[Editor's note] This is the 1st issue of the 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and bathroom market survey [Chongqing Station]: Impressions. Due to the tight schedule and heavy tasks of this survey, we will leave some articles to be written after the event. 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!
On May 13, Chongqing released the "Chongqing Seventh National Census Bulletin": As of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, the city's permanent population was 32,054,159 people, which is the same as the permanent population of 28,846,170 people in 2010 (the Sixth National Census Result) an increase of 3207989 people.
In this super city with a population of 32 million+, what is the status of the ceramic tile market?
Since arriving in Chongqing on the afternoon of May 25, China Ceramics Network's 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and sanitary ware market research team (hereinafter referred to as the "'Tao Xing China' investigation team") has been non-stop visiting home furnishing stores, decoration companies and interviewing ceramic tiles Brand dealers strive to present a real ceramic tile market.
01
Brands at all levels have their place
According to incomplete statistics from the "Taoxing China" investigation team, the number of building materials markets (involving ceramic tiles) above designated size in Chongqing is about 20. Among them, the high-end markets include Red Star Macalline Jiangbei Store, Red Star Macalline Supreme Mall (Yubei Store), Red Star Macalline Nanping Store, Red Star Macalline Tea Garden Store, Red Star Macalline Erlang Store, and Easy Home Jinyuan Store, Juranzhijia Juxin Store, Juranzhijiayuan Expo Store, Juranzhijia Erlang Store, Juranzhijia Fukou Store, Fusenmei Juxinmei Home Store No. 1; in the mid-to-low-end market, there are Xinbayi Building Materials Home Plaza, Jianmart Decoration City Jiangbei Store, Jianmart Jiangbei Flagship Store, Jianmart Nanping Store, Majiayan Building Materials Market, Longxi Building Materials Boutique Decoration City, etc.
In the Chongqing ceramic tile market, Red Star Macalline and Easyhome are the must-haves for ceramic tile brands. The number and popularity of the ceramic tile brands they have settled in are better than that of Fussen Mei. However, the three are still generally at the same level and cannot compete with each other. It is said that there are three pillars; the Chengdu ceramic tile market is just the opposite. The number and popularity of the ceramic tile brands settled by Red Star Macalline and Easy Home are obviously outnumbered by Rich Star.Sammi is dominating one end, and the status of the former two and the latter is very different. At the level of ceramic tile brands, Chongqing Red Star Macalline, Easyhome and Fusenmei all have head brands, waist and even tail brands. Only Fussenmei in Chengdu has head, waist and tail brands at the same time. , Red Star Macalline and Easyhome have long since disappeared from the waist and tail brands, and even the head brands are very few.
Judging from the distribution of the building materials market and the entry of ceramic tile brands, there is still a large space for survival in the Chongqing ceramic tile market. Whether it is the head, waist or tail brands, they can each find their own place and obtain corresponding development space. Of course, this is only relative to the ceramic tile market in Chengdu. Compared with the past, the concentration of head brands in Chongqing has gradually increased, while the market share of waist and tail brands in Chongqing has slowly shrunk; however, there are still some waist brands that have the strength and performance to compete with head brands. Unlike in Chongqing, It is an indisputable fact that the top brands in the Chengdu ceramic tile market are outperforming the waist brands.
A ceramic tile dealer told the "Tao Xing China" investigation team: Chongqing used to have sixty or seventy ceramic tile dealers of a certain scale, among them some were agents for head brands and some were agents for waist brands; after the market development in recent years, Changes, there are now only about 15 of these larger dealers left, most of them represent head brands, and only a few represent waist brands. In the past, many dealers who represented waist brands were gradually reduced to the distribution of head brands or were eliminated due to lack of strength.
02
Retail channels remain strong
The "Tao Xing China" investigation team learned that Chongqing's proportion of finely decorated houses is very low, which is in sharp contrast to Chengdu's extremely high proportion of finely decorated houses. As for the proportion of finely decorated houses in Chongqing, among several ceramic tile dealers interviewed, some thought it was about 30% or 40%, while others thought it was about 10%. In short, it is far lower than that in Chengdu.
Therefore, in the Chongqing ceramic tile market, the fine decoration housing project channel has little impact on other sales channels. Dealers retail in a wide sense such as stores, communities, cross-industry alliances, designers, events, Internet communities, basic decoration, and complete decoration. There is still much room for improvement in the channel. They generally take into account various channels and also have their own advantageous channels. This competitive situation of multi-channel operations with each having its own advantages is like the eight immortals crossing the sea, each showing their magical powers.
Among the various retail channels in the Chongqing ceramic tile market, the decoration channel has developed the most rapidly, which has increased the share of decoration companies., while the share of base equipment companies decreased. In recent years, decoration, which has become a hot topic, can be said to be prosperous in the local area. Not only local decoration companies such as Leshan, Thangka, Jiatianxia, and Midea have developed very well, but many foreign decoration companies have also settled in to seize the market share. Chongqing decoration market.
In this context, dealers of both head and waist ceramic tile brands must pay attention to the decoration market and find ways to open up their own decoration channels. Giving up the decoration channel is equivalent to giving up the road to survival. Judging from the actual situation, it has become a common phenomenon in the Chongqing ceramic tile market that head brands and waist brands compete on the same stage among decoration companies. This also proves from the side that non-leading brands still have room and opportunities for growth in Chongqing, which is at least much better than the situation in Chengdu.
