[Editor's note] This is the 4th issue of the 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and bathroom market survey [Chengdu Station]: Impressions (Part 2). Due to the tight schedule and heavy tasks of the survey, we will leave some articles until the end of the survey. More information, more data, more opinions, more analysis... will be written and published in articles one by one in the future, so stay tuned!
In the "2021 "Tao Xing China" National Ceramic Tile Bathroom Market Survey [Chengdu Station] Issue 2: Impressions (Part 1)", that is, "Chengdu Ceramic Tile Market, the top 5 brands with market share are all here!" "In the article, the "Tao Xing China" investigation team has summarized the six main characteristics of the local ceramic tile market.
However, the local ceramic tile market is much more than that and deserves more attention. This time, the "Tao Xing China" investigation team interpreted it from different angles in the form of keywords.
Keyword 1: Polarization
Through overt and covert investigations, the "Tao Xing China" investigation team found that the ceramic tile market in Chengdu showed obvious polarization.
First, ceramic tile brands are polarized. The top tile brands in market share are basically Marco Polo, Dongpeng, Mona Lisa, Nobel, Oceano, Guanzhu and other leading ceramic tile brands. They are doing well in almost every channel. Mainly Concentrated in the two high-end home furnishing stores in North Gate Fusenmei and South Gate Fusenmei; except for a few specialty brands in subdivisions such as Owen Lai and Elizabeth, most waist tile brands are struggling to survive, and they have basically withdrawn from the market in Beijing. High-end home furnishing stores such as Men Fusenmei, Nanmen Fusenmei, Red Star Macalline, and Easy Home have been squeezed into various mid- to low-end building materials markets to wholesale and sell low-price products. Some of those that remain in Beimen Fusenmei are only in The area outside Building Materials Hall No. 2 is not a famous brand street; some low-end ceramic tile brands and many unbranded brands are another kind of living situation. They are distributed in the mid-to-low-end building materials market, specializing in wholesale and selling low-price products. It's not difficult.
Second, the building materials and home furnishing market is polarized. North Gate Fusenmei, Nanmen Fusenmei concentrates most of the head and waist tile brands, while mid-to-high-end home furnishing stores such as Red Star Macalline and Easy Home have very few ceramic tile brands left. For example: there are only about 10 ceramic tile brands left in the Red Star Macalline Jinniu store; there are only four or five ceramic tile brands left in the Generations Jaeger-LeCoultre Decoration Home Plaza, but the stores have not been updated for many years; and there are only about 10 ceramic tile brands left in the Juranzhijia Jinsha store. Marco Polo is a ceramic tile brand, and many ceramic tile brands, including some leading brands, have long since been sold out.
In the case of polarization, the living space of waist tile brands in Chengdu will become smaller and smaller. If they want to turn around, they must pay attention to brand promotion and store location selection.
Keyword 2: Dashang
Another phenomenon worthy of attention in the Chengdu ceramic tile market is that the better local ceramic tile brands are basically in the hands of building materials companies. In other words, the dealers of these ceramic tile brands are professional companies, which we often call big merchants. The ceramic tile brands represented by Chengdu Dashang are as follows:
Jiushan Home Furnishing:Marco Polo;
China Resources Building Materials:Nobel, Romario, Gold Medal Asia, Delifon;
Huanai Home Furnishing:Wrigley, Oceano;
Youth Home:Mona Lisa;
Far Eastern Sublimation:Crown Pearl;
Qinhuang Building Materials:Garcia;
Jiamei Ceramic Building Materials: Owen Lai, Weimei L&D;
……
Compared with ceramic tile dealers who started as self-employed individuals, large merchants operating ceramic tiles with corporate operations, team collaboration, and professional services undoubtedly have advantages. The corporate operation model will definitely become an important direction for the development of ceramic tile dealers, and large merchants will also pay more and more attention to ceramic tile brands.
Keyword 3: Guangdong Brick
During the visit, “Taoxing China" investigation team discovered a very interesting phenomenon. In many low-end and mid-range building materials markets, almost all ceramic tile brands (regardless of whether the brand is a real Guangdong brand) will set up a sign in a prominent position in the store. Write words similar to:
Disclaimer: The origin of the ×× ceramic tiles sold by our company is Guangdong. We will compensate you ten percent for any fake ones!
Many dealers interviewed said that Chengdu consumers attach great importance to the brand and origin of ceramic tiles, that is, whether the ceramic tiles they want to buy are Guangdong bricks. Because of this, many ceramic tile brands from non-Guangdong production areas have to go to Foshan, Guangdong to register companies or set up exhibition halls in order to gain the trust of consumers.
However, many Guangdong ceramic tile brands do not operate well in Chengdu. Many ceramic tiles with the banner of Guangdong bricks are not necessarily real Guangdong bricks. The phenomenon of "selling sheep over dogs' meat" abounds in the market.
Doesn’t it mean that Guangdong bricks are bad? What consumers recognize is brand awareness, product quality or dealer service? These are worthy of careful consideration by ceramics companies and dealers.
