On May 25th, the 14th China International Kitchen and Bathroom Facilities Exhibition opened in Shanghai. The Shanghai Kitchen & Bath Exhibition is one of Asia's largest kitchen and bathroom event, and has always been regarded as a vane of industry development. The exhibition was held against the background of the financial crisis and swine flu, so it has more indicator significance. Judging from the news sent by the media, the popularity of this exhibition is not worse than that of the previous one. The number of visitors on the first day even exceeded that of the previous one. This confirms the unique vitality of China's economy in the downturn.
Compared with companies with a history of more than 100 years, such as Kohler and TOTO, the longest history of Chinese sanitary ware brands is only more than 20 years. The sanitary ware industry places great emphasis on technology, experience, and cultural accumulation, which makes it seem that it is not catching up with the advanced level of foreign countries as fast as architectural ceramics. However, there are indications that under the financial crisis, 2009 may be the first year of accelerating the transformation of China's sanitary ware industry.
In 2009, the sanitary ware industry can be described as a world of chess, and it is gradually entering the middle of the game. The following phenomena are worthy of attention:
First, the differentiation of the industry has intensified. Individual large companies and brand companies have come to the fore. Market segmentation and personalized corporate positioning trends are obvious. The outbreak of the financial crisis has provided advantageous companies with opportunities for low-cost expansion. The year of crisis coincided with the largest investment year for Wrigley. From 2008 to the first half of this year, Wrigley built five new production bases across the country, including Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, Dezhou in Shandong, and Nanxiong in Guangdong. At the same time, Wrigley has increased its investment in terminals, and plans to add 900 new outlets this year, reaching 3,000 outlets nationwide by the end of the year. Especially for first- and second-tier cities to build comprehensive stores—comprehensive stores of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware, the store must be opened to more than 500 square meters. Faenza currently has 40 large stores with more than 1,000 square meters, and there will be an increase of 20 or 30 this year. The construction of super-large and luxurious flagship stores of superior enterprises has promoted the overall upgrade of the industry's terminal stores, and has also raised the industry's competitive threshold. In addition, the crisis has also intensified the industry’s terminal sales promotion, and price has become the most important weapon for shuffling. The reshuffle of the industry will further increase market concentration and expand the market share of advantageous companies.
Second, the hedging of domestic and foreign brands has intensified. Affected by the general climate, exports of 1-4 sanitary wares have decreased by nearly 50%, but the domestic market has picked up rapidly since March, especially the third- and fourth-tier markets are very active. In the past, the development of the third and fourth tier markets was restricted by the conditions of tap water and water supply and drainage. With the advancement of urbanization, the channel focus of the sanitary ware industry will move downward as a whole. Some foreign brands will also go to the second and third tier markets, which will form a head-on conflict with the up-going domestic mainstream brands. In the context of the financial crisis, some hotels that originally only chose foreign brands began to throw hydrangea into mainstream domestic brands. In order to move up, domestic mainstream brands have adopted the strategy of home appliance companies to deal with foreign brands around 2000-playing the service card, package delivery, package design, package installation, package paving (tiles), etc. Of course, the main advantage of domestic mainstream brands competing with foreign brands lies in cost performance. At present, the price of domestic brands is 1/3 lower than that of foreign brands for products of the same specification.
The third is the brand year of the sanitary ware industry. There were frequent sanitary ware advertisements on CCTV, and celebrity spokespersons for sanitary ware companies were active on the scene, and professional service agencies for sanitary ware brands came into being, which became an important signal of the 2009 brand year. On December 31, 2008, Lu Yu, the famous host of Phoenix TV, officially spoke for Brilliant Plumbing. Earlier, on November 4, the famous artist Pu Cunxin and Hengjie Sanitary Ware signed an endorsement agreement. This year, in addition to the companies endorsed by celebrities, Faenza, Wrigley, Anwar, Faenza, Jiumu, Eagle Sanitary Ware, Zhongyu, etc. have all chosen to smash heavily on CCTV. Although "CCTV's list of brands" is meant to boost the confidence of dealers, its influence on consumers cannot be ignored. In 2009, Hengjie appeared on CCTV and Hunan Satellite TV at the same time, covering the main audiences in the mainland, and it has the momentum to leap from an industry brand to a mass brand. "China's capital of plumbing and building materials" Nan'an has emerged in recent years four major brands, namely Jiumu, Brilliant Plumbing, Zhongyu, and Shenluda, which are gradually advancing to the high end. Fujian Jinjiang sporting goods companies have been advertising on CCTV for the past five years. The CCTV sports channel was once known as the "Jinjiang Channel". Whether Nan'an sanitary ware companies, which belong to Quanzhou, will inherit the same blood in the brand operation is very worthy of attention.
The third is to extend the product line through related diversification, and explore the overall bathroom space solution. The overall solution to the bathroom space is derived from the overall solution of the home space that has emerged in recent years. Nowadays, the cross-border work in the home space is not news. Oupai, the leader of domestic overall cabinets, has been making bathroom, on the contrary, Kohler is also making cabinets. In the ceramic sanitary ware industry, Wrigley, Jiumu, etc. have already begun to make bricks. Cheng Lin Gaobao, a professional hardware leader, has invested in sanitary ware with a high profile. The extension of other sanitary product lines is more common. Consumers need a total solution, which is the main reason for the rise of the overall bathroom space and the overall home space in the world. However, the current overall space boom also poses a problem for the industry: specialization or diversification, when and under what conditions, and how to achieve diversification? If this problem is not solved well, the overall space may become "The overall trap".