Ceramic Industry Observation·Issue 4
On March 10, at the launch ceremony of the 2022 China Residential Design Effect Competition and the brand VI upgrade conference, Shunhui launched the "Shunhui Package Paving Service", becoming the first brand in 2021 following Jianyi, Dongpeng, Marco Polo, and Xinhui. After Mingzhu, Nobel, and Eagle, one of the few strong ceramic tile brands in the construction ceramics industry that has clearly raised the banner of delivering finished ceramic tiles with paving included.
As we all know, in the home building materials and decoration industry, the products sold are basically packaged and installed, ranging from customized furniture, doors and windows, shower rooms, etc. for the whole house to curtains, lighting, water heaters, etc., only ceramic tiles is an exception. Even if many consumers are willing to pay extra for paving services, most ceramic tile brands and dealers do not provide them.
However, it must be said that the delivery of finished ceramic tiles is not a new concept. Ceramic tile brands have proposed it many years ago. So why has it been favored in the building ceramics industry but has never really been implemented? But now it has been clearly and firmly put on the strategic agenda by ceramic tile brands such as Shunhui and is increasingly valued by more ceramic tile brands?
The changes and logic behind this are worth pondering.
Once
Why is it difficult to deliver finished ceramic tiles?
Because it's like a hot potato. Hot potato originally means a thorny problem, which means that the thing to be solved is very difficult, but after solving it, you can get benefits from it.
The term "hot potato" is apt to describe the delivery of finished ceramic tiles. It must have been market demand that gave birth to the concept of finished ceramic tile delivery, and prompted some ceramic tile brands to actively try to implement it. However, why are ceramic tile brands and dealers reluctant to provide finished ceramic tiles when consumers have long needed them?
First of all, there are too many problems involved in laying ceramic tiles. In addition to the complicated procedures, which make it time-consuming and costly, it is also easy toIt is easy to infringe the interests of all parties. Tile paving is only one link in the overall decoration. During the operation, the construction party must make seamless connections with other construction parties, especially the ground waterproofing and wall base construction parties. Otherwise, wall problems will easily occur. Floor leakage or tiles falling off or cracking, etc. However, most brands and dealers lack the professional ability to deal with wall and floor leakage. In addition, if ceramic tile brands and dealers implement finished product delivery, they will compete with decoration companies for jobs. Do you still want to let decoration companies introduce customers to buy ceramic tiles?
Secondly, the ceramic tile laying process is too complicated, and there are too many employees in the decoration industry. Various technical evaluations are confusing, and the consumer complaint rate remains high. Some ceramic tile brands have tried to set up their own paving and paving teams to carry out paving work according to the water absorption of their own products to achieve the perfect presentation of product applications; however, due to the different water absorption and shrinkage and expansion coefficients of different products, Similarly, the problem of excipients has not been well solved. For this reason, many ceramic tile brands and dealers simply do not provide delivery of finished ceramic tiles based on the principle that doing more is worse than doing less.
To sum up, although the delivery of finished ceramic tiles once it is implemented, it may greatly improve consumer satisfaction with ceramic tile brands and dealers, thus driving the growth of ceramic tile sales, it is a thankless service in the short term. . Promoting such services will not only see no direct economic benefits, but may also indirectly compress the profit margins of businesses, because establishing a construction team and conducting professional training requires a lot of investment.
To take a step back, even if ceramic tile brands and dealers are willing to invest heavily in the short term to create a mature ceramic tile paving construction team that is capable of fighting and winning, in the long term they cannot afford the normal performance of the team. Operating expenses - revenue and profits cannot reach a certain level and cannot support the finished ceramic tile delivery team.
This is the current situation of most ceramic tile brands and dealers. Although it is heartbreaking, it is very true.
Today
Why is the delivery of finished ceramic tiles so valued?
It’s not an exaggeration to say that it has become a hot topic. There are four reasons, which can be summarized as "four reasons" in order from shallower to deeper.
