market. It can be said that the decoration industry is gradually entering a mature period.
04. Use personalized and differentiated products to avoid homogeneous price competition
There are as many brands of ceramic tiles in Xiamen as there may be hundreds of names. The homogeneity of products has become a headache for dealers, because when similar products meet in a narrow road, their prices will eventually change.Competition is a mutually harmful thing for ceramic tile dealers. Whenever the research team asked the question: "What aspects do you think the manufacturer needs to improve and improve?", the most common answer received was: "I hope the manufacturer can develop some and update some to be closer to popular styles and cater to the tastes of young consumers." , more distinctive products. ”
After visiting so many ceramic tile brands, the author found that the product designs and colors of many brands are very personalized and differentiated. For example, Jianyi marble tiles can realize continuous pattern products with dense seams, Jinyitao's texture series antique tiles, Owen Lai's main gray and white plain tiles, and has the "King of Small Bricks" and "White Romantic, known as the "King of Bricks", and Ella's super wear-resistant marble tiles that conquer consumers with the words "super wear-resistant", etc. Don’t follow the trend or imitate, focus on developing good products; have a clear brand positioning, and focus on your own field; in the end, the market will not let these brands down, and will reward you with excellent market response and performance.
05. There are two ways to achieve volume: first-line brands are willing to sink channels and enter real estate procurement projects< /strong>
This time in Xiamen, I met many senior dealers who had been selling bricks for more than 20 years. They recalled that more than ten or twenty years ago, they were wholesale sellers. An era when sales can make a difference. With the development of society, the current market has become completely different. There are only two ways to achieve volume. Either first-line brands are willing to sink channels, or they can enter into the strategic procurement projects of housing development companies. But neither the former nor the latter can be done by everyone, because both channels test the strength of brands and dealers.
▲Nobel Ceramics Xiamen Marketing Director Liao Changhong
In terms of sinking channels for first-line brands, Dongpeng and Nobel are doing better in Xiamen. Dongpeng Ceramics has 12 stores in this area, while Nobel has 15 stores in 5 prefecture-level cities in this area. These two brands are relatively mature in the layout and development of distribution channels in the entire southern Fujian region, and their systematic management is relatively complete. Therefore, when developing the county and township markets and sinking channels, these two brands will be more mature than others. Other brands are more successful.
▲Marco Polo Tiles Xiamen dealer Zeng Yafu
Speaking of local agents involved in real estate engineering procurement projects, the author found several dealers who are better at engineering channels, and they all also act as agents for other categories (bathroom ware, cabinets, etc.). For example, Chen Chunmu, general manager of Xiamen Minjian Building Materials, represents both Wrigley ceramic tiles and Wrigley sanitary ware categories; Zeng Yafu, the Xiamen distributor of Marco Polo tiles, also represents Faensa Bathroom; and Wang Guoming, the Xiamen distributor of Teji negative ion tiles, also represents European and American ceramics. ......
06. Large volume is difficult to achieve, dealers know how to rely on service to earn a premium
As mentioned earlier, the popularity of finely decorated houses in Xiamen is extremely high. Secondary renovations can become a big deal in the eyes of material dealers. At the same time, it is not something ordinary people can do through channels to sink and engage in engineering procurement. It can be seen that for ordinary dealers, the market space left for them in Xiamen is very limited. Fortunately, most dealers have a common understanding: to rely on services to increase product prices.
▲Su Wenwang, Xiamen dealer of Douglas ceramics imported from Italy< /span>
Su Wenwang, a Xiamen dealer of Douglas Ceramics imported from Italy, told the author: "It is worthless to sell bricks as a product. We are selling a solution and a way of life. Xiamen The market size is so large, we can only continue to improve our own value through design and services.”
It has been proposed a long time ago that there may no longer be dealers at the terminal, and they will all transform into channel dealers. The prerequisite for successful dealer transformation is to have this kind of service awareness. From buying goods alone to providing solutions to customers now, dealers can only avoid being swallowed up by the torrent of the market by gradually integrating with the development of the times.