Keyword 4: Engineering dealer
The "Taoxing China" investigation team learned that some ceramic tile brands have established manufacturer cooperation relationships with multiple dealers in engineering channels in Chengdu at the same time, that is, there are multiple engineering dealers in the same area.
This phenomenon is not so much similar to the ancient custom of "polygamy" as it is more like the behavior of "stepping on several boats" that existed in ancient and modern times. At least, "polygamy" was reasonable and legal at the time, while "single-handedly" was contrary to moral standards in any era.
"Following the rules" not only infringes on the interests of dealers, but also damages the brand's image and reputation. It is an extremely short-sighted behavior.
Keyword 5: Designer
Today, the designer channel has long become an unavoidable channel for ceramic tile sales. For most dealers who are relatively successful in business, they will not do too badly in terms of designer channels. A ceramic tile distributor said, "In Chengdu, the designer channel has become a resistance to the development of ceramic tile dealers."
The reason why he said this is because he has always suffered from the difficulty in controlling the designer channel. Firstly, the investment cost is too high, and secondly, designers "have only a few boats to work on". The so-called cost of designer channels is, to put it nicely, rebates, and to put it harshly, it is kickbacks; and the so-called designers "have many boats on their hands" means that they have established relationships with many ceramic tile dealers at the same time, and who gives them the kickbacks? Whichever product is more popular to consumers.
In fact, the "Taoxing China" investigation team, which has visited many ceramic tile markets, believes that the phenomenon of designers taking kickbacks is not unique to Chengdu. This is a very common phenomenon across the country, but it is more serious in Chengdu.
The most direct reason why ceramic tile dealers give rebates to designers is that they hope designers will bring consumers into the store to achieve ceramic tile transactions, but this is not necessarily the main reason. The real choice lies in the hands of consumers, who will still buy ceramic tiles even without the participation of designers. In many cases, the real reason why ceramic tile dealers give kickbacks to designers is that they are afraid that designers will deliberately slander their products because there is no kickback, thereby affecting consumers' decision-making, so they use kickbacks to block the designers' mouths.
How to prevent designers from taking kickbacks? Two conditions must be met: first, designers should be given reasonable remuneration so that they can earn corresponding income based on their own design level; second, designers should be restrained from taking kickbacks. However, the former depends on consumers, while the latter must resort to administrative and legal means, both of which are beyond the reach of ceramic tile dealers. To say so is to say nothing.
Keyword 6: Chuan Chuan
In Sichuan, Chuanchuan is the abbreviation of "Chunchuan Xiang". Chuanchuanxiang is one of the special traditional snacks originated in Chengdu. It is also the most popular embodiment of grassroots cuisine. As another form of hotpot, it is called small hotpot. The "chuanchuan" mentioned here is the image name given by Chengdu people to the illegal behavior of "chuanchuan" or to those who "chuanchuan".
In terminology, Chuanchuan takes advantage of the flaws and loopholes in the market mechanism to circulate among consumers, dealers and even manufacturers, and sell products through price.Measures such as gridlock are used to purposefully attack each other's supply system and effective demand system to achieve the purpose of completely controlling the market's effective resources; in layman's terms, skewering means disrupting the market and making reasonable profits that should be earned by dealers.
Many interviewees reported to the "Taoxing China" investigation team that the phenomenon of chuanchuan in Chengdu is very serious. Many chuanchuan have set up studios and are engaged in gang warfare. A large number of Chuan Chuan people come from the stores of ceramic tile dealers. After getting familiar with it, they start their own business and start Chuan Chuan.
Several interviewees strongly requested that China Ceramics Network report this issue truthfully and feed it back to the manufacturer, hoping that the manufacturer can effectively solve it. One of the interviewees said helplessly that the greatest support he hopes the manufacturer can provide is to combat the phenomenon of skewering, which is sad.
Keyword 7: Slate
The "Taoxing China" investigation team said in a previous article, "As a city with extremely strong consumption power, Chengdu is also at the forefront of the country in its acceptance of new things. Therefore, the recognition and acceptance of slate in Chengdu The degree is relatively high." But this is just one aspect, there is often another side to things.
A staff member of a major brand ceramic tile dealer store bluntly told the "Tao Xing China" investigation team that although she could not distinguish between slate and ceramic tiles, she would continue to instill in consumers the concept that slate is good, and Ordinary ceramic tiles have been marketed as slate because slate is more expensive and consumers don’t know what slate is. Many dealers or store salespeople who think they know the difference between slate and ceramic tiles have only a limited understanding of slate.
In order to understand the awareness and acceptance of slate in Chengdu, the "Taoxing China" survey team also pretended to be consumers and walked into a well-known home brand store and asked a shopping guide in the store what slate was. The answer they received was As "slate is sintered stone". After being asked "Is the slate a stone?", the shopping guide hesitated and could not tell any more knowledge about the slate.
It can be seen that there is still a long way to go in the "popularization" of slate in the terminal market, especially in consumer education. The popularization and promotion of slate standards cannot be delayed. Otherwise, it is very likelySlate has not really entered the market yet, and its reputation is already terrible.
