China Ceramics Network News (Author: Yi Ya) Suzhou, for individuals engaged in the design industry, what immediately comes to mind? Is it the garden design concept or I.M. Pei’s final work - the Suzhou New Museum? In early August, the China Ceramics Network research team conducted terminal market research in Suzhou to describe local home decoration design channels. The most memorable key words were——
If building materials manufacturers want their brands to be famous in Suzhou, they must go through the channels of home decoration designers.
Home decoration designers have been dominating the local area for decades, which is considered a "perverted" phenomenon.
90% of Haodejia’s material suppliers go through the channels of home decoration designers, which has become a rule.
Look for Red Ant for villa decoration in Suzhou, Yiye Design for first-class design, and Golden Mantis for public decoration design.
Suzhou Yangyang Lane is a decoration street, and brands that use channels must cooperate with them.
To understand local market data, home decoration design companies know it better than material dealers.
Large-scale home decoration design companies with a certain scale are already working on the market in 2 years.
……
Local market home decoration such as the above examplesIn the design industry phenomenon, the author paid attention to Yiye Design and found that in the middle of the year, it had collected model houses, involving Wujiang, Kunshan, Zhangjiagang, Changshu and other surrounding markets - Trend of outward expansion ; and communicated with Xu Gang, vice president of Red Ant Decoration Supervisory Materials Department, and learned that several sets of the Sunac Taohuayuan project, one of the top ten luxury homes in the world, are decorated and designed by Red Ant, and their construction technology can meet the needs of large panels of any size. Application - Focus on high-end fields, be refined and specialized; and then interviewed Qian Cheng, the head of the e-commerce department of Suzhou Qijia.com, who said that there is a complete set of mature systems in place to do online order locking< /strong>’s activities, successful cases such as Wuhan’s Marco Polo Tile live broadcast through its system, more than 300 orders were sold, and it is currently waiting to be replicated in Suzhou...
On the afternoon of August 3, the research team (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongtaojun") visited the headquarters of Suzhou Golden Mantis and met with Liang Aiyong, executive vice president of Golden Mantis Fifth Design Institute and Suzhou Municipal Government Lu Jian, the design director of Architectural Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., had a conversation for nearly 2 hours. The two industry veterans have both been engaged in design for more than 20 years. How canceramic tile dealers break out of the local market? What are the characteristics of “large and small owners” in the local market? What are the local product trends? Some of the content compiled below may provide answers.
1. Is the ceramic tile market shrinking or increasing?
Liang Aiyong: (Before waiting for the research team’s "opening remarks", he has already said the first sentence) The amount of ceramic tiles is now larger than before, especially in hotel projects. , Projects 20 years ago basically used stone. But now, in addition to the lobby that needs to reflect luxury and texture, and the floor that must be made of stone, the walls are all made of ceramic tiles. If the floor can replace the basic material of stone, Ceramic tiles will also be used.
Zhongtaojun:Which types of hotel ceramic tiles will be used more?
Liang Aiyong:Today’s trend is that there are more resort hotels, and these hotels are either in mountainous areas or on the seaside - that is, in humid places, so the stability of ceramic tiles will be very Large, imitation wood grain tiles are also used in hotel rooms now, and traditional wooden floors can no longer meet its functional needs.
2. Do workwear and home decoration designers prefer brand or product when using bricks?
Zhongtaojun: Through which channels will the two teachers learn about ceramic tile products?
Liang Aiyong:Home decoration designers usually take their clients to the material market to purchase, but public decoration designers generally do not go there. We have a material selection center, which is staffed by Distributors provide door-to-door service, but generally such products are different from those sold by their brands in the retail market, such as **.
Zhong Taojun:Yes, obviously. In order to switch to the channel of home decoration designers, they also began to launch porcelain ** products in the past few years, and jointly promoted them with the design association.
Liang Aiyong:I think this can only be superficial. Generally, when designers need to choose materials for a project, they will find people who often dangle in front of us and ask them to give it. We recommend. Designers generally don't look at the brand when choosing materials, especially public decoration designers, as long as the product can achieve the effect we want. Brands are not strong for public decoration designers or public decoration owners.