03
Finished product delivery is a trend but also has resistance
As competition in the ceramic tile market becomes increasingly fierce, paving services, that is, finished product delivery, have increasingly become an important means for brands and dealers to create differentiated competitiveness. For example, in the Jinan ceramic tile market visited by the "Taoxing China" survey team (formerly called the "Terminal Research Team") at the end of 2019, paving services have almost become the standard for local dealers to build brand competitiveness and reputation.
It stands to reason that ceramic tile dealers in Chongqing should also pay attention to paving services, especially dealers who want to sell large-sized ceramic tiles (ceramic slabs) and really bring rock slabs to the market. Several ceramic tile dealers interviewed told the "Tao Xing China" investigation team that in fact they also want to form their own construction team to boost the sales of ceramic large slabs and prepare for the sales of slate slabs. However, the ceramic tile market in Chongqing is in a special situation and the home decoration channel is too strong. If ceramic tile dealers implement package laying services, it is equivalent to grabbing the jobs of basic decoration companies and complete decoration companies. Once this is done, it will inevitably affect dealers and basic decoration companies. Cooperation with installation companies and complete assembly companies.
However, finished product delivery is the general trend after all. How to follow the trend, plan in advance, and create a finished product delivery model has become an unavoidable problem for Chongqing ceramic tile dealers.
04
Some brand areas are seriously poorly protected
The "Tao Xing China" investigation team found that in the Chongqing ceramic tile market, the same brand has multiple dealers in the same area at the same time, and some well-recognized big brands are no exception. for exampleThere is a specialty store of a certain brand in the Juran Home Expo Park store. There are two specialty stores of the same brand in the Western Building Materials City next door. There is one specialty store of the same brand in the Juxin Store of Juran Home and Longxi Building Materials Boutique Decoration City. But these stores belong to different dealers.
Several ceramic tile dealers interviewed confirmed this chaos. They believe that some big brands are quite influential in Chongqing and could have done better. However, due to the chaotic management of regional distribution rights and the lack of unified planning, they often change dealers at will, missing great opportunities for development.
It can be seen that in addition to good products, good marketing, and good marketing, ceramic tile brands must also do a good job in protecting regional distribution rights. Otherwise, it will not only implicate dealers, but also affect the brand image and miss development opportunities.
05
Awareness and acceptance of slate need to be improved
This is a matter of benevolence and wisdom. It is said that the awareness and acceptance of rock slabs in Chongqing is not high compared to Chengdu. Taking the number of slate processing plants as an example, many Chengdu ceramic tile dealers stated with certainty that the number of local professional slate processing plants has reached 20 or 30. What the "Tao Xing China" investigation team learned is that they have slate processing capabilities. There are hundreds of processing factories (including stone and glass processing factories, etc.); while many Chongqing ceramic tile dealers believe that there are not many local professional slate processing factories. Some say there are only two or three, and some say there are less than 10. More people said they didn’t understand. The opinions of Chongqing ceramic tile dealers vary greatly, which indirectly reflects the local awareness and acceptance of slate.
Why is rock slab less recognized and accepted in Chongqing than in Chengdu? This must be closely related to economic, social and other factors. From the side, it reflects the degree of economic and social development of Chongqing (not talking about the total economic volume, Chongqing's GDP is much higher than that of Chengdu) and its acceptance of new things is slightly lower than that of Chengdu. Of course, this may also be related to factors such as culture and geography. A ceramic tile dealer told the "Taoxing China" investigation team that Chongqing is a mountain city. The places where houses are located are often complex in terrain, with high mountains and steep roads. It is not easy for a crane to get in, and manual transportation is very difficult, which greatly increases the number of large-size ceramic tiles and rock tiles. Difficulty of loading, unloading, shipping and handling of boards.
If the situation is true as what this dealer said, it will really cause considerable resistance to the development of slate in Chongqing. In this regard, ceramic tile brands and dealers who are preparing to fully introduce slate tiles to the local home improvement market must attach great importance to it and find ways to solve it.
06
The porcelain tile market continues to shrink
In recent years, under the impact of the trend of mid-board and floor tiles on the wall, the porcelain tile market has been shrinking. Many people in the industry even believe that porcelain tiles will be replaced by mid-board and floor tiles. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in the Chongqing ceramic tile market.
A ceramic tile dealer told the "Taoxing China" investigation team that he operates a Foshan brand. The porcelain tiles it produces are not advantageous products and the designs and colors lack competitiveness. The mid-board products of the Jiajiang ceramic tile brand in Sichuan have had an impact. It can't be sold even more.
Facing the attack of mid-board and floor tiles, how to increase the value of ceramic tiles is an urgent problem that ceramics companies, which mainly deal in ceramic tiles, need to solve.
07
Counterfeit brands have become a phenomenon-level problem
In the Chongqing ceramic tile market, the "Tao Xing China" investigation team discovered a shocking chaos - a large number of ceramic tile brands "touch porcelain" well-known ceramic tile brands, and play a big role in brand naming.
Jian Yi's × Marble, Champion's × Ceramics, Champion × World Ceramics, Champion Seal × Ceramics, Gold Medal × Ceramics, Yi × Shabai Ceramics, Bee × Home Ceramics, Hongyu × Home Ceramics... so many famous names The core words of ceramic tile brand names are openly used in infringement by these "copycat" ceramic tile brands. It is said that many of these brands have successfully registered trademarks, and many of the dealers who operate them have made a lot of money.
Who will rectify the "copycat" chaos in the ceramics industry? There is a long way to go to protect the intellectual property rights of ceramic tile brands!