The first is to create a competitive advantage. In the context of our country’s economy moving from an era of incremental dominance to an era of stock dominance, the building and ceramics industry is not only experiencing serious overcapacity and channel fragmentation, but also product homogeneity has become increasingly intense, leading to market competition, especially in retail channels. Competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and the Matthew Effect is beginning to become apparent. If ceramic tile brands and dealers do not create a delivery model for finished ceramic tiles that satisfies customers, it will be difficult to make ceramic tiles that are so homogenized that “you have them, I have them all” free of semi-finished product attributes and what you see are often not the same with good quality and low prices. The resulting disadvantage helps them find a way to survive in the brutal competition.
The second is to promote the development of rock slabs. The emergence of rock slabs has allowed many people to see new growth points and more possibilities in the construction and ceramics industry, but the difficulty of implementation has become an obstacle to its forward development. If you want to make a difference in the field of slate or ceramic tiles, ceramic tile brands and dealers must face reality, actively promote the delivery of finished tiles, and then transition to the delivery of finished slate products.
The third is to adapt to consumption upgrades. Whether the quality and application effect of ceramic tiles is good or not is not decided by ceramic tile brands and dealers. Consumers, users or customers only have the final say. It’s just that people’s consumption awareness has not been awakened in the past. In the past, the home building materials industry was in the seller's market stage, and people's requirements for ceramic tile consumption were also very low. Ceramic tile brands and dealers could easily sell them as long as they had the goods in hand, not to mention the need for paving and application design solutions. , sometimes even without delivery, and often in short supply. Nowadays, the home building materials industry has already entered the buyer's market stage. On the one hand, serious overcapacity has led to serious oversupply in the market. Consumers have too many choices when buying ceramic tiles. On the other hand, with the continuous development of our country's economy and the increase in national income, With the further improvement of the level of consumption, the trend of consumption upgrading has become more and more obvious in recent years. People have higher requirements for products and after-sales services, especially for the young people who have gradually grown into the main force leading the consumption upgrade.
In this context, if ceramic tile brands and dealers do not want to be eliminated in the wave of consumption upgrades, they must establish, improve and effectively operate a complete customer service system with the delivery of finished ceramic tiles as the core, and effectively realize service front-end and extension. To the greatest extent possible, we will eliminate all after-sales hidden dangers, including underdelivery and incorrect delivery, product quality, and problems in the paving process, so as to stand out in the fierce market competition.Thereby gaining consumers' trust, winning the market, and ultimately occupying users' minds.
In fact, providing finished ceramic tile delivery can not only solve the pain points of consumers purchasing ceramic tiles, but also solve the pain points of ceramic tile brands and dealers themselves. For example, after the tiles are laid, hollowing, cracking, warping, falling off, etc., the effect of the tiles is not good, the details of the tiles are not in place, etc., even if it is not a quality problem with the tiles themselves, consumers and the construction company will probably Saying so can easily lead to confusing consumer disputes.
Fourth is to move towards good business. The so-called business for good means that commercial enterprises have an altruistic spirit when formulating their vision, mission and values, and create projects that can not only solve social and environmental problems but also create economic value based on the genes and advantages of society. Instead of traditional enterprises doing charity. In the context of our country's pursuit of common prosperity, doing business for good has become the general trend and inevitable choice of the times.
Enterprises only go through four levels from low to high, that is, from customer-centric (solving customer pain points and meeting customer needs) to company-to-community (treating employees as important stakeholders to build a beautiful organization), to interests Stakeholders share the same interests (in addition to customers and employees, we also need to pay attention to suppliers, channels, communities, governments and the entire society), and finally use social innovation to solve social problems (making the entire country and society better) , can we truly achieve good business.
Companies must embrace the general trend of doing business for good, but it is by no means as simple as donating money and doing charity. In a sense, solving a series of decoration pain points that can be called social phenomena, including the purchase and laying of ceramic tiles, that people encounter in the process of realizing their dream of a better house, is the best way for ceramic tile brands and dealers to achieve good business. Groundwork needs to be done.
Consumption is upgrading and times are progressing. The delivery of finished ceramic tiles, which was once regarded as a hot potato in the past, will surely appear in the services of more and more ceramic tile brands and dealers, and enter thousands of households, helping people better realize the goal of "living in a place where they can live." The housing dream of "something beautiful".