Lu Jian: If the ceramic tile dealer can track it well, then we will most likely reflect its material in the design. As long as the material meets the requirements of consumers and the quality is guaranteed, then there will definitely be no problem. For public decoration, large owners generally will not say "what brand of bricks do I like?", so designers are more dominant; in home decoration design, small owners may also have a preference for brands, often There will be times when designers will be tempted to control a lot of details.
3. Designers will follow the market trend and use gray, white and black ceramic tiles ?
Zhongtaojun:I am curious that Mr. Liang went online to buy ceramic tiles when he was renovating his home (I don’t know about it outside of the topic). What brand is it?
Liang Aiyong:First of all, it can meet my color requirements, and I don’t care which brand it is. (Zhong Taojun still asked: What did you buy? What brand? Liang Gong still replied that he didn't pay attention to the brand, and seemed to be "avoiding suspicion". Zhongtao Jun asked: Which category is it? ) The floor tiles are flower tiles.
Zhongtaojun: Judging from the projects you two have contacted, what kind of floor tiles have been popular on the market in the past two years?
Liang Aiyong:In the past two years, in addition to the traditional beige, it seems that more gray-toned ceramic tiles have been used, and more imitation castle gray and fish belly white are used. Generally, fish-belly white marble is relatively expensive at a few thousand yuan per square meter, while ceramic tiles are much cheaper.
Lu Jian:In the past two years, I feelIn terms of color selection, we should move in a simpler and simpler direction, because consumers are becoming younger. They are much more educated than those born in the 1960s, and their consumption levels are different.Although in recent years, gray colors are the main color ( If the color of gray ceramic tiles is too strong, we will not choose it), but maybe the color series will also pick up, because when product options become less, consumers will often want to find other products.
Zhong Taojun:Is Mr. Lu currently focusing on villa design?
Lu Jian:We are doing villas and small public buildings. When we were doing villas, we found that the owners’ participation was still very high, and they tended to be younger. They appreciated The things and the control of space colors, including the atmosphere created by space matching, all have their own ideas. As designers, we will also cooperate. The overall direction is simple, bright and natural. Late luxury has been talked about recently. The so-called style is time-sensitive. It can only be said that in the future, more and more natural styles will be inclined.
Liang Aiyong (right), executive vice president of the Fifth Design Institute of Golden Mantis, and Lu Jian (left), design director of Suzhou Architectural Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd.< /span>
4. What are the trends for ceramic tile companies, building materials stores, and ceramic tile dealers? ?
Zhongtaojun:In your opinion, do the products currently launched by ceramic tile companies have a promoting effect on the market?
Lu Jian: The material manufacturers I have contacted actually have a problem - they are slow to take the lead and fail to grasp the market opportunities. They only produce such products when the market is generally popular in this direction, although they are also very willing. Follow the market.
Liang Aiyong:Now there are also companies with small production capacity that specialize in realizing customized products for designers. For example, when we visited Japan last year, Seeing such small businesses, they will provide designers with products of 20 square meters, or just one wall, and are similar to art installations, taking a personalized product route.
Lu Jian:This trend should be amplified. B&Bs similar to our current design are in great demand, such as the pursuit of dead wood texture products. If It would be great if there is such a product in China that can be customized. The volume is small but the added value is high. The volume of 1000㎡ of such a product is more profitable than the volume of 2000㎡.The domestic demand for customization is still scarce. status. Material dealers may have two directions in the future - assembly line production workshops for large-scale production, with excellence in quality and price; and owners or designers who meet individual needs, with relatively high profits. However, the final result is that dealers are squeezed, and the materials for public decoration must be connected with manufacturers. Nowadays, finely decorated houses are also connected with manufacturers. When ordinary residents decorate less and less, middlemen will be removed strong>. Therefore, the materials market will be further compressed. There should not be so many building materials stores in Suzhou. Even for high-end chain stores, I can only go there a few times a year.
Liang Aiyong:I never go. The sales volume of Golden Mantis last year was RMB 2 to 3 billion. The material selection area only has several brands of materials, and the products are of certain styles, such as gray and beige.
