Sanitary ware is a must-have for household life. With the improvement of people's living standards, the market has been expanding. And after years of development, China's sanitary ware output has become the world's largest.
Competition in the low-end market is fierce. And difficult to enter the high-end market.
In recent years, China's sanitary ware market has been in a state of rapid development.
However, most sanitary ware companies have not been able to keep up with the pace of development, and management and marketing have not been standardized. The quality of employees is not high. Only a few companies have operated some well-known brands and opened up channels. This leads to vicious competition between enterprises and the market is occupied by a very small number of large and well-known enterprises.
The disadvantages of small sanitary ware companies are even more obvious: small scale, single product, outdated equipment... seriously lacking in competitiveness.
And several large foreign brands not only control the high-end market, but also become more and more competitive in price. They are gradually penetrating into the low-end market, which is an unprecedented test for small and medium sanitary ware companies.
Secondly, various costs such as materials and labor are rising. The rising cost puts more and more pressure on sanitary ware companies. In the face of many competitors, they have to increase advertising investment. By compressing their own profit margins, try to gain customers and open up sales.
For sanitary ware companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, it is tantamount to worsening the situation.
Some people say that the Chinese sanitary ware market is "handed over" by the Chinese themselves.
Only by occupying the high-end market, the enterprises can have a position; on the contrary, the smaller the share, the lower the position.
It is understood that China has become the world's largest bathroom consumer market. The performance and quality of many domestic sanitary ware brands have reached or even surpassed that of foreign brands. However, foreign sanitary ware brands have almost monopolized China's high-end sanitary ware market with their strong financial strength and high brand awareness.
In addition to historical reasons, the lack of brand awareness of domestic companies is an important reason for this situation.
Sanitary ware has been continuously developed and improved. More and more consumers not only pay attention to product price, quality, and after-sales service when buying sanitary products, but also pay attention to brand awareness and business reputation.
If the company still stays in the business philosophy of the seller's market in the past, it will definitely be at a disadvantage in market competition, and even be ruthlessly eliminated by the market. The sanitary ware industry has entered the era of brand marketing.
Liberate the shackles and keep up with the times
According to statistics, China's annual demand for ceramic sanitary products has reached 34 million pieces. It has become the world's largest consumer market for sanitary products. Last year, the output of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware products reached 7.5 billion square meters and 177 million pieces respectively. They account for 60% and more than 40% of the world's total output of architectural sanitary ceramics. The annual growth rate of products exported to Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East and other places is 50%.
From the analysis of this trend, the Chinese sanitary ware market is quite optimistic. With a large amount of rigid demand, it can be said that the market is very good.
However, due to the comprehensive factors such as rising raw material prices, rising labor costs, and continuous floods and droughts this year, the domestic ceramic industry is in a downturn.
In response to the frequent occurrence of "overcapacity" and "market saturation" in the industry, the profit margins of small and medium-sized bathroom companies will be further compressed. More and more rational consumers do not intend to pay for it. The pressure of product backlog is considerable, and some Chinese factories have to stop running some production lines.
The ceramic sanitary ware industry is still very traditional in terms of management and marketing. Employees lack technical expertise. Therefore, only a very small number of companies have relatively well-known brands and relatively complete sales channels.
Many companies' own sales channels and sales management are obviously not standardized enough, and marketing is weak. The sales of products depend on a good relationship with distributors.
In addition, many companies do not have the ability to operate brands, a systematic business model and a professional marketing team; no accurate market information; no customer-oriented service standards and customer-oriented service system; no market-oriented research and development, production, and supply system. The capital investment cycle is long and the risk is high. All of these will become a time bomb that puts enterprises at high risk, and may be deadly at any time.
In summary, it is not difficult to see that an enterprise's internal operation management system urgently needs to be established, and market standards urgently need to be standardized. In addition, companies can stop running part of the production line, digest inventory, and wait for the peak sales season. Because there is real rigid demand, as long as the product is done well, no matter how the market environment changes, a certain effect will eventually be achieved.
The following are three suggestions for improving the status.
Keep Up with Quality
At any time, the quality is everything and will not lag behind. Consumers who spend money on goods, especially a household product, will certainly not tolerate quality problems. Update production equipment and other infrastructure. Although the cost is high, if you don't invest, it's just waiting to die.
Sales Channel Expansion
In the past, the marketing of sanitary ware companies relied on good customer relationships to a large extent. Lacking the ability to operate the brand; there is no standard customer service system and professional marketing team. These all increase the profit risk of sanitary ware companies invisibly. This is also an important reason why many sanitary ware companies say that "the product is good, but it can't be sold."
Keep Up with Service
Compared with methods such as updating equipment and adding stores, the investment in service quality improvement is much lower than the previous two. Moreover, there are more and more high-quality sanitary products in China. Whether to develop high-quality, considerate and personalized services to bring customers a better service experience has become most important for the product to stand out.