Zhong Taojun:Nowadays, ceramic tile dealers are really having a hard time, and they don’t know how to deal with it.
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Lu Jian:In fact, the current ceramic tile dealers have done a good job in service, but the market is not good, the real estate is cooling down,the houses in the city center have It is no longer a question of whether it is expensive or not, but there are no more new buildings, and they are all being developed in towns and villages.
Liang Aiyong:However, many old houses have been renovated in recent years, and we have received many hotel renovations. This is cyclical.
Zhong Taojun:Can we say that material dealers should pay attention to the houses that need to be renovated in the local market?
Liang Aiyong:I think the core point is not this aspect, but that the ceramic factory must have a certain positioning for its customers. For example, if you are a home decoration designer, you need a good It is recommended that if you are a workwear designer, you should either sign a strategic cooperation with them or have good docking services with a design institute. If you do not connect well, they will not be able to choose your products at all. They will send bricks to our office. Have you done this? Especially for public decoration, we have a large amount of projects every year. Perhaps because of the presence of Golden Mantis, there are thousands of designers in Suzhou, and there are still several in Suzhou that rank among the top ten in the country. It can be seen thatSuzhou The home decoration designer market is hugeFor example, the service team of Golden Mantis Design Institute is very large, with almost 100 teams, so there are thousands of people in total; and Golden Mantis has 150 stores across the country , each store has at least 10 people, and there are thousands of lighting designers. So do the ceramic tile dealers provide good service? (Additional information: The listed company Golden Mantis reached 3 billion yuan last year, ranking first in the country. However, its reputation for workwear has overshadowed its reputation in the home decoration field. Last year, the workwear reached about 30 billion yuan, and the design fee was only 1 billion yuan. . )
Lu Jian:A problem now is that the cooperation with Golden Mantis is mainly signed by the manufacturer, but the profit from the service falls into the hands of the dealer. will decrease, so he also wants to cooperate with you, but profit cost is an issue.
Zhong Taojun:Dealers may not realize that their future living space is decreasing or even disappearing, so they have not yet formed the awareness that they will become low-profit service providers. Therefore, the only way to change this contradiction is to make them aware that if they want to continue to survive in the industry, they need to become service providers, and then help manufacturers solve the problem of insufficient service with engineering home improvement companies.
5. Which one has more advantages, imported ceramic tiles or slate?
Zhongtaojun:Will there be a market for imported ceramic tiles in Suzhou?
Lu Jian:I personally think the market volume will be very small.
Liang Aiyong:I think this market is quite chaotic. Many people say they are imported ceramic tiles, but in fact they are domestically produced. (Zhong Taojun said with a smile: So you know it too.)Every industry is the same. It is actually registering a brand abroad, but it is still domestically produced, and the people are not stupid, so we have to go back to the quality and research and development of the product. Consideration of degree.
Lu Jian:I think small business owners are not so sensitive to prices now. I took them to pick out ceramic tiles some time ago, and they had their own budget for the price of ceramic tiles when they went there. But when he saw what he liked, he originally planned to pay 200 yuan/㎡, but later negotiated that 320 yuan/㎡ was acceptable, so in fact, the cost was not completely absolute.
Liang Aiyong:Small owners are "emotional", while large owners are "rational". Therefore, the purpose of placing brands in high-end chain stores is to make small business owners feel psychologically satisfied.
Zhong Taojun: Have you two ever touched rock slabs?
Lu Jian: That’s the big board, right? There are thin and thick ones, and they can be placed on the wall or on the floor, and can even be used to make special-shaped furniture.
Zhong Taojun:Do you know anything about the owners we contacted? Or are there any preferred products?
Liang Aiyong:Owners still have to rely on designers for referrals. Perhaps we don’t know much about slate. We only know that it is a super large piece and can be used as countertops, cabinets, etc., which is actually very advantageous.
Lu Jian:The main thing is that designers need to have cognition and understand the personality of the product in order to have the motivation to promote it to consumers. In fact, the product of slate has been around for a few years, so why hasn’t it been widely promoted? Because the price is too high and the construction technology cannot be grasped, but now the price and construction have improved, so the owner can accept it. I think there are two main points to focus on when promoting rock slabs. Firstly, designers need to be aware of it, and there is also the issue of price. There are no goods that cannot be sold, only prices that cannot be sold. I just don’t understand why the price of rock slabs can’t come down?
Zhong Taojun:That’s why domestically produced rock slabs appear.
Lu Jian:The price is clearer. I am very willing to use slate. It also fits the aesthetics of the modern 90s and 80s generation.
Zhong Taojun:What are the general specifications of the products we are using here now?
Liang Aiyong:In terms of public installation, it is 600×600㎜, 800×800㎜, 600×1200㎜, and the bathroom is 300 ×600㎜,The large size is 1200×2400㎜, etc. It is best to have a whole piece, but installation and transportation are problems.
Lu Jian:These large-sized ceramic tiles are suitable for large projects, and are difficult to apply in small projects in general spaces. The ones we are exposed to are generally 900×1800㎜< /strong>.
6. Design fees are increasing, and designers’ participation in activities is increasing. many?
Zhong Taojun:Have local design fees increased slightly in recent years? And easier to collect?
Lu Jian:The design fee has gone up a bit, (laughing) but it doesn’t mean it’s easy, nothing is easy in the world. It’s just that small owners are more willing to spend some money, and their design awareness is increasing. Because I only do design, not construction. Seven or eight years ago, owners might still ask why they should pay design service fees out of thin air? Then, I will explain to them that the first design is to improve the effect, and the second is to help save materials. With design and construction, the overall cost will not increase. For example, if you pay 2 million for the decoration design of a villa, My design fee of 100,000 yuan can achieve the effect of a cost of 2.5 million yuan, but the actual decoration and design fee spent is 1.9 million yuan. Designers are there to help create solutions for the overall space. Now the construction team is not like the previous grass-roots team, where a group of masons and carpenters came over and started working. The awareness of the current construction workers is also improving.Generally, people born in the 50s/60s, and now people born in the 70s/80s, all need design drawings. Only with drawings can they get a good quotation. But there is no such thing as easy charging, because the competition in the industry is also quite fierce.
Liang Aiyong: In the future, designers will mostly work as consultants and will subdivide their professional fields, because the owners have strong Autonomy and selectivity.
Zhong Taojun:Which design exchange activities are designers more willing to participate in?
Lu Jian:Large-scale events will take half a day to do something bold, so material vendors can hold some small topic sharing sessions.
Liang Aiyong:In fact, the exhibition hall of the material dealer now covers a large area. Will the activities be placed in the exhibition hall so that the exhibition hall can have a diversified existence?Now Popular shared office spaces are not only exhibition halls selling bricks, but also design and creative centers related to materials and designers, bringing designers to the front end to proactively connect with material vendors. Some people will be eliminated by the market, but some people will think of such methods to increase the stickiness of cooperation with designers, thereby also reducing their own operating costs.
Comparison of Golden Mantis headquarters building × warehouse of a ceramic tile dealer
Postscript
During the more than 20 days of Suzhou-Wuxi-Chang Station terminal research project, Zhongtao Jun no longer remembers the day of the week when he visited the headquarters of Golden Mantis. He only remembers the architectural structure of the headquarters of this nationally renowned listed construction and decoration company. It gives people a sense of majesty and surging momentum, and then it is mysterious and rigorous. The company of thousands of people is very quiet, and they are led through each level and take the elevator to the office on the 19th floor where the conversation takes place. Thanks to the above two design industry teachers for taking time out of their busy schedules to chat with Zhongtao Jun. Teacher Lu is a native of Suzhou, and has been friends with him for several years, so naturally he talks about everything; while Liang Gong is a new Suzhou native, and although this is the first time we meet, he is extremely easy-going and humble... From their appreciation of calligraphy, painting, antiques and other artistic works After discussion, spiritual exchanges in the cultural field may also be a direction that we "brick sellers" can focus on.
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